UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifying Draw - 23rd February

Cosimo · 19 Feb 2014 at 11:39

Venue

Nice, Sunday 23rd February 2014, 11.00 GMT (12:00 CET)

Coverage

Sky Sports News, 10:00
BBC One/Two MOTD2 Extra
Radio 5 live, 11:00
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/index.html

Tournament

France, 10 June – 10 July 2016

Pots

France as hosts have qualified.

53 countries in pots:

Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pot 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland

Pot 3: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland

Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus

Pot 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus

Pot 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar

Draw

The participating sides will be drawn into nine groups: eight groups of six teams and one group of five.

The nine group winners, the nine runners-up and the best third-placed team will qualify directly for the UEFA EURO 2016 final round. The eight remaining third-placed sides will contest home-and-away play-off games to determine the remaining four nations to reach the finals.

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Draws/02/04/64/31/2046431_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Robert1986 · 19 Feb 2014 at 11:49

This is going to be a huge joke with the new rules and format... for one, France have to play in this but for no points. Great idea.

elmuzzy66. · 19 Feb 2014 at 12:01

Don't forget to highlight Gibraltar too, the 5th British team in the draw.

Cosimo · 19 Feb 2014 at 12:02

elmuzzy66. said:
Don't forget to highlight Gibraltar too, the 5th British team in the draw.

Done

Cosimo · 19 Feb 2014 at 12:02

Robert1986 said:
This is going to be a huge joke with the new rules and format... for one, France have to play in this but for no points. Great idea.

Clarification on France:

France are assured of their place in the final tournament, but will play centralised friendlies in accordance with the Week of Football match schedule against teams from the five-team qualifying group. There will be no points awarded for games in which France figure, so these will have no affect on the Group I table.

elmuzzy66. · 19 Feb 2014 at 12:07

Cosimo said:
Done

Thanks we are the new whipping boys of Europe

Tute · 19 Feb 2014 at 14:05

Do we avoid other British teams or is there a chance of England - ROI - Scotland - NI - Gibratar plus one other?

jonneymendoza · 19 Feb 2014 at 14:16

Gibraltar? did you just make that up? lol

elmuzzy66. · 19 Feb 2014 at 14:26

jonneymendoza said:
Gibraltar? did you just make that up? lol

Nope, 54th member of uefa. Manuel is still annoyed by it :cool:

Cosimo · 19 Feb 2014 at 14:33

Tute said:
Do we avoid other British teams or is there a chance of England - ROI - Scotland - NI - Gibratar plus one other?

No, it's possible and it could be Wales instead of Scotland.

There are no restrictions other than seeding of pots and it's been ruled that Azerbaijan cannot play Armenia and Spain cannot play Gibraltar.

elmuzzy66. · 19 Feb 2014 at 16:39

Cosimo said:
No, it's possible and it could be Wales instead of Scotland.

There are no restrictions other than seeding of pots and it's been ruled that Azerbaijan cannot play Armenia and Spain cannot play Gibraltar.

Only in the qualifying stages. Spaniards are scared of us

Tute · 19 Feb 2014 at 17:12

Cosimo said:
No, it's possible and it could be Wales instead of Scotland.

There are no restrictions other than seeding of pots and it's been ruled that Azerbaijan cannot play Armenia and Spain cannot play Gibraltar.

Actually slightly disappointed one of Wales/Scotland isn't Pot 3.

Any decent reason for Spain not being paired with Gibraltar or is it just classic "toys out of the pram"?

elmuzzy66. · 19 Feb 2014 at 17:24

Tute said:
Actually slightly disappointed one of Wales/Scotland isn't Pot 3.

Any decent reason for Spain not being paired with Gibraltar or is it just classic "toys out of the pram"?

Toys out of the pram stuff. Still waiting for them to withdraw from uefa as they threatened to do if gib got in.

a1ex2001 · 21 Feb 2014 at 10:55

Robert1986 said:
This is going to be a huge joke with the new rules and format... for one, France have to play in this but for no points. Great idea.

Don't really see the problem with France making up the numbers in one group, it means every team plays the same number of games and gives France regular match action in the run up with the added bonus that they will be forced to play some of Europe's smaller nations spreading money around instead of the playing money spinning ties instead.

For me the qualification goes too deep which will weaken the resulting tournament but I'm happy to wait and see on that one.

I can understand why Gib and Spain are being kept apart, I believe Gib will play there games in Portugal who I imagine don't want to be caught in the middle of that **** sandwich.

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:00

England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Should top that group without any trouble.

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:04

Group A: Holland, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey, Czech Republic
Group B: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales, Israel, Belgium.
Group C: Spain, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine.
Group D: Germany, Gibraltar, Georgia, Scotland, Poland, Republic of Ireland.
Group E: England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Switzerland.
Group F: Greece, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Finland, Romania, Hungary.
Group G: Russia, Lichtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria, Sweden.
Group H: Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway, Croatia.
Group I: Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia, Denmark, France.

BaZ87 · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:27

How do we get groups like group F and then a group like group I? Whoever does these rankings/seedings are off their head.

manic111 · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:33

Couple of potentially interesting groups, particularly A and I.

drunkenmaster · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:34

a1ex2001 said:
Don't really see the problem with France making up the numbers in one group, it means every team plays the same number of games and gives France regular match action in the run up with the added bonus that they will be forced to play some of Europe's smaller nations spreading money around instead of the playing money spinning ties instead.

For me the qualification goes too deep which will weaken the resulting tournament but I'm happy to wait and see on that one.

I can understand why Gib and Spain are being kept apart, I believe Gib will play there games in Portugal who I imagine don't want to be caught in the middle of that **** sandwich.

Doesn't it also help rectify the issue of rankings people had with the Swiss IIRC and the choice of friendlies boosting their rankings. Doesn't this mean people in the group that would otherwise be missing France, would play less against a highly ranked team, it also means teams are less able to pick and choose and potentially manipulate the rankings if everyone is in the same boat and having to play the teams in their group like everyone else?

IE a low ranked team in that group would usually have two higher ranked teams in the group, but with France excluded could choose to play a easier team and get a win rather than a loss and boost their rankings, and while not unfair if they beat them... it's a game that other teams (due to having more games in a bigger group) don't have the option of playing. Likewise France can't manipulate their rankings by picking and choosing their games over the next 2 years, they get a similar set of teams to play as all the other top teams in Europe.

It's just a enforced set of friendlies that means they'd likely end up with the same rankings as if the tournament were held anywhere else. Which while it won't effect that tournament, will have an effect on the next tournaments seeding I would imagine, and the potential points gained from teams who play them over that period.

The Swiss's seed manipulation has though led to a truly ridiculously easy group for England where the Swiss are the second pot seed team in the group. In most possible groups it would be painfully embarrassing for England to not get through but this group has to be the easiest one we've ever seen. I can see maybe 3-4 teams from pot C who should really have been ahead of the Swiss, makes for a very boring group for England but ultimately a more competitive one for everyone else.

Psycho Ned · 23 Feb 2014 at 12:38

BaZ87 said:
How do we get groups like group F and then a group like group I? Whoever does these rankings/seedings are off their head.

Well France have been dumped in group I as that was the one which only had 5 teams baring in mind none of France's games will actually count in the group so technically it's only Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia and Denmark still a tough group though but with the top 3 at least making a playoff Serbia, Denmark and Portugal should all have a good chance of getting through.