UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates7 September 2014 – 17 November 2015
Teams53
Tournament statistics
Matches played268
Goals scored694 (2.59 per match)[note 1]
Attendance5,735,330 (21,400 per match)
Top scorer(s)Poland Robert Lewandowski (13 goals)
2012
2020

The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2016 final tournament.[1][2]

A total of 53 national teams participated in this qualifying process, with Gibraltar taking part for the first time. The draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, on 23 February 2014.[3][4]

Qualified teams

[edit]
  Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2016
  Team failed to qualify


Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
 France Host 28 May 2010 8 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 England Group E winner 5 September 2015 8 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012)
 Czech Republic[B] Group A winner 6 September 2015 8 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Iceland Group A runner-up 6 September 2015 0 (debut)
 Austria Group G winner 8 September 2015 1 (2008)
 Northern Ireland Group F winner 8 October 2015 0 (debut)
 Portugal Group I winner 8 October 2015 6 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Spain Group C winner 9 October 2015 9 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
  Switzerland Group E runner-up 9 October 2015 3 (1996, 2004, 2008)
 Italy Group H winner 10 October 2015 8 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Belgium Group B winner 10 October 2015 4 (1972, 1980, 1984, 2000)
 Wales Group B runner-up 10 October 2015 0 (debut)
 Romania Group F runner-up 11 October 2015 4 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2008)
 Albania Group I runner-up 11 October 2015 0 (debut)
 Germany[C] Group D winner 11 October 2015 11 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Poland Group D runner-up 11 October 2015 2 (2008, 2012)
 Russia[D] Group G runner-up 12 October 2015 10 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Slovakia[B] Group C runner-up 12 October 2015 3 (1960, 1976, 1980)
 Croatia Group H runner-up 13 October 2015 4 (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Turkey Best third-placed team 13 October 2015 3 (1996, 2000, 2008)
 Hungary Play-off winner 15 November 2015 2 (1964, 1972)
 Republic of Ireland Play-off winner 16 November 2015 2 (1988, 2012)
 Sweden Play-off winner 17 November 2015 5 (1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
 Ukraine Play-off winner 17 November 2015 1 (2012)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
  2. ^ a b From 1960 to 1980, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia competed as Czechoslovakia.[5]
  3. ^ From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
  4. ^ From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.

Format

[edit]

All UEFA member associations were eligible to compete in the qualifying competition, with the host team France qualifying directly to the finals tournament.[1] The other 53 teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams (Groups A–H) and one group of five teams (Group I). The group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team (with the results against the sixth-placed team discarded) directly qualified to the finals. The eight remaining third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.[6][7][8]

Seeding system

[edit]

Sides were seeded according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings, which were announced along with the draw procedure and final tournament match schedule after the 23–24 January Executive Committee meeting in Nyon.[6] For the qualifying group stage, the teams were seeded into six pots (Pots 1–5 with 9 teams and Pot 6 with 8 teams) for the qualifying group stage draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings, with the title holders (Spain) automatically seeded into Pot 1. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:

UEFA stated that nations with the largest markets in terms of contribution to the European Qualifiers revenue would be drawn into one of the groups containing six teams, including England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.[8][9] UEFA also stated in their regulations that "the teams drawn into the group of five teams will have France added to their group for the purpose of playing centralized friendlies".[8][10][11][12] However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings.[13][14]

For the play-offs the four ties were determined by draw, including the order of the two legs of each tie. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the group stage. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:

Tiebreakers

[edit]

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:[8]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
  5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[a] If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 applied;
  6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Fair play conduct in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
  10. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;

To determine the best third-placed team, the results against the teams in sixth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied:

  1. Higher number of points obtained;
  2. Superior goal difference;
  3. Higher number of goals scored;
  4. Higher number of away goals scored;
  5. Fair play conduct in all group matches;
  6. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;

For each play-off tie, the team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualified for the final tournament. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e., the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time was played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e., if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.

Notes
  1. ^ When there were two or more teams tied in points, criteria 1 to 4 were applied. After these criteria were applied, they could define the position of some of the teams involved, but not all of them. For example, if there was a three-way tie on points, the application of the first four criteria could only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure was resumed, from the beginning, for those teams that were still tied.

