UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates	20 April 1994 – 13 December 1995
Teams	47
Tournament statistics
Matches played	231
Goals scored	680 (2.94 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Davor Šuker (12 goals)
	← 1992 2000 →

Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group and the six best runners-up qualified automatically, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off at a neutral venue. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.

This was the first European Championship qualifying phase in which three points were awarded for each win, as opposed to the two points that had been awarded previously.

Qualified teams

Euro 1996 qualifiers — Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^[A]
England	Host	5 May 1992	4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992)
Spain	Group 2 winner	11 October 1995	4 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988)
Russia^[B]	Group 8 winner	11 October 1995	6 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992)
Switzerland	Group 3 winner	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Croatia	Group 4 winner	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Scotland	4th best runner-up	15 November 1995	1 (1992)
Bulgaria	2nd best runner-up	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Germany^[C]	Group 7 winner	15 November 1995	6 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
Romania	Group 1 winner	15 November 1995	1 (1984)
Turkey	3rd best runner-up	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Denmark	5th best runner-up	15 November 1995	4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992)
Czech Republic^[D]	Group 5 winner	15 November 1995	3 (1960, 1976, 1980)
Italy	Best runner-up	15 November 1995	3 (1968, 1980, 1988)
France	6th best runner-up	15 November 1995	3 (1960, 1984, 1992)
Portugal	Group 6 winner	15 November 1995	1 (1984)
Netherlands	Play-off winner	13 December 1995	4 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992)

^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
^ From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.
^ From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
^ From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.

Seedings

The draw was made on 22 January 1994 in Manchester. Denmark were seeded first as title holders, while the remaining 46 teams were divided into six pots. Yugoslavia did not enter qualifying as they were suspended due to United Nations Security Council Resolution 757.^[1]

Pool 1
Denmark (title holders)
France
Russia
Netherlands
Germany
Sweden
Italy
Republic of Ireland

Pool 2
Norway
Romania
Switzerland
Portugal
Greece
Spain
Wales
Ukraine

Pool 3
Bulgaria
Belgium
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Poland
Hungary
Czech Republic
Croatia

Pool 4
Iceland
Austria
Finland
Lithuania
Israel
Macedonia
Belarus
Georgia

Pool 5
Turkey
Latvia
Albania
Cyprus
Malta
Faroe Islands
Estonia
Slovakia

Pool 6
Luxembourg
San Marino
Liechtenstein
Slovenia
Moldova
Armenia
Azerbaijan

New entrants

New teams that joined UEFA's qualification games after the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA):

From the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
From the former Czechoslovakia: Czech Republic and Slovakia
From the former Yugoslavia: Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia
Liechtenstein

This was also the first UEFA Euro qualifying appearance for Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Lithuania.

Initially Czech Republic were in Pool 2 and Wales in Pool 3. Slovakia were initially in Pool 4, before being replaced by Macedonia and put into Pool 5 in place of Luxembourg who were moved down to Pool 6.

Summary

Group winners and the six best ranked runners-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 1996

The two worst runners-up advanced to the play-off

Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
Romania	Spain	Switzerland	Croatia	Czech Republic	Portugal	Germany	Russia
France	Denmark	Turkey	Italy	Netherlands	Republic of Ireland	Bulgaria	Scotland
Slovakia Poland Israel Azerbaijan	Belgium Macedonia Cyprus Armenia	Sweden Hungary Iceland	Lithuania Ukraine Slovenia Estonia	Norway Belarus Luxembourg Malta	Northern Ireland Austria Latvia Liechtenstein	Georgia Moldova Wales Albania	Greece Finland Faroe Islands San Marino

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tiebreakers were used to determine the final ranking:^[2]

Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
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).

Groups

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	10	6	3	1	18	9	+9	21	Qualify for final tournament	—	1–3	3–2	2–1	2–1	3–0
2	France	10	5	5	0	22	2	+20	20	Qualify for final tournament	0–0	—	4–0	1–1	2–0	10–0
3	Slovakia	10	4	2	4	14	18	−4	14		0–2	0–0	—	4–1	1–0	4–1
4	Poland	10	3	4	3	14	12	+2	13		0–0	0–0	5–0	—	4–3	1–0
5	Israel	10	3	3	4	13	13	0	12		1–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	—	2–0
6	Azerbaijan	10	0	1	9	2	29	−27	1		1–4	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	—

Source: UEFA

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	8	2	0	25	4	+21	26	Qualify for final tournament	—	3–0	1–1	3–0	6–0	1–0
2	Denmark	10	6	3	1	19	9	+10	21	Qualify for final tournament	1–1	—	3–1	1–0	4–0	3–1
3	Belgium	10	4	3	3	17	13	+4	15		1–4	1–3	—	1–1	2–0	2–0
4	FYR Macedonia	10	1	4	5	9	18	−9	7^[a]		0–2	1–1	0–5	—	3–0	1–2
5	Cyprus	10	1	4	5	6	20	−14	7^[a]		1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	2–0
6	Armenia	10	1	2	7	5	17	−12	5		0–2	0–2	0–2	2–2	0–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head points: FYR Macedonia 4, Cyprus 1.

