UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Tournament details
Dates	16 August 2006 – 24 November 2007
Teams	50
Tournament statistics
Matches played	306
Goals scored	839 (2.74 per match)[note 1]
Top scorer	David Healy (13 goals)
← 2004 2012 →

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.

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

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.^[1][2] Since Portugal automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2004 as hosts, 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 automatically qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup as hosts. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan never competed in the European Championships previously, so the coefficient used only their World Cup record.^[3][4] Montenegro had not been admitted to UEFA/FIFA at the time the qualifying competition had started, and thus were ineligible.^[5][6][7]

The draw took place on 27 January 2006 in Montreux, Switzerland.^[8]

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

Pot 1 Team Coeff Rank  Greece (TH) 1,950 13  Netherlands 2,550 1  Portugal 2,500 2  England 2,500 3  Czech Republic 2,450 4  France 2,444 5  Sweden 2,278 6	Pot 2 Team Coeff Rank  Germany 2,250 7  Croatia 2,222 8  Italy 2,222 9  Turkey 2,100 10  Poland 2,056 11  Spain 2,056 12  Romania 1,950 14	Pot 3 Team Coeff Rank  Serbia and Montenegro 1,889 15  Russia 1,850 16  Denmark 1,850 17  Norway 1,778 18  Bulgaria 1,778 19  Ukraine 1,750 20  Slovakia 1,650 21
Pot 4 Team Coeff Rank  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,611 22  Republic of Ireland 1,556 23  Belgium 1,556 24  Latvia 1,550 25  Israel 1,500 26  Scotland 1,500 27  Slovenia 1,444 28	Pot 5 Team Coeff Rank  Hungary 1,389 29  Finland 1,300 30  Estonia 1,250 31  Wales 1,167 32  Lithuania 1,111 33  Albania 0,944 34  Iceland 0,850 35	Pot 6 Team Coeff Rank  Georgia 0,850 36  Macedonia 0,750 37  Belarus 0,722 38  Armenia 0,700 39  Northern Ireland 0,667 40  Cyprus 0,667 41  Moldova 0,611 42
Pot 7 Team Coeff Rank  Liechtenstein 0,450 43  Azerbaijan 0,389 44  Andorra 0,250 45  Malta 0,222 46  Faroe Islands 0,111 47  Kazakhstan 0,083 48  Luxembourg 0,000 49  San Marino 0,000 50

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:^[9]

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

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland	14	8	4	2	24	12	+12	28	Qualify for final tournament		—	2–1	1–1	1–3	2–0	3–1	1–0	5–0
2	Portugal	14	7	6	1	24	10	+14	27			2–2	—	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	1–0	3–0
3	Serbia	14	6	6	2	22	11	+11	24[a]			2–2	1–1	—	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–0
4	Finland	14	6	6	2	13	7	+6	24[a]			0–0	1–1	0–2	—	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1
5	Belgium	14	5	3	6	14	16	−2	18			0–1	1–2	3–2	0–0	—	0–0	3–0	3–0
6	Kazakhstan	14	2	4	8	11	21	−10	10			0–1	1–2	2–1	0–2	2–2	—	1–2	1–1
7	Armenia	12	2	3	7	4	13	−9	9			1–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	—	Canc.[b]
8	Azerbaijan	12	1	2	9	6	28	−22	5			1–3	0–2	1–6	1–0	0–1	1–1	Canc.[b]	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. 1 2 Head-to-head points: Serbia 4, Finland 1.
2. 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.^[10][11]

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	12	9	2	1	22	9	+13	29	Qualify for final tournament		—	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	3–1
2	France	12	8	2	2	25	5	+20	26			3–1	—	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	5–0
3	Scotland	12	8	0	4	21	12	+9	24			1–2	1–0	—	3–1	3–1	2–1	6–0
4	Ukraine	12	5	2	5	18	16	+2	17			1–2	2–2	2–0	—	1–0	3–2	5–0
5	Lithuania	12	5	1	6	11	13	−2	16			0–2	0–1	1–2	2–0	—	1–0	2–1
6	Georgia	12	3	1	8	16	19	−3	10			1–3	0–3	2–0	1–1	0–2	—	3–1
7	Faroe Islands	12	0	0	12	4	43	−39	0			1–2	0–6	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–6	—