Schedule

[edit]
Official match ball of the UEFA Euro qualifiers

This was the first qualifying tournament after UEFA announced centralized rights deals for both UEFA Euro and FIFA World Cup qualifying. UEFA had proposed the "Week of Football" concept for the scheduling of qualifying matches as follows:[15][16][17]

  • Matches took place from Thursday to Tuesday.
  • Kick-off times were largely set at 18:00 and 20:45 CET on Saturdays and Sundays, and 20:45 CET on Thursdays, Fridays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.
  • On double-header match weeks, teams played on Thursday and Sunday, or Friday and Monday, or Saturday and Tuesday.
  • Matches in the same group were played on the same day.[8]

There were ten matchdays for the qualifying group stage, and two matchdays for the play-offs:[6]

Stage Matchday Dates
Qualifying group stage Matchday 1 7–9 September 2014
Matchday 2 9–11 October 2014
Matchday 3 12–14 October 2014
Matchday 4 14–16 November 2014
Matchday 5 27–29 March 2015
Matchday 6 12–14 June 2015
Matchday 7 3–5 September 2015
Matchday 8 6–8 September 2015
Matchday 9 8–10 October 2015
Matchday 10 11–13 October 2015
Play-offs 1st leg 12–14 November 2015
2nd leg 15–17 November 2015

Unlike previous qualifying campaigns where group fixtures were determined by negotiation between the national federations, UEFA themselves decided each group's fixture list, released the same day as the draw.[8]

Draw

[edit]

The draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, on 23 February 2014, 12:00 CET. Groups A–H each contain one team from each of Pots 1–6, while Group I contains one team from each of Pots 1–5. For television rights reasons, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands were drawn into groups of six teams. Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan (due to the dispute concerning territory of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Gibraltar would not be drawn against Spain (due to the disputed status of Gibraltar). France (Coeff: 30,992; Rank: 11), the 2016 tournament hosts, were partnered with the five-team Group I, allowing them to play friendlies against these countries on their 'spare' dates that did not count in the qualifying group standings.[18]

Seeding

[edit]

The seeding pots were announced on 24 January 2014. The teams in bold qualified to the final tournament.[19][20]

Pot 1
Team Coeff Rank
 Spain 42,158 1
 Germany 41,366 2
 Netherlands 38,541 3
 Italy 35,343 4
 England 34,885 5
 Portugal 34,314 6
 Greece 33,540 7
 Russia 32,946 8
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 31,416 9
Pot 2
Team Coeff Rank
 Ukraine 31,156 10
 Croatia 30,652 12
 Sweden 30,111 13
 Denmark 29,660 14
  Switzerland 29,572 15
 Belgium 28,732 16
 Czech Republic 28,234 17
 Hungary 27,802 18
 Republic of Ireland 26,733 19
Pot 3
Team Coeff Rank
 Serbia 25,985 20
 Turkey 25,955 21
 Slovenia 25,834 22
 Israel 25,442 23
 Norway 25,341 24
 Slovakia 25,333 25
 Romania 25,038 26
 Austria 24,572 27
 Poland 23,095 28
Pot 4
Team Coeff Rank
 Montenegro 22,991 29
 Armenia 22,861 30
 Scotland 22,234 31
 Finland 22,001 32
 Latvia 20,771 33
 Wales 20,551 34
 Bulgaria 20,391 35
 Estonia 19,988 36
 Belarus 19,646 37
Pot 5
Team Coeff Rank
 Iceland 19,243 38
 Northern Ireland 19,201 39
 Albania 19,151 40
 Lithuania 19,026 41
 Moldova 18,301 42
 Macedonia 17,376 43
 Azerbaijan 16,901 44
 Georgia 16,766 45
 Cyprus 14,235 46
Pot 6
Team Coeff Rank
 Luxembourg 14,050 47
 Kazakhstan 13,961 48
 Liechtenstein 12,220 49
 Faroe Islands 11,751 50
 Malta 10,740 51
 Andorra 8,560 52
 San Marino 7,420 53
 Gibraltar 0 54

Summary

[edit]
  Group winners, runners-up and the best ranked third-placed team qualified directly for UEFA Euro 2016
  The remaining third-placed teams advanced to the play-offs
  Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage
Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H Group I

Czech Republic

Iceland

Belgium

Wales

Spain

Slovakia

Germany

Poland

England

Switzerland

Northern Ireland

Romania

Austria

Russia

Italy

Croatia

Portugal

Albania

Turkey

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ukraine

Republic of Ireland

Slovenia

Hungary

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Netherlands

Kazakhstan

Latvia

Israel

Cyprus

Andorra

Belarus

Luxembourg

Macedonia

Scotland

Georgia

Gibraltar

Estonia

Lithuania

San Marino

Finland

Faroe Islands

Greece

Montenegro

Liechtenstein

Moldova

Bulgaria

Azerbaijan

Malta

Serbia

Armenia

Groups

[edit]

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Czech Republic Iceland Turkey Netherlands Kazakhstan Latvia
1  Czech Republic 10 7 1 2 19 14 +5 22 Qualify for final tournament 2–1 0–2 2–1 2–1 1–1
2  Iceland 10 6 2 2 17 6 +11 20 2–1 3–0 2–0 0–0 2–2
3  Turkey 10 5 3 2 14 9 +5 18 1–2 1–0 3–0 3–1 1–1
4  Netherlands 10 4 1 5 17 14 +3 13 2–3 0–1 1–1 3–1 6–0
5  Kazakhstan 10 1 2 7 7 18 −11 5[a] 2–4 0–3 0–1 1–2 0–0
6  Latvia 10 0 5 5 6 19 −13 5[a] 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–2 0–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Kazakhstan 4, Latvia 1.

