football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Palais des Congrès Acropolis The Palais des Congrès Acropolis (formerly known as Parc Expo) was a convention center located in Nice, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million

Qualified teams

Format

All UEFA member associations were eligible to compete in the qualifying competition, with the host team

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

qualifying directly to the finals tournament. The other 53 teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams (Groups A–H) and one group of five teams (Group I). The group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team (with the results against the sixth-placed team discarded) directly qualified to the finals. The eight remaining third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.

Seeding system

Sides were seeded according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings, which were announced along with the draw procedure and final tournament match schedule after the 23–24 January Executive Committee meeting in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

. For the qualifying group stage, the teams were seeded into six pots (Pots 1–5 with 9 teams and Pot 6 with 8 teams) for the qualifying group stage draw according to the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

rankings, with the title holders (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) automatically seeded into Pot 1. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating: * 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage. * 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

stage and

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. * 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. UEFA stated that nations with the largest markets in terms of contribution to the European Qualifiers revenue would be drawn into one of the groups containing six teams, including

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. UEFA also stated in their regulations that "the teams drawn into the group of five teams will have

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

added to their group for the purpose of playing centralized friendlies". However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings. For the play-offs the four ties were determined by draw, including the order of the two legs of each tie. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

rankings updated after the completion of the group stage. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating: * 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying group stage. * 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. * 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

stage and

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied: # Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question; # Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question; # Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question; # Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question; # If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 applied; # Superior goal difference in all group matches; # Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; # Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; # 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); # Position in the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

ranking system; To determine the best third-placed team, the results against the teams in sixth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied: # Higher number of points obtained; # Superior goal difference; # Higher number of goals scored; # Higher number of away goals scored; # Fair play conduct in all group matches; # Position in the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

ranking system; For each play-off tie, the team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualified for the final tournament. If the aggregate score was level, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

was applied, i.e., the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then thirty minutes of

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

was played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e., if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. ; Notes

Schedule

This was the first qualifying tournament after UEFA announced centralized rights deals for both UEFA Euro and FIFA World Cup qualifying. UEFA had proposed the "Week of Football" concept for the scheduling of qualifying matches as follows: * Matches took place from Thursday to Tuesday. * Kick-off times were largely set at 18:00 and 20:45 CET on Saturdays and Sundays, and 20:45 CET on Thursdays, Fridays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. * On double-header match weeks, teams played on Thursday and Sunday, or Friday and Monday, or Saturday and Tuesday. * Matches in the same group were played on the same day. There were ten matchdays for the qualifying group stage, and two matchdays for the play-offs: Unlike previous qualifying campaigns where group fixtures were determined by negotiation between the national federations, UEFA themselves decided each group's fixture list, released the same day as the draw.

Draw

The draw took place at the

Palais des Congrès Acropolis The Palais des Congrès Acropolis (formerly known as Parc Expo) was a convention center located in Nice, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions ...

,

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

. Groups A–H each contain one team from each of Pots 1–6, while Group I contains one team from each of Pots 1–5. For television rights reasons, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands were drawn into groups of six teams. Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

would not be drawn against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

(due to the dispute concerning territory of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

) and

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

would not be drawn against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

(due to the disputed status of Gibraltar).

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(Coeff: 30,992; Rank: 11), the 2016 tournament hosts, were partnered with the five-team

Group I Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

, allowing them to play friendlies against these countries on their 'spare' dates that did not count in the qualifying group standings.

Seeding

The seeding pots were announced on 24 January 2014. The teams in bold qualified to the final tournament.

Summary

Groups

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Ranking of third-placed teams

The highest ranked third-placed team from the groups directly qualified for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs. As Group I contained five teams and the rest contained six, matches against any sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the third-placed ranking table. Turkey became the best third-placed team, after winning against Iceland in its last match, while at the same time Kazakhstan beat Latvia to finish fifth in Group A.

Play-offs

The eight remaining third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

rankings updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage. The draw for the play-offs was held on 18 October 2015, 11:20 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

.

Seedings

Matches

The first legs were played on 12–14 November, and the second legs were played on 15–17 November 2015. The four play-off winners (

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

,

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) qualified for the final tournament.

Goalscorers

Branding

UEFA unveiled the branding for the qualifiers on 15 April 2013. It shows a national jersey inside a heart, and represents Europe, honour and ambition. The same branding was also used for the European qualifiers for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

.

Notes

References

External links

UEFA Euro 2016
at UEFA.com {{2015–16 in European football (UEFA) Euro Qualifying Euro Qualifying

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Qualifying