UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

Tournament details
Dates	20 April 1994 – 13 December 1995
Teams	47
Tournament statistics
Matches played	231
Goals scored	680 (2.94 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Davor Šuker (12 goals)
← 1992 2000 →

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

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament [A]
England	Host	5 May 1992	4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992)
Spain	Group 2 winner	11 October 1995	4 ( 1964 , 1980, 1984, 1988)
Russia [B]	Group 8 winner	11 October 1995	6 ( 1960 , 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992)
Switzerland	Group 3 winner	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Croatia	Group 4 winner	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Scotland	4th best runner-up	15 November 1995	1 (1992)
Bulgaria	2nd best runner-up	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Germany [C]	Group 7 winner	15 November 1995	6 ( 1972 , 1976, 1980 , 1984, 1988 , 1992)
Romania	Group 1 winner	15 November 1995	1 (1984)
Turkey	3rd best runner-up	15 November 1995	0 (debut)
Denmark	5th best runner-up	15 November 1995	4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992 )
Czech Republic [D]	Group 5 winner	15 November 1995	3 (1960, 1976 , 1980)
Italy	Best runner-up	15 November 1995	3 ( 1968 , 1980 , 1988)
France	6th best runner-up	15 November 1995	3 ( 1960 , 1984 , 1992)
Portugal	Group 6 winner	15 November 1995	1 (1984)
Netherlands	Play-off winner	13 December 1995	4 (1976, 1980, 1988 , 1992)

1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
2. From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.
3. From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
4. From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.

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. ^[1]

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   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
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 Wales Albania	Greece Finland Faroe Islands 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: ^[2]

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

Group 1

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	10	6	3	1	18	9	+9	21	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–3	3–2	2–1	2–1	3–0
2	France	10	5	5	0	22	2	+20	20			0–0	—	4–0	1–1	2–0	10–0
3	Slovakia	10	4	2	4	14	18	−4	14			0–2	0–0	—	4–1	1–0	4–1
4	Poland	10	3	4	3	14	12	+2	13			0–0	0–0	5–0	—	4–3	1–0
5	Israel	10	3	3	4	13	13	0	12			1–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	—	2–0
6	Azerbaijan	10	0	1	9	2	29	−27	1			1–4	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	—

Source: UEFA

Group 2

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	8	2	0	25	4	+21	26	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–0	1–1	3–0	6–0	1–0
2	Denmark	10	6	3	1	19	9	+10	21			1–1	—	3–1	1–0	4–0	3–1
3	Belgium	10	4	3	3	17	13	+4	15			1–4	1–3	—	1–1	2–0	2–0
4	FYR Macedonia	10	1	4	5	9	18	−9	7 [a]			0–2	1–1	0–5	—	3–0	1–2
5	Cyprus	10	1	4	5	6	20	−14	7 [a]			1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	2–0
6	Armenia	10	1	2	7	5	17	−12	5			0–2	0–2	0–2	2–2	0–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: FYR Macedonia 4, Cyprus 1.

Group 3

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	8	5	2	1	15	7	+8	17	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–2	4–2	3–0	1–0
2	Turkey	8	4	3	1	16	8	+8	15			1–2	—	2–1	2–0	5–0
3	Sweden	8	2	3	3	9	10	−1	9			0–0	2–2	—	2–0	1–1
4	Hungary	8	2	2	4	7	13	−6	8			2–2	2–2	1–0	—	1–0
5	Iceland	8	1	2	5	3	12	−9	5			0–2	0–0	0–1	2–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group 4

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	10	7	2	1	22	5	+17	23 [a]	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	7–1
2	Italy	10	7	2	1	20	6	+14	23 [a]			1–2	—	4–0	3–1	1–0	4–1
3	Lithuania	10	5	1	4	13	12	+1	16			0–0	0–1	—	1–3	2–1	5–0
4	Ukraine	10	4	1	5	11	15	−4	13			1–0	0–2	0–2	—	0–0	3–0
5	Slovenia	10	3	2	5	13	13	0	11			1–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	—	3–0
6	Estonia	10	0	0	10	3	31	−28	0			0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–3	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Croatia 4, Italy 1.