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	8	5	2	1	15	7	+8	17	Qualify for final tournament	—	1–2	4–2	3–0	1–0
2	Turkey	8	4	3	1	16	8	+8	15	Qualify for final tournament	1–2	—	2–1	2–0	5–0
3	Sweden	8	2	3	3	9	10	−1	9		0–0	2–2	—	2–0	1–1
4	Hungary	8	2	2	4	7	13	−6	8		2–2	2–2	1–0	—	1–0
5	Iceland	8	1	2	5	3	12	−9	5		0–2	0–0	0–1	2–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	10	7	2	1	22	5	+17	23^[a]	Qualify for final tournament	—	1–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	7–1
2	Italy	10	7	2	1	20	6	+14	23^[a]	Qualify for final tournament	1–2	—	4–0	3–1	1–0	4–1
3	Lithuania	10	5	1	4	13	12	+1	16		0–0	0–1	—	1–3	2–1	5–0
4	Ukraine	10	4	1	5	11	15	−4	13		1–0	0–2	0–2	—	0–0	3–0
5	Slovenia	10	3	2	5	13	13	0	11		1–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	—	3–0
6	Estonia	10	0	0	10	3	31	−28	0		0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–3	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head points: Croatia 4, Italy 1.

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	10	6	3	1	21	6	+15	21	Qualify for final tournament	—	3–1	2–0	4–2	3–0	6–1
2	Netherlands	10	6	2	2	23	5	+18	20^[a]	Advance to play-off	0–0	—	3–0	1–0	5–0	4–0
3	Norway	10	6	2	2	17	7	+10	20^[a]		1–1	1–1	—	1–0	5–0	2–0
4	Belarus	10	3	2	5	8	13	−5	11		0–2	1–0	0–4	—	2–0	1–1
5	Luxembourg	10	3	1	6	3	21	−18	10		1–0	0–4	0–2	0–0	—	1–0
6	Malta	10	0	2	8	2	22	−20	2		0–0	0–4	0–1	0–2	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head points: Netherlands 4, Norway 1.

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	7	2	1	29	7	+22	23	Qualify for final tournament	—	3–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	8–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	5	2	3	17	11	+6	17^[a]	Advance to play-off	1–0	—	1–1	1–3	2–1	4–0
3	Northern Ireland	10	5	2	3	20	15	+5	17^[a]		1–2	0–4	—	5–3	1–2	4–1
4	Austria	10	5	1	4	29	14	+15	16		1–1	3–1	1–2	—	5–0	7–0
5	Latvia	10	4	0	6	11	20	−9	12		1–3	0–3	0–1	3–2	—	1–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	1	9	1	40	−39	1		0–7	0–0	0–4	0–4	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head points: Republic of Ireland 4, Northern Ireland 1.

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	8	1	1	27	10	+17	25	Qualify for final tournament	—	3–1	4–1	6–1	1–1	2–1
2	Bulgaria	10	7	1	2	24	10	+14	22	Qualify for final tournament	3–2	—	2–0	4–1	3–1	3–0
3	Georgia	10	5	0	5	14	13	+1	15		0–2	2–1	—	0–1	5–0	2–0
4	Moldova	10	3	0	7	11	27	−16	9		0–3	0–3	3–2	—	3–2	2–3
5	Wales	10	2	2	6	9	19	−10	8^[a]		1–2	0–3	0–1	1–0	—	2–0
6	Albania	10	2	2	6	10	16	−6	8^[a]		1–2	1–1	0–1	3–0	1–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head points: Wales 4, Albania 1.

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	10	8	2	0	34	5	+29	26	Qualify for final tournament	—	0–0	2–1	3–1	3–0	4–0
2	Scotland	10	7	2	1	19	3	+16	23	Qualify for final tournament	1–1	—	1–0	1–0	5–1	5–0
3	Greece	10	6	0	4	23	9	+14	18		0–3	1–0	—	4–0	5–0	2–0
4	Finland	10	5	0	5	18	18	0	15		0–6	0–2	2–1	—	5–0	4–1
5	Faroe Islands	10	2	0	8	10	35	−25	6		2–5	0–2	1–5	0–4	—	3–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	2	36	−34	0		0–7	0–2	0–4	0–2	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Ranking of second-placed teams

The runners-up of each of the eight groups were ranked in a table to decide which seven of them would qualify. The best six runners-up would qualify automatically, while the two worst would compete in a play-off at a neutral venue to determine the final qualifier. As one group had five teams and the others had six, results against fifth and sixth placed teams were not factored in (despite the fact that discarding results against sixth placed teams would’ve been sufficient).

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	4	Italy	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13	Qualify for final tournament
2	7	Bulgaria	6	4	0	2	14	8	+6	12
3	3	Turkey	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	11
4	8	Scotland	6	3	2	1	5	2	+3	11
5	2	Denmark	6	3	2	1	9	7	+2	11
6	1	France	6	2	4	0	8	2	+6	10
7	5	Netherlands	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8	Advance to play-off
8	6	Republic of Ireland	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7	Advance to play-off

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Drawing of lots.

Play-off

The bottom two runners-up, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, took part in a play-off on a neutral ground, Anfield, to determine the last team to qualify for the final tournament.