ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying

The qualifying matches for the final round of the European Football Championship 2012 took place from August 2010 to November 2011. The two hosts Poland and Ukraine were directly qualified as the tournament's host teams. A total of 51 member countries of UEFA participated in the competition, with Montenegro making its debut as a UEFA member since 2006.

The qualifying process involved dividing the participating teams into nine groups, each containing six or five teams. Teams that completed first place in their respective houses were automatically qualified for the final tournament. Additionally, the best-balanced team among those that finished second place also secured a spot in the finals. The remaining eight teams that ended up in second place faced off in playoffs to secure the remaining four places.

The selection of teams was based on UEFA's promotion system, which took into account the achievements of national teams from previous tournaments. Teams were divided into six degrees according to their performance in these tournaments. The selected teams were then placed into nine houses, with one team from each house being assigned a specific ranking.

In some cases, disputes over territory led to special arrangements for certain matches. For instance, Armenia was not drawn against Azerbaijan due to the dispute concerning Nagorno-Karabakh's territory, while Georgia would not be drawn against Russia because of the disagreement regarding South Ossetia's territory. If two or more teams were still tied in ranking after applying criteria 1-4, these criteria were reapplied to determine their final standing.

The qualifying process was conducted over several matchdays, with some matches taking place on Tuesday evenings and others on Wednesday evenings. This change occurred for the first time during a UEFA tournament, replacing traditional midweek fixtures that often took place in consecutive days.

Early Euro 2012

Early Euro 2012 was a soccer tournament held between August 2010 and November 2011, featuring 51 national teams from the United Nations. The Ukrainian team and the Polish team were automatically qualified as host teams, with Ukraine being part of the town of Buro. Participants were divided into nine houses, with the first-completed team in each house advancing to the final tournament.

The selection process was based on UEFA's promotion system, which took into account the achievements of national teams from previous tournaments. Teams were assigned to six degrees according to their performance in these tournaments. The selected teams were then placed into nine houses, with one team from each house being assigned a specific