UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying

The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at various times between May 1982 and December 1983, with some groups concluding earlier than others.

Draw

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

The draw took place on 8 January 1982 in Paris, France. 32 teams were drawn from the five pots into the seven groups. France qualified automatically as hosts. Teams qualified to the final tournament are in bold.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
West Germany  Poland  Spain  Italy  Yugoslavia  England  Belgium	Czechoslovakia  Austria  Netherlands  Soviet Union  East Germany  Hungary  Wales	Scotland  Northern Ireland  Republic of Ireland  Romania  Greece  Portugal  Bulgaria	Sweden  Denmark   Switzerland  Finland  Turkey  Norway  Iceland	Albania  Malta  Cyprus  Luxembourg

Summary

There were a number of extremely close finishes in some of the qualifying groups. In Group 2, Portugal edged out the USSR by beating them narrowly 1–0 on a penalty by Rui Jordão in Lisbon on the final day. Meanwhile, in Group 5, again on the final day, Romania managed to hold on for a tense 1–1 draw in Bratislava and qualify at the expense of Czechoslovakia. A major surprise in this group was the poor performance of then-World Cup holders Italy, who were rebuilding after the retirement of many of their 1982 heroes and quickly dropped out of contention.

Another surprise was the qualification of Denmark in Group 3 at the expense of England. Having conceded a 2–2 draw at home against the Three Lions, the hitherto unknown Danes performed well in their other qualifiers and capped their impressive campaign with a 1–0 win at Wembley, while England dropped a point at home against Greece that ultimately cost them the qualifying berth.

There was also heartbreak for Northern Ireland in Group 6. After managing to beat hot favourites West Germany both home and away earlier in the campaign, they came within 11 minutes of making it to France, but could only look on as Gerd Strack scored a crucial late winning goal for the West Germans in their own final fixture at home to Albania.

In Group 7, The Netherlands thought they had done enough to qualify, given that their closest rivals Spain went into the very last match needing to beat Malta by eleven goals in order to qualify. And when Spain went in at half-time in Seville leading the Maltese minnows by a margin of only 3–1, the Dutch could have been forgiven for assuming they were home and dry. Spain, incredibly, then proceeded to score nine more goals in the second half, the last of them coming in the 83rd minute from Juan Señor, to book an unlikely passage to the finals. UEFA has since changed its rules: all teams now play their final game at exactly the same time and date, so that none of the teams has an advantage. Also, overall goal difference is now de-emphasized in the tie-breakers in favour of head-to-head results.

Things were tightest of all in Group 4, where Wales, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all in contention until the final few seconds of the last match in the group, between the latter two teams in Split. A draw would have put the onlooking Welsh through to the finals, but just moments after Bulgaria had squandered a glorious chance to score the winning goal and seal their own qualification, Yugoslavian defender Ljubomir Radanović wrote himself into Balkan footballing history with the 90th-minute header that sent him and his team-mates to France.

Format

Four groups of five teams and three groups of four teams competed for qualification for UEFA Euro 1984. The teams played home and away matches against the other teams nations in their group. The seven teams that acquired the most points to win their respective group qualified for the main tournament, joining the host nation France.

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Belgium 6 4 1 1 12 8 +4 9   Switzerland 6 2 2 2 7 9 −2 6  East Germany 6 2 1 3 7 6 1 5  Scotland 6 1 2 3 7 10 −3 4

Belgium  – 2–1 3–2 3–0 East Germany  1–2 – 2–1 3–0 Scotland  1–1 1–0 – 2–2 Switzerland   3–1 0–0 2–0 –

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Portugal 6 5 0 1 11 6 +5 10  Soviet Union 6 4 1 1 11 2 +9 9  Poland 6 1 2 3 6 9 −3 4  Finland 6 0 1 5 3 14 −11 1

Finland  – 2–3 0–2 0–1 Poland  1–1 – 0–1 1–1 Portugal  5–0 2–1 – 1–0 Soviet Union  2–0 2–0 5–0 –

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Denmark 8 6 1 1 17 5 +12 13  England 8 5 2 1 23 3 +20 12  Greece 8 3 2 3 8 10 −2 8  Hungary 8 3 1 4 18 17 +1 7  Luxembourg 8 0 0 8 5 36 −31 0

Denmark  – 2–2 1–0 3–1 6–0 England  0–1 – 0–0 2–0 9–0 Greece  0–2 0–3 – 2–2 1–0 Hungary  1–0 0–3 2–3 – 6–2 Luxembourg  1–2 0–4 0–2 2–6 –

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Yugoslavia 6 3 2 1 12 11 +1 8  Wales 6 2 3 1 7 6 +1 7  Bulgaria 6 2 1 3 7 8 −1 5  Norway 6 1 2 3 7 8 −1 4

Bulgaria  – 2–2 1–0 0–1 Norway  1–2 – 0–0 3–1 Wales  1–0 1–0 – 1–1 Yugoslavia  3–2 2–1 4–4 –

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Romania 8 5 2 1 9 3 +6 12  Sweden 8 5 1 2 14 5 +9 11  Czechoslovakia 8 3 4 1 15 7 +8 10  Italy 8 1 3 4 6 12 −6 5  Cyprus 8 0 2 6 4 21 −17 2

Cyprus  – 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 Czechoslovakia  6–0 – 2–0 1–1 2–2 Italy  3–1 2–2 – 0–0 0–3 Romania  3–1 0–1 1–0 – 2–0 Sweden  5–0 1–0 2–0 0–1 –

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  West Germany 8 5 1 2 15 5 +10 11  Northern Ireland 8 5 1 2 8 5 +3 11  Austria 8 4 1 3 15 10 +5 9  Turkey 8 3 1 4 8 16 −8 7  Albania 8 0 2 6 4 14 −10 2

