This page describes the qualifying procedure for the UEFA Euro 2008.

Seedings

Qualification coefficients were used to rank the teams according to their results in both UEFA Euro 2004 and FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying stages. Only the group matches, and not any additional playoffs, counted towards the coefficients, also determining which pot a national team was put in. Some points to note:

• Greece are European champions, thus were automatically seeded in the top pool.
• Portugal did not have to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004 as hosts. Only their record in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying was used.
• Germany did not have to qualify for the World Cup 2006 as hosts. Only their record in UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying was used.
• Kazakhstan had never competed in the European Championships, so only their World Cup record was used. The team's last continental qualifying was for the 2000 Asian Cup. Their record in that competition (P4, Pts6) is not used.
• After the independence from Serbia for Montenegro, Serbia took up the old Serbia & Montenegro's fixtures. Montenegro had not been admitted to UEFA/FIFA at the time the qualifying competition had started, and therefore will not compete until the qualifying for the next World Cup.

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

Pot	Team	Coefficient rating	Pot	Team	Coefficient rating
1	1	1.950	5		1.389
		2.550			1.300
		2.500			1.250
		2.500			1.167
		2.450			1.111
		2.444			1.050
		2.278			0.944
2		2.250	6		0.850
		2.222			0.750
		2.222			0.722
		2.100			0.700
		2.056			0.667
		2.056			0.667
		1.950			0.611
3		1.889	7		0.450
		1.850			0.389
		1.850			0.250
		1.778			0.222
		1.778			0.111
		1.750			0.083
		1.650			0.000
4		1.611			0.000
		1.556
		1.556
		1.550
		1.500
		1.500
		1.444

¹ Greece were first seeded, as European champions

 (1.333) and   (1.833) were already assured of places at Euro 2008 as host nations.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.

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 have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply.
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

Below is a table containing all seven qualifying groups. Teams that have secured a place in the final tournament are highlighted in green. The order of teams is by final group position.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G

Groups

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

The qualifying format had been changed compared to the previous tournament. The winners and runners-up from seven groups will automatically qualify for the Championship, with the hosts filling the other two slots in the 16-team tournament. The move means there will no longer be play-offs between teams finishing in second place in the groups. Six of the qualifying groups contain seven teams, and the other, eight.

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.

Key:

• Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Top goalscorers

Scorer	Goals	Mins played	Nation	Club
David Healy	13	1075'		Leeds United/Fulham
Eduardo	10	1061'		Arsenal
Euzebiusz Smolarek	9	824'		Racing Santander
Lukas Podolski	8	660'		Bayern Munich
Jon Dahl Tomasson	8	989'		Villarreal
Cristiano Ronaldo	8	1153'		Manchester United
Steffen Iversen	7	669'		Rosenborg
Mladen Petrić	7	677'		Borussia Dortmund
Nikola Žigić	7	867'		Valencia
David Villa	7	896'		Valencia

Source: UEFA

Qualified nations

Host nations	Qualifiers

Trivia

• Germany's 13-0 away victory against San Marino became the biggest win in UEFA European Championship qualifying history, beating the previous record of Spain's 12-1 win against Malta in 1983.
• Gary Caldwell scored the winner, as Scotland inflicted a first defeat upon France in competitive qualifiers, with a 1-0 win against Les Bleus being the first team to do so since Russia won 3-2 in Paris in the Euro 2000 qualifiers.
• Luxembourg ended their 12 year wait for a victory, with a 1-0 victory in Belarus, Fons Leweck scoring in the 5th minute of injury time.
• Poland got through the qualifying round for the first time in its history.
• David Healy became the record goalscorer in a single UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign when he scored his 13th goal for Northern Ireland (in 11 games) against Denmark on 17 November 2007, overtaking the previous best of 12 goals in 10 games by Croatia's Davor Šuker. Despite this feat, which saw his countrymen defeat three teams ranked in the World's top ten at the time, Spain, Denmark and Sweden, Northern Ireland crucially lost both fixtures against an Iceland side who failed to win any of their other twelve fixtures in the group and missed out on qualification in third place.
• England was the only seeded team not to qualify, whereas Russia was the only unseeded one to qualify.
• In the match between England and Croatia at Wembley, Tony Henry made a comical error whilst singing the national anthem of Croatia. He meant to sing "Mila kuda si planina" which roughly tanslates into English as "You know my dear how we love your mountains." He incorrectly sang "Mila ku'ra si planina" which can be interpreted as "My dear, my penis is a mountain."
• Germany were the qualifiers' biggest goalscorers with 35 goals. Slovakia finished 2nd with 33, despite missing out on qualification.
• The team with the highest FIFA ranking to fail to qualify was England, ranked #9. The lowest ranked team (other than the hosts) which did qualify for the tournament was Sweden, ranked #30.
• England's failure to qualify marked the first time since the 1994 FIFA World Cup that none of the home nations had qualified for a major tournament & the first time since Euro 84 that no teams from the Isles (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland) had qualified for a major tournament.

References

1. Explanation of the drawing and the procedure followed
2. Records tumble as Germany soar
3. Battling Scotland stun France
4. Luxembourg end 12-year wait for win
5. Smolarek sends Poland to first EURO
6. Healy keeps NI's Euro dream alive
7. Anthem gaffe 'lifted Croatia'
8. Ranking as of June 4, 2008

External links

• EURO 2008 seedings confirmed at UEFA.com
• Competition regulations (PDF file) at UEFA.com