UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 1996 final tournament took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, in a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group along with the six best runners-up automatically qualified, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off on a neutral ground. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.

This was the first time for the qualifying phase for the European Football Championship which awarded three points instead of two for a win.

Seedings

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

The draw was made on 22 January 1994 in Manchester.

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

New entrants

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

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

  Winner of each group and the six best runners-up qualified directly for the UEFA Euro 1996

  The Runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs)

  Other teams were eliminated after the first round

Hosts

•  England

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 Albania Wales	Greece Finland Faroe Islands San Marino

Groups

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Romania 10 6 3 1 18 9 +9 21  France 10 5 5 0 22 2 +20 20  Slovakia 10 4 2 4 14 18 −4 14  Poland 10 3 4 3 14 12 +2 13  Israel 10 3 3 4 13 13 0 12  Azerbaijan 10 0 1 9 2 29 −27 1

Azerbaijan  – 0–2 0–2 0–0 1–4 0–1 France  10–0 – 2–0 1–1 0–0 4–0 Israel  2–0 0–0 – 2–1 1–1 2–2 Poland  1–0 0–0 4–3 – 0–0 5–0 Romania  3–0 1–3 2–1 2–1 – 3–2 Slovakia  4–1 0–0 1–0 4–1 0–2 –

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 10 8 2 0 25 4 +21 26  Denmark 10 6 3 1 19 9 +10 21  Belgium 10 4 3 3 17 13 +4 15  Macedonia 10 1 4 5 9 18 −9 7  Cyprus 10 1 4 5 6 20 −14 7  Armenia 10 1 2 7 5 17 −12 5

Armenia  – 0–2 0–0 0–2 2–2 0–2 Belgium  2–0 – 2–0 1–3 1–1 1–4 Cyprus  2–0 1–1 – 1–1 1–1 1–2 Denmark  3–1 3–1 4–0 – 1–0 1–1 Macedonia  1–2 0–5 3–0 1–1 – 0–2 Spain  1–0 1–1 6–0 3–0 3–0 –

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Switzerland 8 5 2 1 15 7 +8 17  Turkey 8 4 3 1 16 8 +8 15  Sweden 8 2 3 3 9 10 −1 9  Hungary 8 2 2 4 7 13 −6 8  Iceland 8 1 2 5 3 12 −9 5

Hungary  – 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–2 Iceland  2–1 – 0–1 0–2 0–0 Sweden  2–0 1–1 – 0–0 2–2 Switzerland   3–0 1–0 4–2 – 1–2 Turkey  2–0 5–0 2–1 1–2 –

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Croatia 10 7 2 1 22 5 +17 23  Italy 10 7 2 1 20 6 +14 23  Lithuania 10 5 1 4 13 12 +1 16  Ukraine 10 4 1 5 11 15 −4 13  Slovenia 10 3 2 5 13 13 0 11  Estonia 10 0 0 10 3 31 −28 0

Croatia  – 7–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 4–0 Estonia  0–2 – 0–2 0–1 1–3 0–1 Italy  1–2 4–1 – 4–0 1–0 3–1 Lithuania  0–0 5–0 0–1 – 2–1 1–3 Slovenia  1–2 3–0 1–1 1–2 – 3–2 Ukraine  1–0 3–0 0–2 0–2 0–0 –

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Czech Republic 10 6 3 1 21 6 +15 21  Netherlands 10 6 2 2 23 5 +18 20  Norway 10 6 2 2 17 7 +10 20  Belarus 10 3 2 5 8 13 −5 11  Luxembourg 10 3 1 6 3 21 −18 10  Malta 10 0 2 8 2 22 −20 2

Belarus  – 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 0–4 Czech Republic  4–2 – 3–0 6–1 3–1 2–0 Luxembourg  0–0 1–0 – 1–0 0–4 0–2 Malta  0–2 0–0 0–1 – 0–4 0–1 Netherlands  1–0 0–0 5–0 4–0 – 3–0 Norway  1–0 1–1 5–0 2–0 1–1 –

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Portugal 10 7 2 1 29 7 +22 23  Republic of Ireland 10 5 2 3 17 11 +6 17  Northern Ireland 10 5 2 3 20 15 +5 17  Austria 10 5 1 4 29 14 +15 16  Latvia 10 4 0 6 11 20 −9 12  Liechtenstein 10 0 1 9 1 40 −39 1

Austria  – 5–0 7–0 1–2 1–1 3–1 Latvia  3–2 – 1–0 0–1 1–3 0–3 Liechtenstein  0–4 0–1 – 0–4 0–7 0–0 Northern Ireland  5–3 1–2 4–1 – 1–2 0–4 Portugal  1–0 3–2 8–0 1–1 – 3–0 Republic of Ireland  1–3 2–1 4–0 1–1 1–0 –

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Germany 10 8 1 1 27 10 +17 25  Bulgaria 10 7 1 2 24 10 +14 22  Georgia 10 5 0 5 14 13 +1 15  Moldova 10 3 0 7 11 27 −16 9  Albania 10 2 2 6 10 16 −6 8  Wales 10 2 2 6 9 19 −10 8

Albania  – 1–1 0–1 1–2 3–0 1–1 Bulgaria  3–0 – 2–0 3–2 4–1 3–1 Georgia  2–0 2–1 – 0–2 0–1 5–0 Germany  2–1 3–1 4–1 – 6–1 1–1 Moldova  2–3 0–3 3–2 0–3 – 3–2 Wales  2–0 0–3 0–1 1–2 1–0 –

Group 8

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Russia 10 8 2 0 34 5 +29 26  Scotland 10 7 2 1 19 3 +16 23  Greece 10 6 0 4 23 9 +14 18  Finland 10 5 0 5 18 18 0 15  Faroe Islands 10 2 0 8 10 35 −25 6  San Marino 10 0 0 10 2 36 −34 0

Faroe Islands  – 0–4 1–5 2–5 3–0 0–2 Finland  5–0 – 2–1 0–6 4–1 0–2 Greece  5–0 4–0 – 0–3 2–0 1–0 Russia  3–0 3–1 2–1 – 4–0 0–0 San Marino  1–3 0–2 0–4 0–7 – 0–2 Scotland  5–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 5–0 –

Runners-up

The runners-up of each of the eight groups were placed in a table to decide which seven of them would qualify. The best six runners-up would qualify automatically, while the two worst would play-off on a neutral ground to determine the final qualifier. To determine the two worst runners-up, a comparison was made between all of them. Only matches played against teams that finished first, third and fourth were regarded.

Legend
Countries that advanced to the final tournament
Countries that advanced to the play-off

Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
4	Italy	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13
7	Bulgaria	6	4	0	2	14	8	+6	12
3	Turkey	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	11
8	Scotland	6	3	2	1	5	2	+3	11
2	Denmark	6	3	2	1	9	7	+2	11
1	France	6	2	4	0	8	2	+6	10
5	Netherlands	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8
6	Republic of Ireland	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7

Play-off

The bottom two runners-up took part in a play-off on a neutral ground to determine the final team to qualify.

Republic of Ireland  v  Netherlands

13 December 1995 20:00 UTC±0

Republic of Ireland	0–2	Netherlands
	Report	Kluivert  29', 88'

Anfield, Liverpool Attendance: 40,050 Referee: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus)

References

• European Championship 1996 qualifications at RSSSF.com
• European Championship 1996 qualification match reports at Scoreshelf.com