Albania  – 1–2 0–0 1–1 1–2 Austria  5–0 – 2–0 4–0 0–0 Northern Ireland  1–0 3–1 – 2–1 1–0 Turkey  1–0 3–1 1–0 – 0–3 West Germany  2–1 3–0 0–1 5–1 –

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 8 6 1 1 24 8 +16 13  Netherlands 8 6 1 1 22 6 +16 13  Republic of Ireland 8 4 1 3 20 10 +10 9  Iceland 8 1 1 6 3 13 −10 3  Malta 8 1 0 7 5 37 −32 2

Iceland  – 1–0 1–1 0–3 0–1 Malta  2–1 – 0–6 0–1 2–3 Netherlands  3–0 5–0 – 2–1 2–1 Republic of Ireland  2–0 8–0 2–3 – 3–3 Spain  1–0 12–1 1–0 2–0 –

Qualified nations

•  France
•  Belgium
•  Portugal
•  Denmark
•  Yugoslavia
•  Romania
•  West Germany
•  Spain

Goalscorers

During the qualification stage, 341 goals were scored over 116 matches, for an average of 2.94 goals per game.

7 goals

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

6 goals

Santillana

5 goals

Walter Schachner Nikos Anastopoulos

Tibor Nyilasi Ruud Gullit

Frank Stapleton Rudi Völler

4 goals

Erwin Vandenbergh Preben Elkjær Allan Simonsen

Joachim Streich Dick Schoenaker Antonio Maceda

Poli Rincón Dan Corneliusson

3 goals

François Van Der Elst Ladislav Vízek Michael Laudrup Luther Blissett

Trevor Francis Tony Woodcock József Póczik Peter Houtman

Laszlo Bölöni Juan Antonio Señor Safet Sušić

2 goals

Muhedin Targaj Felix Gasselich Max Hagmayr Ludo Coeck Václav Daněk Petr Janečka Petr Rada Glenn Hoddle Sammy Lee Paul Mariner Bryan Robson Gyula Hajszán László Kiss Atli Eðvaldsson Alessandro Altobelli Jeannot Reiter Carmel Busuttil

Frank Rijkaard Kees van Kooten Martin O'Neill Ian Stewart Norman Whiteside Åge Hareide Arne Larsen Økland Hallvar Thoresen Włodzimierz Smolarek Rui Jordão Carlos Manuel Nené Toni Liam Brady Gerry Daly Mark Lawrenson Kevin Sheedy

Gary Waddock Rodion Cămătaru Kenny Dalglish Charlie Nicholas John Wark Rafael Gordillo Andy Egli Ulf Eriksson Robert Prytz Glenn Strömberg Hasan Şengün Selçuk Yula Oleg Blokhin Fyodor Cherenkov Anatoliy Demyanenko Robbie James Ian Rush

1 goal

Genc Tomori Ernst Baumeister Karl Brauneder Agustin Kola Bruno Pezzey Toni Polster Herbert Prohaska Jan Ceulemans Heinz Lüdi Franky Vercauteren Georgi Dimitrov Plamen Nikolov Rusi Gochev Bozhidar Iskrenov Stoycho Mladenov Nasko Sirakov Boycho Velichkov Christos Omirou Fanis Theophanous Marios Tsingis Fivos Vrahimis Přemysl Bičovský Pavel Chaloupka Ladislav Jurkemik Milan Luhový Zdeněk Prokeš Jiří Sloup Klaus Berggreen Søren Busk Allan Hansen Søren Lerby Jesper Olsen Morten Olsen Rainer Ernst Ronald Kreer Hans Richter Terry Butcher Steve Coppell Mark Chamberlain Phil Neal Peter Withe Keijo Kousa

Ari Valvee Giorgos Kostikos Petros Mihos Dimitrios Saravakos Béla Bodonyi Győző Burcsa Péter Hannich József Kardos Gábor Pölöskei Lázár Szentes Antonio Cabrini Francesco Graziani Paolo Rossi Marteinn Geirsson Marcel Di Domenico Théo Malget Romain Schreiner Silvio Demanuele Emanuel Fabri Ernest Spiteri Gonzi Bud Brocken Hugo Hovenkamp Ronald Koeman Edo Ophof Marco van Basten Ben Wijnstekers Billy Hamilton John McClelland Tom Lund Zbigniew Boniek Dariusz Dziekanowski Paweł Król Janusz Kupcewicz Fernando Gomes José Luis Tony Grealish Ashley Grimes Kevin O'Callaghan Michael Robinson Mickey Walsh Ioan Andone Ion Geolgău

Michael Klein Florea Vaetus Eamonn Bannon Paul Sturrock Francisco José Carrasco Juanito Víctor Muñoz Manuel Sarabia Jean-Paul Brigger Alain Geiger Heinz Hermann Marco Schällibaum Claudio Sulser Glenn Hysén Mats Jingblad Andreas Ravelli Thomas Sunesson Arif Kocabıyık Metin Tekin Fatih Terim İlyas Tüfekçi Sergey Andreyev Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha Nikolay Larionov Sergey Rodionov Jeremy Charles Brian Flynn Joey Jones Wolfgang Dremmler Uli Stielike Gerhard Strack Mehmed Baždarević Zvezdan Cvetković Miodrag Ješić Zlatko Kranjčar Ljubomir Radanović Dušan Savić Nenad Stojković Zlatko Vujović Zvonko Živković

1 own goal

Ján Kapko (for Italy) Jukka Ikäläinen (for Portugal) Marcel Bossi (for England)

Paweł Janas (for Finland) Roman Wójcicki (for USSR) Mick Martin (for Spain)

Raşit Çetiner (for Albania)

External links

• Euro 84 Qualifying matches at uefa.com
• Tables and results at RSSSF.com