Qualifying Regulations
The group winners and group runners-up will qualify directly
for the final tournament.
If two or more teams finish group play with the same number
of points, their position in the group will be determined by these criteria:
a) Number of
points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
b) Goal difference resulting from
the matches among the teams in question
c) Number of away goals in the
matches among the teams in question
d) Results of all
qualifying-competition matches:
− Goal difference
− Number of goals
− Number of away goals
e) Fair play conduct of the teams
in question
f) Drawing of lots
Background
UEFA's Executive Committee awarded the
European Championship 2008 final tournament to Austria/Switzerland on 12
December 2002. The announcement was made by UEFA President Lennart
Johansson at the Hotel Intercontinental in Geneva the day after final
presentations supporting the seven bids were made at UEFA headquarters in
Nyon, Switzerland. Austria has never hosted a major football tournament;
Switzerland staged the World Cup final tournament in 1954.
There were six
other bids, four of them made jointly-- from Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Greece/Turkey, Hungary, Nordic 2008 (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden),
Russia, and Scotland/Republic of Ireland. The 2008 tournament will be
the second time the European Championship finals have been jointly hosted.
The Netherlands and Belgium staged the 2000 tournament.
The 2008 tournament will begin on 7 June
with the opening match at St. Jakob Park in Basel and end with the final
match at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna on 29 June. The preliminary
qualifying competition will begin in 2006. As host nations, Austria and Switzerland both qualify automatically for the final tournament
and will not take part in qualification matches.
The draw procedure had been announced on 19 January 2006 for
the European Championship 2008 qualifying competition draw to take place in
Montreux, Switzerland on 27 January at 12.00CET. Fifty countries will go
into the draw, with Austria and Switzerland qualifying automatically as co-hosts
of the final round in three summers' time. All 52 UEFA member associations
have entered the competition. The qualifying competition will
consist of seven groups: 1 group of 8 teams (Group A) and 6 groups
of 7 teams (Groups B-G). Based on a league system on a home-and-away
basis, to be played according to the international match calendar between
September 2006 and November 2007. The associations in a group have 90 days
after the draw in which to agree on the order of their matches. If the
associations in question are unable to reach agreement, the games will take
place according to a standard fixture list drawn up by the UEFA administration.
The 7 winners and 7 runners-up of each group qualify for the final tournament.
Allocation of teams to pots - The 50 teams
are allocated into 7 pots. Pots 1-6 contain 7 teams, Pot 7 contains 8 teams.
The sides are classified on the basis of their results in the qualifying
competitions for the 2004 UEFA European Championship and the 2006 FIFA World
Cup. The pots and their teams were:
Pot 1: 1. Greece; 2. Netherlands; 3.
Portugal;
4. England; 5. Czech Republic; 6. France; 7. Sweden.
Pot 2: 8. Germany; 9.
Croatia; 10. Italy; 11. Turkey; 12. Poland; 13. Spain; 14. Romania.
Pot 3: 15. Serbia and
Montenegro; 16. Russia; 17. Denmark; 18. Norway; 19. Bulgaria; 20. Ukraine; 21.
Slovakia.
Pot 4: 22.
Bosnia-Herzegovina; 23. Republic of Ireland; 24. Belgium; 25. Latvia; 26.
Israel; 27. Scotland; 28. Slovenia.
Pot 5: 29. Hungary; 30.
Finland; 31. Estonia; 32. Wales; 33. Lithuania; 34. Albania; 35. Iceland.
Pot 6: 36. Georgia; 37.
F.Y.R. Macedonia; 38. Belarus; 39. Armenia; 40. Northern Ireland; 41. Cyprus;
42. Moldova.
Pot 7: 43. Liechtenstein;
44. Azerbaijan; 45. Andorra; 46. Malta; 47. Faroe Islands; 48. Kazakhstan; 49.
Luxembourg; 50. San Marino.
