UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D

The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D was one of the nine groups to decide which teams would qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 finals tournament. ^[1] Group D consisted of six teams: Germany, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Georgia, and Gibraltar, ^[2] where they played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. ^[3]

The top two teams, Germany and Poland, qualified directly for the finals. As third-placed Republic of Ireland weren't the highest-ranked among all third-placed teams, they advanced to the play-offs, where they won against Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus qualified as well.

Background

The Germany national football team was looking to maintain its record of qualifying for every European Championship since 1972. ^{[4] [5]} Scotland and the Republic of Ireland both proposed the expansion of the European Championship and it was considered "ironic" by the Republic of Ireland manager, Martin O'Neill, that the two were drawn in the same group. ^[5] The chairman of the Polish Football Association, Zbigniew Boniek, stated that he was happy with the draw. ^[6] Georgia national football team manager, Temur Ketsbaia, said that the new system would give Georgia the chance to qualify and said that Georgia would aim for third place in the group. ^[7]

The Gibraltar national football team competed in the European Championship qualifiers for the first time after becoming members of UEFA in May 2013. Gibraltar play their home matches at Estádio Algarve in Faro, Algarve, Portugal, as their home ground, Victoria Stadium, has an artificial pitch and does not meet UEFA international standards. ^[8] They were initially drawn in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group C, but with Spain—who claims the territory—already in that group, UEFA moved Gibraltar to Group D. ^[9]

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	7	1	2	24	9	+15	22	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	4–0
2	Poland	10	6	3	1	33	10	+23	21			2–0	—	2–1	2–2	4–0	8–1
3	Republic of Ireland	10	5	3	2	19	7	+12	18	Advance to play-offs		1–0	1–1	—	1–1	1–0	7–0
4	Scotland	10	4	3	3	22	12	+10	15			2–3	2–2	1–0	—	1–0	6–1
5	Georgia	10	3	0	7	10	16	−6	9			0–2	0–4	1–2	1–0	—	4–0
6	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	2	56	−54	0			0–7	0–7	0–4	0–6	0–3	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Matches

The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 23 February 2014 in Nice. ^[10] Times are CET/CEST, ^{[note 1]} as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).

7 September 2014 (2014-09-07)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Georgia	1–2	Republic of Ireland
Okriashvili 38'	Report	McGeady 24', 90'

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)

7 September 2014 (2014-09-07)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Germany	2–1	Scotland
Müller 18', 70'	Report	Anya 66'

Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund

Attendance: 60,209

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)

7 September 2014 (2014-09-07)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Gibraltar	0–7	Poland
	Report	Grosicki 11', 48' Lewandowski 50', 53', 86', 90+2' Szukała 58'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé, Portugal ^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 1,620

Referee: Stefan Johannesson (Sweden)

---

11 October 2014 (2014-10-11)

18:00
(17:00 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	7–0	Gibraltar
Keane 6', 14', 18' (pen.) McClean 46', 53' J. Perez 52' (o.g.) Hoolahan 56'	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 35,123

Referee: Leontios Trattou (Cyprus)

11 October 2014 (2014-10-11)

18:00
(17:00 UTC+1)

Scotland	1–0	Georgia
Khubutia 28' (o.g.)	Report

Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow ^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 34,719

Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (Czech Republic)

11 October 2014 (2014-10-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Poland	2–0	Germany
Milik 51' Mila 88'	Report

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 56,934

Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

---

14 October 2014 (2014-10-14)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Germany	1–1	Republic of Ireland
Kroos 71'	Report	O'Shea 90+4'

Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 51,204 ^[12]

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

14 October 2014 (2014-10-14)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Gibraltar	0–3	Georgia
	Report	Gelashvili 9' Okriashvili 19' Kankava 69'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé, Portugal ^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 281 ^[13]

Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)

14 October 2014 (2014-10-14)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Poland	2–2	Scotland
Mączyński 11' Milik 76'	Report	Maloney 18' Naismith 57'

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 55,197

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)

---

14 November 2014 (2014-11-14)

18:00
(21:00 UTC+4)

Georgia	0–4	Poland
	Report	Glik 51' Krychowiak 71' Mila 73' Milik 90+2'

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi

Attendance: 25,635 ^[14]

Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

14 November 2014 (2014-11-14)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Germany	4–0	Gibraltar
Müller 12', 29' Götze 38' Santos 67' (o.g.)	Report