Group 5

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	10	6	3	1	21	6	+15	21	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–1	2–0	4–2	3–0	6–1
2	Netherlands	10	6	2	2	23	5	+18	20 [a]	Advance to play-off		0–0	—	3–0	1–0	5–0	4–0
3	Norway	10	6	2	2	17	7	+10	20 [a]			1–1	1–1	—	1–0	5–0	2–0
4	Belarus	10	3	2	5	8	13	−5	11			0–2	1–0	0–4	—	2–0	1–1
5	Luxembourg	10	3	1	6	3	21	−18	10			1–0	0–4	0–2	0–0	—	1–0
6	Malta	10	0	2	8	2	22	−20	2			0–0	0–4	0–1	0–2	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Netherlands 4, Norway 1.

Group 6

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	7	2	1	29	7	+22	23	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	8–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	5	2	3	17	11	+6	17 [a]	Advance to play-off		1–0	—	1–1	1–3	2–1	4–0
3	Northern Ireland	10	5	2	3	20	15	+5	17 [a]			1–2	0–4	—	5–3	1–2	4–1
4	Austria	10	5	1	4	29	14	+15	16			1–1	3–1	1–2	—	5–0	7–0
5	Latvia	10	4	0	6	11	20	−9	12			1–3	0–3	0–1	3–2	—	1–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	1	9	1	40	−39	1			0–7	0–0	0–4	0–4	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Republic of Ireland 4, Northern Ireland 1.

Group 7

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	8	1	1	27	10	+17	25	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–1	4–1	6–1	1–1	2–1
2	Bulgaria	10	7	1	2	24	10	+14	22			3–2	—	2–0	4–1	3–1	3–0
3	Georgia	10	5	0	5	14	13	+1	15			0–2	2–1	—	0–1	5–0	2–0
4	Moldova	10	3	0	7	11	27	−16	9			0–3	0–3	3–2	—	3–2	2–3
5	Wales	10	2	2	6	9	19	−10	8 [a]			1–2	0–3	0–1	1–0	—	2–0
6	Albania	10	2	2	6	10	16	−6	8 [a]			1–2	1–1	0–1	3–0	1–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Wales 4, Albania 1.

Group 8

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	10	8	2	0	34	5	+29	26	Qualify for final tournament		—	0–0	2–1	3–1	3–0	4–0
2	Scotland	10	7	2	1	19	3	+16	23			1–1	—	1–0	1–0	5–1	5–0
3	Greece	10	6	0	4	23	9	+14	18			0–3	1–0	—	4–0	5–0	2–0
4	Finland	10	5	0	5	18	18	0	15			0–6	0–2	2–1	—	5–0	4–1
5	Faroe Islands	10	2	0	8	10	35	−25	6			2–5	0–2	1–5	0–4	—	3–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	2	36	−34	0			0–7	0–2	0–4	0–2	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

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).

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	4	Italy	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13	Qualify for final tournament
2	7	Bulgaria	6	4	0	2	14	8	+6	12
3	3	Turkey	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	11
4	8	Scotland	6	3	2	1	5	2	+3	11
5	2	Denmark	6	3	2	1	9	7	+2	11
6	1	France	6	2	4	0	8	2	+6	10
7	5	Netherlands	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8	Advance to play-off
8	6	Republic of Ireland	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Drawing of lots.

Play-off

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying 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.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Republic of Ireland	0–2	Netherlands

Goalscorers

There were 680 goals scored in 231 matches, for an average of 2.94 goals per match.

12 goals

• Davor Šuker

11 goals

• Toni Polster

10 goals

• Hristo Stoichkov

9 goals

• Jürgen Klinsmann

7 goals

• Emil Kostadinov
• Mixu Paatelainen
• Gianfranco Zola
• Andrzej Juskowiak
• Hakan Şükür

6 goals

• Patrik Berger
• Ronen Harazi
• Domingos Paciência

5 goals

• Syarhey Herasimets
• Kim Vilfort
• Youri Djorkaeff
• Vīts Rimkus
• Iain Dowie
• Paulo Alves
• John Aldridge
• Florin Răducioiu
• Igor Kolyvanov
• Tymerlan Huseynov

4 goals

• Sokol Kushta
• Peter Stöger
• Marc Degryse
• Michael Laudrup
• Todi Jónsson
• Jari Litmanen
• Shota Arveladze
• Temur Ketsbaia
• Alexis Alexandris
• Nikos Machlas
• Panagiotis Tsalouchidis
• Fabrizio Ravanelli
• Marc Overmars
• Clarence Seedorf
• Jimmy Quinn
• Rui Costa
• Vasili Kulkov
• Dmitri Radchenko
• Scott Booth
• John Collins
• Zlatko Zahovič
• Fernando Hierro

