UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

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.

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(s)	David Healy (13 goals)
← 2004 2012 →

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

Qualified teams

 

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^[A]
Austria	Co-host	12 December 2002	0 (debut)
Switzerland			2 (1996, 2004)
Germany^[B]	Group D runner-up	13 October 2007	9 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Greece	Group C winner	17 October 2007	2 (1980, 2004)
Czech Republic^[C]	Group D winner	17 October 2007	6 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Romania	Group G winner	17 October 2007	3 (1984, 1996, 2000)
Poland	Group A winner	17 November 2007	0 (debut)
Italy	Group B winner	17 November 2007	6 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004)
France	Group B runner-up	17 November 2007	6 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Croatia	Group E winner	17 November 2007	2 (1996, 2004)
Spain	Group F winner	17 November 2007	7 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Netherlands	Group G runner-up	17 November 2007	7 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Portugal	Group A runner-up	21 November 2007	4 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Turkey	Group C runner-up	21 November 2007	2 (1996, 2000)
Russia^[D]	Group E runner-up	21 November 2007	8 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004)
Sweden	Group F runner-up	21 November 2007	3 (1992, 2000, 2004)

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.

Pot 1 Team Coeff Rank   Greece (title holders) 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

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

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G
Poland   Portugal	Italy   France	Greece   Turkey	Czech Republic   Germany	Croatia   Russia	Spain   Sweden	Romania   Netherlands
Serbia   Finland   Belgium   Kazakhstan   Armenia   Azerbaijan	Scotland   Ukraine   Lithuania   Georgia   Faroe Islands	Norway   Bosnia and Herzegovina   Moldova   Hungary   Malta	Republic of Ireland   Slovakia   Wales   Cyprus   San Marino	England   Israel   Macedonia   Estonia   Andorra	Northern Ireland   Denmark   Latvia   Iceland   Liechtenstein	Bulgaria   Belarus   Albania   Slovenia   Luxembourg

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

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A

Pos	Team v t e	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:
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

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group B

Pos	Team v t e	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:

Group C

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group C

Pos	Team v t e	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:
Notes:

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

Group D

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group D

Pos	Team v t e	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:

Group E

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group E

Pos	Team v t e	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:
Notes:

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

Group F

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F

Pos	Team v t e	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:
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

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G

Pos	Team v t e	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:
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

•   David Healy

10 goals

•   Eduardo

9 goals

•   Ebi Smolarek

8 goals

•   Jon Dahl Tomasson^{[note 1]}
•   Lukas Podolski
•   Cristiano Ronaldo

7 goals

•   Mladen Petrić
•   Steffen Iversen
•   Nikola Žigić
•   David Villa

6 goals

•   Dimitar Berbatov
•   Martin Petrov
•   Jan Koller
•   Thierry Henry
•   Roberto Colautti
•   Adrian Mutu
•   Marek Mintál
•   Marcus Allbäck

5 goals

•   Edmond Kapllani
•   Ioannis Okkas
•   Peter Crouch
•   Shota Arveladze
•   Miroslav Klose
•   Theofanis Gekas
•   Luca Toni
•   Dmitry Byakov
•   Māris Verpakovskis
•   Ciprian Marica
•   Aleksandr Kerzhakov
•   Hakan Şükür
•   Andriy Shevchenko

4 goals

•   Maksim Romaschenko
•   Mousa Dembélé
•   Zvjezdan Misimović
•   Zlatan Muslimović
•   Dennis Rommedahl
•   Michael Owen
•   Rógvi Jacobsen
•   Nicolas Anelka
•   Thomas Hitzlsperger
•   Zoltán Gera
•   Mario Frick
•   Tomas Danilevičius
•   Viorel Frunză
•   Robin van Persie
•   John Carew
•   Jacek Krzynówek
•   Kevin Doyle
•   Stephen Ireland
•   Robbie Keane
•   Nicolae Dică
•   Kris Boyd
•   James McFadden
•   Danko Lazović
•   Klemen Lavrič
•   Xavi
•   Johan Elmander^{[note 1]}
•   Oleh Husyev
•   Jason Koumas

3 goals

•   Sergei Kornilenko
•   Vitali Kutuzov
•   Darijo Srna
•   Efstathios Aloneftis
•   Constantinos Charalambidis
•   Milan Baroš
•   Libor Sionko
•   Steven Gerrard
•   Jari Litmanen
•   Sidney Govou
•   Aleksandre Iashvili
•   David Siradze
•   Michael Ballack
•   Kevin Kurányi
•   Bastian Schweinsteiger
•   Angelos Basinas
•   Angelos Charisteas
•   Sotirios Kyrgiakos
•   Nikos Liberopoulos
•   Eiður Guðjohnsen
•   Filippo Inzaghi
•   Juris Laizāns
•   Ilčo Naumoski
•   Goce Sedloski
•   Michael Mifsud
•   André Schembri
•   Igor Bugaiov
•   Radosław Matusiak
•   Nuno Gomes
•   Simão
•   Andrey Arshavin
•   Dmitri Sychev
•   Kenny Miller
•   Boško Janković
•   Marek Čech
•   Martin Škrtel
•   Andrés Iniesta
•   Kim Källström
•   Nihat Kahveci
•   Tuncay Şanlı
•   Craig Bellamy

2 goals

•   Ervin Skela
•   Robert Arzumanyan
•   Timofei Kalachev
•   Uladzimir Karytska
•   Karel Geraerts
•   Kevin Mirallas
•   Mirko Hrgović
•   Niko Kranjčar
•   Michalis Konstantinou
•   Marek Jankulovski
•   Marek Kulič
•   David Lafata
•   Tomáš Rosický
•   Nicklas Bendtner
•   Michael Gravgaard
•   Morten Nordstrand
•   Jermain Defoe
•   Wayne Rooney
•   Shaun Wright-Phillips
•   Raio Piiroja
•   Alexei Eremenko
•   Jonatan Johansson
•   Karim Benzema
•   Louis Saha
•   David Trezeguet
•   Clemens Fritz
•   Mario Gómez
•   Ioannis Amanatidis
•   Kostas Katsouranis
•   Elyaniv Barda
•   Yossi Benayoun
•   Amit Ben Shushan
•   Ben Sahar
•   Toto Tamuz
•   Antonio Di Natale
•   Fabio Quagliarella
•   Ruslan Baltiev
•   Ģirts Karlsons
•   Aleksejs Višņakovs
•   Thomas Beck
•   Audrius Kšanavičius
•   Goran Maznov
•   Goran Pandev
•   Serghei Rogaciov
•   Wesley Sneijder
•   Ruud van Nistelrooy
•   Kyle Lafferty
•   Erik Hagen
•   Morten Gamst Pedersen
•   John Arne Riise
•   Ole Gunnar Solskjær
•   Fredrik Strømstad
•   Hugo Almeida
•   Kevin Kilbane
•   Cosmin Contra
•   Dorin Goian
•   Daniel Niculae
•   Gabriel Tamaș
•   Vladimir Bystrov
•   Roman Pavlyuchenko

April 11, 2024