UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

Template:Short description Template:Qualification for championships (UEFA) 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 tournamentTemplate:Efn-ua
England		Template:Dts	4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992)
Spain	Group 2 winner	Template:Dts	4 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988)
RussiaTemplate:Efn-ua	Group 8 winner	Template:Dts	6 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992)
Switzerland	Group 3 winner	Template:Dts	0 (debut)
Croatia	Group 4 winner	Template:Dts	0 (debut)
Scotland		Template:Dts	1 (1992)
Bulgaria		Template:Dts	0 (debut)
GermanyTemplate:Efn-ua	Group 7 winner	Template:Dts	6 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
Romania	Group 1 winner	Template:Dts	1 (1984)
Turkey		Template:Dts	0 (debut)
Denmark		Template:Dts	4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992)
Czech RepublicTemplate:Efn-ua	Group 5 winner	Template:Dts	3 (1960, 1976, 1980)
Italy		Template:Dts	3 (1968, 1980, 1988)
France		Template:Dts	3 (1960, 1984, 1992)
Portugal	Group 6 winner	Template:Dts	1 (1984)
Netherlands		Template:Dts	4 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992)

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.

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 REDIRECT Template:Country data North 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
File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania	File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain	File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland	File:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia	File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic	File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal	File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia
File:Flag of France (lighter variant).svg France	File:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark	File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey	File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	File:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland	File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria	File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel File:Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium REDIRECT Template:Country data North Macedonia File:Flag of Cyprus (1960–2006).svg Cyprus File:Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia	File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary File:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland	File:Flag of Lithuania (1988-2004).svg Lithuania File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia	File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway File:Flag of Belarus (1995–2012).svg Belarus File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg File:Flag of Malta.svg Malta	File:Ulster Banner.svg Northern Ireland File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia File:Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Liechtenstein	File:Flag of Georgia (1990–2004).svg Georgia File:Flag of Moldova (1990–2010).svg Moldova File:Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales File:Flag of Albania (1992–2002).svg Albania	File:Flag of Greece.svg Greece File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of the Faroe Islands.svg Faroe Islands File:Flag of San Marino (1862–2011).svg 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:

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 away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
4. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
5. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
6. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
7. 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

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). Template:UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying group tables

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. {{#lst:UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying play-off|Match}}

External links

• UEFA Euro 1996 at UEFA.com