UEFA_Euro_2008_qualifying

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

International football competition


Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others in their group on a home-and-away basis. The winner and runner-up of each group qualified automatically for the final tournament. This was the first Euro qualification since expansion to have no playoff.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

Austria and Switzerland qualified automatically as co-hosts of the event.

Qualified teams

  Qualified
  Did not qualify
  Did not enter
  Not a UEFA member
More information Team, Qualified as ...
  1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
  2. From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
  3. From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.
  4. From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.

Seedings

UEFA used the 2005 UEFA national team coefficient to rank the teams according to their results in both UEFA Euro 2004 and 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. Only the group matches counted towards the coefficients. As defending champions, Greece were automatically seeded in the top pool. Since Portugal hosted and automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2004, the coefficient factored in only their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification record. Similarly, Germany's coefficient factored only their UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying record, since they hosted and automatically qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan never competed in the European Championships previously, so the coefficient used only their World Cup record.[1][2] Montenegro had not been admitted to UEFA/FIFA at the time the qualifying competition had started, and thus were ineligible.[3][4][5]

The draw took place on 27 January 2006 in Montreux, Switzerland.[6]

Austria (1,333) and Switzerland (1,833) were already assured of places at Euro 2008 as host nations.

More information Team, Coeff ...

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:[7]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
  2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
  5. If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still had an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) was reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) applied;
  6. Results of all group matches: 1. Superior goal difference 2. Higher number of goals scored 3. Higher number of goals scored away from home 4. Fair play conduct
  7. Drawing of lots

Summary

  Group winners and runners-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 2008
  Other teams were eliminated

Groups

The qualifying process started in August 2006. Austria and Switzerland were automatically granted places in the tournament finals as the host nations.

The qualifying format had been changed from the previous tournament: the respective winners and runners-up from seven groups would automatically qualify for the finals, alongside the host nations. Therefore, there were no play-offs between the runners-up of the groups. Group A contained eight teams, while the other six groups each contained seven.

As the official successor of the previous football association, Serbia inherited the position originally allotted to Serbia and Montenegro in Group A prior to the dissolution of the state union. Montenegro were granted UEFA membership after qualifying had started and thus were not able to participate in this European Championship.

Group A

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Serbia 4, Finland 1.
  2. The matches between Azerbaijan and Armenia were cancelled by UEFA with both associations receiving no points, as the two national associations failed to resolve political and security disagreements.[8][9]

Group B

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group C

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head points (3). Head-to-head goal difference: Moldova +1, Hungary −1.

Group D

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group E

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: England 4, Israel 1.

Group F

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Northern Ireland 4, Denmark 1.
  2. The Denmark v Sweden match was abandoned in the 89th minute at 3–3 following a fan attack on the referee.[10][11][12][13] The match was awarded as a 3–0 forfeit win to Sweden by UEFA following a hearing on 8 June 2007.[14][15][16]

Group G

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

Goalscorers

There were 839 goals scored in 306 matches, for an average of 2.74 goals per match.[note 1]

13 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

2 own goals

Notes

  1. The goal tally takes into account the original result of fixtures that were subsequently forfeited, not the awarded scoreline.

References

  1. UEFA.com (27 January 2006). "EURO 2008™ draw procedure | UEFA EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  2. UEFA.com (14 January 2006). "EURO 2008™ draw fast approaching | UEFA EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  3. "Serbia to take spot in Euro 2008". BBC Sport. 23 May 2006. Archived from the original on 2 September 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2007.
  4. UEFA.com (26 January 2007). "Montenegro named UEFA member | Inside UEFA". UEFA.com. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. Frylan, Kevin (9 August 2007). "UEFA admits Montenegro". Reuters. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2006/08" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 August 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  7. "EXCO unveils World Cup programme". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  8. "Denmark hearing tomorrow". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  9. "Denmark-Sweden game abandoned after fan attacks referee". Reuters. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  10. "Sweden awarded abandoned UEFA clash". Brisbane Times. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  11. "Soccer-UEFA to decide on Denmark-Sweden abandonment". Reuters. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  12. "UEFA awards Sweden 3-0 win over Denmark". Reuters. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  13. "Sweden awarded abandoned UEFA clash". Brisbane Times. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

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