Grundig-Stadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 43,520 ^[15]

Referee: Alexandru Tudor (Romania)

14 November 2014 (2014-11-14)

20:45
(19:45 UTC±0)

Scotland	1–0	Republic of Ireland
Maloney 75'	Report

Celtic Park, Glasgow ^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 59,239

Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)

---

29 March 2015 (2015-03-29)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Georgia	0–2	Germany
	Report	Reus 39' Müller 44'

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi

Attendance: 51,000

Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

29 March 2015 (2015-03-29)

18:00
(17:00 UTC+1)

Scotland	6–1	Gibraltar
Maloney 18' (pen.), 34' (pen.) S. Fletcher 29', 77', 90' Naismith 39'	Report	L. Casciaro 19'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 34,255

Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland)

29 March 2015 (2015-03-29)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Poland
Long 90+1'	Report	Peszko 26'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 50,500

Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)

---

13 June 2015 (2015-06-13)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Poland	4–0	Georgia
Milik 62' Lewandowski 89', 90+2', 90+3'	Report

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 56,512

Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

13 June 2015 (2015-06-13)

18:00
(17:00 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Scotland
Walters 38'	Report	O'Shea 47' (o.g.)

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 49,063

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)

13 June 2015 (2015-06-13)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Gibraltar	0–7	Germany
	Report	Schürrle 28', 65', 71' Kruse 47', 81' Gündoğan 51' Bellarabi 57'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé, Portugal ^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 7,467

Referee: Clayton Pisani (Malta)

---

4 September 2015 (2015-09-04)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Georgia	1–0	Scotland
Qazaishvili 38'	Report

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Ovidiu Haţegan (Romania)

4 September 2015 (2015-09-04)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Germany	3–1	Poland
Müller 12' Götze 19', 82'	Report	Lewandowski 37'

Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,500

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)

4 September 2015 (2015-09-04)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Gibraltar	0–4	Republic of Ireland
	Report	Christie 27' Keane 49', 51' (pen.) Long 79'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé, Portugal ^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 5,393

Referee: Marijo Strahonja (Croatia)

---

7 September 2015 (2015-09-07)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Poland	8–1	Gibraltar
Grosicki 8', 15' Lewandowski 18', 29' Milik 56', 72' Błaszczykowski 59' (pen.) Kapustka 73'	Report	Gosling 87'

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 27,763 ^[16]

Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

7 September 2015 (2015-09-07)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–0	Georgia
Walters 69'	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 27,200 ^[17]

Referee: István Vad (Hungary)

7 September 2015 (2015-09-07)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Scotland	2–3	Germany
Hummels 28' (o.g.) McArthur 43'	Report	Müller 18', 34' Gündoğan 54'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 50,753 ^[18]

Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

---

8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Georgia	4–0	Gibraltar
Vatsadze 30', 45' Okriashvili 35' (pen.) Qazaishvili 87'	Report

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi

Attendance: 11,330 ^[19]

Referee: Serhiy Boyko (Ukraine)

8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Republic of Ireland	1–0	Germany
Long 70'	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Attendance: 50,604 ^[20]

Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)

8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Scotland	2–2	Poland
Ritchie 45' S. Fletcher 62'	Report	Lewandowski 3', 90+4'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 49,359 ^[21]

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

---

11 October 2015 (2015-10-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Germany	2–1	Georgia
Müller 50' (pen.) Kruse 79'	Report	Kankava 53'

Red Bull Arena, Leipzig

Attendance: 43,630 ^[22]

Referee: Pavel Královec (Czech Republic)

11 October 2015 (2015-10-11)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Gibraltar	0–6	Scotland
	Report	C. Martin 25' Maloney 39' S. Fletcher 52', 56', 85' Naismith 90+1'

Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé, Portugal ^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 12,401 ^[23]

Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

11 October 2015 (2015-10-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Poland	2–1	Republic of Ireland
Krychowiak 13' Lewandowski 42'	Report	Walters 16' (pen.)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 57,497 ^[24]

Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

Goalscorers

Poland's Robert Lewandowski was the group's highest goalscorer with 13 goals

There were 110 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 3.67 goals per match.