3 goals

• Krasimir Balakov
• Marios Agathokleous
• Radek Drulák
• Horst Siegl
• Martin Reim
• Georgi Kinkladze
• Ulf Kirsten
• Andreas Möller
• Ronny Rosenthal
• Armands Zeiberliņš
• Darius Maciulevičius
• Arūnas Šuika
• Boško Gjurovski
• Ronald de Boer
• Wim Jonk
• Patrick Kluivert
• Youri Mulder
• Bryan Roy
• Phil Gray
• Michael O'Neill
• Henning Berg
• Jan Åge Fjørtoft
• Kjetil Rekdal
• Roman Kosecki
• Luís Figo
• João Pinto
• Niall Quinn
• Marius Lăcătuș
• Sergei Kiriakov
• Peter Dubovský
• Tibor Jančula
• Primož Gliha
• Sašo Udovič
• Julio Salinas
• Kubilay Türkyilmaz

2 goals

• Altin Rraklli
• Razmik Grigoryan
• Armen Shahgeldyan
• Andi Herzog
• Adi Hütter
• Nazim Suleymanov
• Gilles De Bilde
• Georges Grün
• Luc Nilis
• Gunther Schepens
• Enzo Scifo
• Lyuboslav Penev
• Zvonimir Boban
• Robert Prosinečki
• Andreas Sotiriou
• Tomáš Skuhravý
• Mikkel Beck
• Michael Schjønberg
• Ari Hjelm
• Antti Sumiala
• Vincent Guérin
• Frank Leboeuf
• Zinedine Zidane
• Lothar Matthäus
• Matthias Sammer
• Giorgos Donis
• Demis Nikolaidis
• Gábor Halmai
• Béla Illés
• József Kiprich
• Demetrio Albertini
• Valdas Ivanauskas
• Serghei Cleșcenco
• Iurie Miterev
• Øyvind Leonhardsen
• Piotr Nowak
• Paulinho Santos
• Tommy Coyne
• John Sheridan
• Gheorghe Hagi
• Dorinel Munteanu
• Vladimir Beschastnykh
• Valeri Karpin
• Yuriy Nikiforov
• Igor Shalimov
• Ally McCoist
• John McGinlay
• Billy McKinlay
• Jaroslav Timko
• Džoni Novak
• José Luis Caminero
• Donato
• Luis Enrique
• Julen Guerrero
• Juan Antonio Pizzi
• Kennet Andersson
• Tomas Brolin
• Martin Dahlin
• Thomas Bickel
• Christophe Ohrel
• Ciriaco Sforza
• Nestor Subiat
• Saffet Sancaklı
• Sergen Yalçın
• Dean Saunders
• Gary Speed