The draw starts with Pot 7 and ends with Pot
1 in order to ensure the strongest teams are drawn last. Each pot is entirely
emptied before proceeding to the next pot. A ball will first be drawn from
Pot 7 to determine the team in the eighth position of Group A. Then, a
second ball will be drawn from Pot 7 to determine the team in the seventh
position of Group B. The third ball drawn from Pot 7 will determine the
team in the seventh position of Group C. The same procedure is repeated
until the seventh position of Group G is filled. The last ball from Pot 7 will
determine the side in the seventh position of Group A. Then the 7
teams in Pot 6 are drawn into the sixth position of each group, starting with
Group A and ending with Group G (in alphabetical order). The same
procedure applies to Pots 5-1 taking into consideration the respective positions
within the respective groups.
|
European
Championship 2008 Preliminary Groups |
Group A
- |
Group B
- |
Group C
- |
Group D
- |
| -Portugal |
-France |
-Greece |
-Czech Republic |
| -Poland |
-Italy |
-Turkey |
-Germany |
| -Serbia & Montenegro |
-Ukraine |
-Norway |
-Slovakia |
| -Belgium |
-Scotland |
-Bosnia~Herzegovina |
-Republic of Ireland |
| -Finland |
-Lithuania |
-Hungary |
-Wales |
| -Armenia |
-Georgia |
-Moldova |
-Cyprus |
| -Azerbaijan |
-Faroe Islands |
-Malta |
-San Marino |
| -Kazakhstan |
|
|
|
Group E
- |
Group F
- |
Group G
- |
|
| -England |
-Sweden |
-Netherlands |
| -Croatia |
-Spain |
-Romania |
| -Russia |
-Denmark |
-Bulgaria |
| -Israel |
-Latvia |
-Slovenia |
| -Estonia |
-Iceland |
-Albania |
| -FYR Macedonia |
-Northern Ireland |
-Belarus |
| -Andorra |
-Liechtenstein |
-Luxembourg |
Final Tournament Venues
and Matches
Vienna - Ernst Happel Stadion, 50,008
- opened 1931 and completely renovated
Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu Stadion,
30,600 - opened in the summer of 2000 with a capacity of 15,200 to be
increased to 30,600 by 2004
Klagenfurt - Waidmannsdorf
Stadion ("Worthersee Arena"), 40,000 - scheduled for completion
by 2004 with an increase of the original capacity of 30,757 to 40,000
planned after the success of the Euro 2008 bid
Salzburg - Stadion Salzburg, 32,700 -
scheduled for completion in the spring of 2003 in the Wals-Siezenheim district
on the outskirts of Salzburg
Berne - Stadion Wankdorf, 40,228 -
scheduled to open in 2005 and replacing the old Wankdorf, venue for the
World Cup 1954 final match
Basel - St. Jakob Park, 30,132 -
opened 15 March 2001 and replacing the old St. Jakob's Stadion, venue for
several World Cup 1954 final tournament matches
Geneva - Stade de Genève 30,502 -
opened 16 March 2003 for a club match but to be officially inaugurated by a
friendly match between Switzerland and Italy on 30 April 2003
Zürich - Stadion Zürich, 30,016 -
scheduled for completion in 2006 and replacing the old Hardturn Stadion
Group A - Bern and Geneva
Group B - Basel and Zürich
Group C - Innsbruck and Salzburg
Group D - Klagenfurt and Vienna
Quarter-finals - two in Vienna, two in
Bern
Semi-finals - Vienna and Bern
Final - Vienna
New Trophy
The new UEFA European Championship trophy is 18 centimetres
higher and two kilos heavier than the original designed by Arthus Bertrand in
1960 and named after Henri Delaunay, the former president of the French
Football Federation. The upper part of the trophy is based on the original and
is also made out of sterling silver. The new trophy, created by Asprey London,
will also retain its historical name.
____________________
PY/CG
England
Football Online