13 goals

• Robert Lewandowski

9 goals

• Thomas Müller

7 goals

• Steven Fletcher

6 goals

• Arkadiusz Milik

5 goals

• Robbie Keane
• Shaun Maloney

4 goals

• Kamil Grosicki

3 goals

• Tornike Okriashvili
• Mario Götze
• Max Kruse
• André Schürrle
• Shane Long
• Jonathan Walters
• Steven Naismith

2 goals

• Jaba Kankava
• Valeri Qazaishvili
• Mate Vatsadze
• İlkay Gündoğan
• Grzegorz Krychowiak
• Sebastian Mila
• James McClean
• Aiden McGeady

1 goal

• Nikoloz Gelashvili
• Karim Bellarabi
• Toni Kroos
• Marco Reus
• Lee Casciaro
• Jake Gosling
• Jakub Błaszczykowski
• Kamil Glik
• Bartosz Kapustka
• Krzysztof Mączyński
• Sławomir Peszko
• Łukasz Szukała
• Cyrus Christie
• Wes Hoolahan
• John O'Shea
• Ikechi Anya
• Chris Martin
• James McArthur
• Matt Ritchie

1 own goal

• Akaki Khubutia (against Scotland)
• Mats Hummels (against Scotland)
• Jordan Perez (against Republic of Ireland)
• Yogan Santos (against Germany)
• John O'Shea (against Scotland)

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: ^[3]

• Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
• Receiving three yellow cards in three different matches, as well as after fifth and any subsequent yellow card (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Team	Player	Offence(s)	Suspended for match(es)
Poland	Kamil Glik	vs Gibraltar (7 September 2014) vs Germany (11 October 2014) vs Republic of Ireland (29 March 2015)	vs Georgia (13 June 2015)
Republic of Ireland	James McClean	vs Scotland (14 November 2014) vs Scotland (13 June 2015) vs Georgia (7 September 2015)	vs Germany (8 October 2015)
	Glenn Whelan	vs Germany (14 October 2014) vs Scotland (13 June 2015) vs Georgia (7 September 2015)	vs Germany (8 October 2015)
Scotland	Charlie Mulgrew	vs Germany (7 September 2014)	vs Georgia (11 October 2014)
	James Morrison	vs Germany (7 September 2014) vs Georgia (11 October 2014) vs Germany (7 September 2015)	vs Poland (8 October 2015)

Notes

1. CET (UTC+1) for matches on 14 November 2014, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
2. Gibraltar played their home matches at Estádio Algarve in Portugal instead of their regular stadium, Victoria Stadium, in Gibraltar.
3. Scotland played their first two home matches at other stadiums (against Georgia at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, and against Republic of Ireland at Celtic Park, Glasgow) instead of their regular stadium, Hampden Park, Glasgow, as it was only reopened for football in "late 2014" after hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games. ^[11]

References

1. "UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifying Draw Procedure" (PDF). UEFA. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
2. "Spain face Ukraine return in EURO 2016 qualifying". UEFA. 23 February 2014.
3. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2014-16" (PDF). UEFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2013.
4. "European Championship 1958-2008 All-Time Rankings". RSSSF . Retrieved 4 March 2014.
5. "Scotland begin Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in Germany". Evening Times. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
6. "Polacy i ich rywale zadowoleni z losowania. Boniek: coś tu jest nie tak" (in Polish). Sport.tvn24.pl. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
7. "ქეცბაია: "მესამე ადგილისთვის ბოლომდე ვიბრძოლებთ"" (in Georgian). Geosports.ge. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
8. Rose, Gary. "Euro 2016 qualifying draw: Gibraltar ready to prove their worth". BBC. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
9. Fifeld, Nicola (23 February 2014). "Gibraltar moves group in Euro 2016 qualifiers draw over political tensions". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
10. "Qualifying fixtures" (PDF). UEFA.
11. Hampden Park to close for one year for Glasgow 2014 preparations insidethegames.biz
12. "Germany vs. Republic of Ireland 1 - 1". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
13. "Gibraltar vs. Georgia 0 - 3". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
14. "Georgia vs. Poland 0 - 4". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
15. "Germany vs. Gibraltar 4 - 4". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
16. "Poland vs. Gibraltar 8 - 1". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
17. "Republic of Ireland vs. Georgia 1 - 0". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
18. "Scotland vs. Germany 2 - 3". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
19. "Georgia vs. Gibraltar - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
20. "Republic of Ireland vs. Germany - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
21. "Scotland vs. Poland - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
22. "Germany vs. Georgia - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
23. "Gibraltar vs. Scotland - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
24. "Poland vs. Republic of Ireland - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.

External links

• UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying round Group D