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Belgium Wales Bosnia and Herzegovina Israel Cyprus Andorra
1  Belgium 10 7 2 1 24 5 +19 23 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 3–1 3–1 5–0 6–0
2  Wales 10 6 3 1 11 4 +7 21 1–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–0
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 5 2 3 17 12 +5 17 Advance to play-offs 1–1 2–0 3–1 1–2 3–0
4  Israel 10 4 1 5 16 14 +2 13 0–1 0–3 3–0 1–2 4–0
5  Cyprus 10 4 0 6 16 17 −1 12 0–1 0–1 2–3 1–2 5–0
6  Andorra 10 0 0 10 4 36 −32 0 1–4 1–2 0–3 1–4 1–3
Source: UEFA

Group C

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Spain Slovakia Ukraine Belarus Luxembourg North Macedonia
1  Spain 10 9 0 1 23 3 +20 27 Qualify for final tournament 2–0 1–0 3–0 4–0 5–1
2  Slovakia 10 7 1 2 17 8 +9 22 2–1 0–0 0–1 3–0 2–1
3  Ukraine 10 6 1 3 14 4 +10 19 Advance to play-offs 0–1 0–1 3–1 3–0 1–0
4  Belarus 10 3 2 5 8 14 −6 11 0–1 1–3 0–2 2–0 0–0
5  Luxembourg 10 1 1 8 6 27 −21 4[a] 0–4 2–4 0–3 1–1 1–0
6  North Macedonia 10 1 1 8 6 18 −12 4[a] 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–2 3–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head points (3) and head-to-head goal difference (0). Head-to-head away goals: Luxembourg 2, North Macedonia 0.

Group D

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Germany Poland Republic of Ireland Scotland Georgia (country) Gibraltar
1  Germany 10 7 1 2 24 9 +15 22 Qualify for final tournament 3–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 4–0
2  Poland 10 6 3 1 33 10 +23 21 2–0 2–1 2–2 4–0 8–1
3  Republic of Ireland 10 5 3 2 19 7 +12 18 Advance to play-offs 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 7–0
4  Scotland 10 4 3 3 22 12 +10 15 2–3 2–2 1–0 1–0 6–1
5  Georgia 10 3 0 7 10 16 −6 9 0–2 0–4 1–2 1–0 4–0
6  Gibraltar 10 0 0 10 2 56 −54 0 0–7 0–7 0–4 0–6 0–3
Source: UEFA

Group E

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification England Switzerland Slovenia Estonia Lithuania San Marino
1  England 10 10 0 0 31 3 +28 30 Qualify for final tournament 2–0 3–1 2–0 4–0 5–0
2   Switzerland 10 7 0 3 24 8 +16 21 0–2 3–2 3–0 4–0 7–0
3  Slovenia 10 5 1 4 18 11 +7 16 Advance to play-offs 2–3 1–0 1–0 1–1 6–0
4  Estonia 10 3 1 6 4 9 −5 10[a] 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–0
5  Lithuania 10 3 1 6 7 18 −11 10[a] 0–3 1–2 0–2 1–0 2–1
6  San Marino 10 0 1 9 1 36 −35 1 0–6 0–4 0–2 0–0 0–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

Group F

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Northern Ireland Romania Hungary Finland Faroe Islands Greece
1  Northern Ireland 10 6 3 1 16 8 +8 21 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 3–1
2  Romania 10 5 5 0 11 2 +9 20 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0
3  Hungary 10 4 4 2 11 9 +2 16 Advance to play-offs 1–2 0–0 1–0 2–1 0–0
4  Finland 10 3 3 4 9 10 −1 12 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–1
5  Faroe Islands 10 2 0 8 6 17 −11 6[a] 1–3 0–3 0–1 1–3 2–1
6  Greece 10 1 3 6 7 14 −7 6[a] 0–2 0–1 4–3 0–1 0–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Faroe Islands 6, Greece 0.