1 goal

• Arjan Bellaj
• Salvador Kaçaj
• Rudi Vata
• Hysen Zmijani
• Artur Petrosyan
• Franz Aigner
• Dietmar Kühbauer
• Andreas Ogris
• Heimo Pfeifenberger
• Marcus Pürk
• Dieter Ramusch
• Herfried Sabitzer
• Markus Schopp
• Christian Stumpf
• Arnold Wetl
• Ihar Hurynovich
• Miroslav Romaschenko
• Alyaksandr Taykow
• Gert Verheyen
• Bruno Versavel
• Trifon Ivanov
• Yordan Letchkov
• Alen Bokšić
• Nikola Jerkan
• Nikola Jurčević
• Ardian Kozniku
• Mladen Mladenović
• Igor Štimac
• Costas Fasouliotis
• Martin Frýdek
• Miroslav Kadlec
• Luboš Kubík
• Pavel Kuka
• Václav Němeček
• Daniel Šmejkal
• Jan Suchopárek
• John Jensen
• Brian Laudrup
• Allan Nielsen
• Peter Nielsen
• Flemming Povlsen
• Mark Strudal
• Jens Kristian Hansen
• Henning Jarnskor
• Julian Johnsson
• Jan Allan Müller
• Jens Erik Rasmussen
• Petri Helin
• Janne Lindberg
• Kim Suominen
• Laurent Blanc
• Christophe Cocard
• Marcel Desailly
• Christophe Dugarry
• David Ginola
• Christian Karembeu
• Bixente Lizarazu
• Patrice Loko
• Jean-Pierre Papin
• Reynald Pedros
• Gocha Gogrichiani
• Zaza Janashia
• Markus Babbel
• Thomas Häßler
• Thomas Helmer
• Heiko Herrlich
• Thomas Strunz
• Christian Ziege
• Stratos Apostolakis
• Daniel Batista
• Kostas Frantzeskos
• Georgios Georgiadis
• Dimitris Markos
• Dimitris Saravakos
• Vassilios Tsiartas
• István Vincze
• Guðni Bergsson
• Arnar Gunnlaugsson
• Sigurður Jónsson
• Tal Banin
• Eyal Berkovic
• Haim Revivo
• Itzik Zohar
• Dino Baggio
• Pierluigi Casiraghi
• Alessandro Costacurta
• Alessandro Del Piero
• Attilio Lombardo
• Paolo Maldini
• Christian Panucci
• Vitālijs Astafjevs
• Vladimirs Babičevs
• Jevgeņijs Miļevskis
• Daniel Hasler
• Aurelijus Skarbalius
• Vaidotas Šlekys
• Ramūnas Stonkus
• Vyacheslav Sukristov
• Audrius Žuta
• Manuel Cardoni
• Guy Hellers
• Luc Holtz
• Zoran Boškovski
• Gjorgji Hristov
• Borče Jovanovski
• Ljupčo Markovski
• Toni Micevski
• Mitko Stojkovski
• David Carabott
• Kristian Laferla
• Serghei Belous
• Alexandru Curteian
• Igor Oprea
• Valeriu Pogorelov
• Radu Rebeja
• Serghei Secu
• Ion Testemițanu
• Dennis Bergkamp
• Aron Winter
• Keith Gillespie
• Michael Hughes
• Barry Hunter
• Steve Lomas
• Gerry McMahon
• Gunnar Aase
• Lars Bohinen
• Harald Brattbakk
• Jostein Flo
• Geir Frigård
• Mini Jakobsen
• Wojciech Kowalczyk
• Tomasz Wieszczycki
• Jorge Cadete
• Fernando Couto
• António Folha
• Hélder
• Oceano
• Carlos Secretário
• Ray Houghton
• Roy Keane
• Paul McGrath
• Andy Townsend
• Miodrag Belodedici
• Ilie Dumitrescu
• Dan Petrescu
• Gheorghe Popescu
• Daniel Prodan
• Dmitri Cheryshev
• Igor Dobrovolski
• Valery Kechinov
• Aleksandr Mostovoi
• Mukhsin Mukhamadiev
• Viktor Onopko
• Nikolai Pisarev
• Ilya Tsymbalar
• Pier Domenico Della Valle
• Mauro Valentini
• Colin Calderwood
• Eoin Jess
• Pat Nevin
• Duncan Shearer
• Miroslav Chvíla
• Ľubomír Moravčík
• Štefan Rusnák
• Július Šimon
• Dušan Tittel
• Marek Ujlaky
• Vladimir Kokol
• José Emilio Amavisca
• Andoni Goikoetxea
• Francisco Higuera
• Kiko
• Javier Manjarín
• Miguel Ángel Nadal
• Alfonso Pérez
• Niclas Alexandersson
• Klas Ingesson
• Jörgen Pettersson
• Marc Hottiger
• Adrian Knup
• Marcel Koller
• Emre Aşık
• Recep Çetin
• Bülent Korkmaz
• Ertuğrul Sağlam
• Ogün Temizkanoğlu
• Andriy Husin
• Yuriy Kalitvintsev
• Serhiy Konovalov
• Andriy Polunin
• Viktor Skrypnyk
• Nathan Blake
• Chris Coleman
• Ryan Giggs
• Mark Pembridge
• Kit Symons

1 own goal

• Yervand Krbachyan (against Belgium)
• Marios Charalambous (against Spain)
• Urmas Kirs (against Ukraine)
• Stratos Apostolakis (against Faroe Islands)
• Marinos Ouzounidis (against Russia)
• Theodoros Zagorakis (against Russia)
• Vitali Culibaba (against Georgia)
• Serghei Stroenco (against Germany)
• Józef Wandzik (against Romania)
• Vítor Baía (against Republic of Ireland)
• Fabio Francini (against Scotland)
• Ondrej Krištofík (against France)
• Jesper Blomqvist (against Switzerland)
• Andy Melville (against Germany)

References

1. "United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (Implementing Trade Embargo on Yugoslavia)". UMN.edu. United Nations. 30 May 1992. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
2. "European Championship 1996". RSSSF . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 18 January 2000. Retrieved 17 July 2017.

External links

• UEFA Euro 1996 at UEFA.com