Source: UEFA

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	12	10	1	1	25	10	+15	31	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–4	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–0	5–0
2	Turkey	12	7	3	2	25	11	+14	24			0–1	—	2–2	1–0	5–0	3–0	2–0
3	Norway	12	7	2	3	27	11	+16	23			2–2	1–2	—	1–2	2–0	4–0	4–0
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	12	4	1	7	16	22	−6	13			0–4	3–2	0–2	—	0–1	1–3	1–0
5	Moldova	12	3	3	6	12	19	−7	12[a]			0–1	1–1	0–1	2–2	—	3–0	1–1
6	Hungary	12	4	0	8	11	22	−11	12[a]			1–2	0–1	1–4	1–0	2–0	—	2–0
7	Malta	12	1	2	9	10	31	−21	5			0–1	2–2	1–4	2–5	2–3	2–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. 1 2 Tied on head-to-head points (3). Head-to-head goal difference: Moldova +1, Hungary −1.

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	12	9	2	1	27	5	+22	29	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–2	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	7–0
2	Germany	12	8	3	1	35	7	+28	27			0–3	—	1–0	2–1	0–0	4–0	6–0
3	Republic of Ireland	12	4	5	3	17	14	+3	17			1–1	0–0	—	1–0	1–0	1–1	5–0
4	Slovakia	12	5	1	6	33	23	+10	16			0–3	1–4	2–2	—	2–5	6–1	7–0
5	Wales	12	4	3	5	18	19	−1	15			0–0	0–2	2–2	1–5	—	3–1	3–0
6	Cyprus	12	4	2	6	17	24	−7	14			0–2	1–1	5–2	1–3	3–1	—	3–0
7	San Marino	12	0	0	12	2	57	−55	0			0–3	0–13	1–2	0–5	1–2	0–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	12	9	2	1	28	8	+20	29	Qualify for final tournament		—	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	7–0
2	Russia	12	7	3	2	18	7	+11	24			0–0	—	2–1	1–1	3–0	2–0	4–0
3	England	12	7	2	3	24	7	+17	23[a]			2–3	3–0	—	3–0	0–0	3–0	5–0
4	Israel	12	7	2	3	20	12	+8	23[a]			3–4	2–1	0–0	—	1–0	4–0	4–1
5	Macedonia	12	4	2	6	12	12	0	14			2–0	0–2	0–1	1–2	—	1–1	3–0
6	Estonia	12	2	1	9	5	21	−16	7			0–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	0–1	—	2–1
7	Andorra	12	0	0	12	2	42	−40	0			0–6	0–1	0–3	0–2	0–3	0–2	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. 1 2 Head-to-head points: England 4, Israel 1.

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	12	9	1	2	23	8	+15	28	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	4–0
2	Sweden	12	8	2	2	23	9	+14	26			2–0	—	1–1	0–0	2–1	5–0	3–1
3	Northern Ireland	12	6	2	4	17	14	+3	20[a]			3–2	2–1	—	2–1	1–0	0–3	3–1
4	Denmark	12	6	2	4	21	11	+10	20[a]			1–3	0–3[b]	0–0	—	3–1	3–0	4–0
5	Latvia	12	4	0	8	15	17	−2	12			0–2	0–1	1–0	0–2	—	4–0	4–1
6	Iceland	12	2	2	8	10	27	−17	8			1–1	1–2	2–1	0–2	2–4	—	1–1
7	Liechtenstein	12	2	1	9	9	32	−23	7			0–2	0–3	1–4	0–4	1–0	3–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. 1 2 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.^{[12][13][14][15]} The match was awarded as a 3–0 forfeit win to Sweden by UEFA following a hearing on 8 June 2007.^[16][17][18]

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	12	9	2	1	26	7	+19	29	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–0	2–2	3–1	6–1	2–0	3–0
2	Netherlands	12	8	2	2	15	5	+10	26			0–0	—	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	1–0
3	Bulgaria	12	7	4	1	18	7	+11	25			1–0	1–1	—	2–1	0–0	3–0	3–0
4	Belarus	12	4	1	7	17	23	−6	13			1–3	2–1	0–2	—	2–2	4–2	0–1
5	Albania	12	2	5	5	12	18	−6	11[a]			0–2	0–1	1–1	2–4	—	0–0	2–0
6	Slovenia	12	3	2	7	9	16	−7	11[a]			1–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	—	2–0
7	Luxembourg	12	1	0	11	2	23	−21	3			0–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–3	0–3	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. 1 2 Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Qualification for the 2008 UEFA European Championship.

• UEFA Euro 2008 at UEFA.com