Group G

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Austria Russia Sweden Montenegro Liechtenstein Moldova
1  Austria 10 9 1 0 22 5 +17 28 Qualify for final tournament 1–0 1–1 1–0 3–0 1–0
2  Russia 10 6 2 2 21 5 +16 20 0–1 1–0 2–0 4–0 1–1
3  Sweden 10 5 3 2 15 9 +6 18 Advance to play-offs 1–4 1–1 3–1 2–0 2–0
4  Montenegro 10 3 2 5 10 13 −3 11 2–3 0–3[a] 1–1 2–0 2–0
5  Liechtenstein 10 1 2 7 2 26 −24 5 0–5 0–7 0–2 0–0 1–1
6  Moldova 10 0 2 8 4 16 −12 2 1–2 1–2 0–2 0–2 0–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ The Montenegro v Russia match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Russia after being abandoned at 0–0 due to crowd violence and a scuffle between players.

Group H

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Italy Croatia Norway Bulgaria Azerbaijan Malta
1  Italy 10 7 3 0 16 7 +9 24 Qualify for final tournament 1–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–0
2  Croatia[a] 10 6 3 1 20 5 +15 20 1–1 5–1 3–0 6–0 2–0
3  Norway 10 6 1 3 13 10 +3 19 Advance to play-offs 0–2 2–0 2–1 0–0 2–0
4  Bulgaria 10 3 2 5 9 12 −3 11 2–2 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–1
5  Azerbaijan 10 1 3 6 7 18 −11 6 1–3 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–0
6  Malta 10 0 2 8 3 16 −13 2 0–1 0–1 0–3 0–1 2–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ Croatia were deducted one point after charges for racist behaviour in the home match against Italy.

Group I

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Portugal Albania Denmark Serbia Armenia
1  Portugal 8 7 0 1 11 5 +6 21 Qualify for final tournament 0–1 1–0 2–1 1–0
2  Albania 8 4 2 2 10 5 +5 14 0–1 1–1 0–2 2–1
3  Denmark 8 3 3 2 8 5 +3 12 Advance to play-offs 0–1 0–0 2–0 2–1
4  Serbia[a] 8 2 1 5 8 13 −5 4 1–2 0–3[a] 1–3 2–0
5  Armenia 8 0 2 6 5 14 −9 2 2–3 0–3 0–0 1–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b The Serbia v Albania match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Albania, and Serbia were also deducted three points, after the match was abandoned at 0–0 because home fans invaded the pitch and attacked Albania players when a drone carried a pro-Albanian flag over the stadium.

Ranking of third-placed teams

[edit]

The highest ranked third-placed team from the groups directly qualified for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs. As Group I contained five teams and the rest contained six, matches against any sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the third-placed ranking table.

Turkey became the best third-placed team, after winning against Iceland in its last match, while at the same time Kazakhstan beat Latvia to finish fifth in Group A.[21]

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A  Turkey 8 5 1 2 12 7 +5 16 Qualify for final tournament
2 F  Hungary 8 4 3 1 8 5 +3 15 Advance to play-offs
3 C  Ukraine 8 4 1 3 11 4 +7 13
4 H  Norway 8 4 1 3 8 10 −2 13
5 I  Denmark 8 3 3 2 8 5 +3 12
6 G  Sweden 8 3 3 2 11 9 +2 12
7 D  Republic of Ireland 8 3 3 2 8 7 +1 12
8 B  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 3 2 3 11 12 −1 11
9 E  Slovenia 8 3 1 4 10 11 −1 10
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fifth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Lower disciplinary points total; 6) UEFA national team coefficient ranking; 7) Drawing of lots.

Play-offs

[edit]

The eight remaining third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage. The draw for the play-offs was held on 18 October 2015, 11:20 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.[22][23]

Seedings

[edit]

The seedings were as follows:[24][25]

Pot 1 (seeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 30,367 13
 Ukraine 30,313 14
 Sweden 29,028 16
 Hungary 27,142 20
Pot 2 (unseeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Denmark 27,140 21
 Republic of Ireland 26,902 23
 Norway 26,439 25
 Slovenia 25,441 26

Matches

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The first legs were played on 12–14 November, and the second legs were played on 15–17 November 2015. The four play-off winners (Ukraine, Sweden, Republic of Ireland and Hungary) qualified for the final tournament.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ukraine  3–1  Slovenia 2–0 1–1
Sweden  4–3  Denmark 2–1 2–2
Bosnia and Herzegovina  1–3  Republic of Ireland 1–1 0–2
Norway  1–3  Hungary 0–1 1–2

Goalscorers

[edit]
Poland's Robert Lewandowski scored 13 goals in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying round, equalling David Healy's record in 2008 for most goals in a qualifying campaign.[26]

There were 694 goals scored in 268 matches, for an average of 2.59 goals per match.[note 1]

13 goals

11 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal