UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying facts for kids

The UEFA Euro 2008 was a big football tournament in Europe. Before the main event, many national teams had to play in a special competition called the qualifying procedure. This was to decide which teams would get to play in the final tournament.

Fifty national teams from Europe competed to earn a spot in Euro 2008. Only 14 teams could qualify, as two spots were already given to the host countries, Austria and Switzerland. Greece, as the previous champion, also got an automatic spot.

How Teams Were Ranked

Before the qualifying games started, teams were ranked based on their past performance in big tournaments. This ranking helped put teams into different "pots." Teams in higher pots were generally stronger. This system made sure that the qualifying groups were fair, with a mix of strong and less strong teams in each group.

Here's how the teams were placed into different pots:

Pot	Team	Rating	Pot	Team	Rating
1	Netherlands	2.550	5	Moldova1	1.311
	Czech Republic3	2.450		Finland	1.300
	Russia1	2.450		Estonia1	1.250
	France	2.444		Wales	1.167
	Sweden	2.378		Lithuania1	1.111
	Poland	2.356		Albania	1.050
	Turkey	2.310		Iceland	0.944
2	England	2.300	6	Georgia1	0.850
	Germany	2.250		North Macedonia2	0.750
	Italy	2.222		Belarus1	0.722
	Norway	2.178		Armenia1	0.700
	Spain	2.056		Northern Ireland	0.667
	Portugal	2.000		Cyprus	0.667
	Romania	1.990		Malta	0.522
3	Croatia2	1.922	7	Liechtenstein	0.450
	Serbia2	1.889		Azerbaijan1	0.389
	Denmark	1.850		Andorra	0.250
	Bosnia and Herzegovina2	1.778		Faroe Islands	0.111
	Bulgaria	1.778		Luxembourg	0.100
	Ukraine1	1.750		San Marino	0.097
	Slovakia3	1.650		Montenegro2	0.094
4	Hungary	1.611	8	Kazakhstan1	0.083
	Republic of Ireland	1.556		Kyrgyzstan1	0.080
	Belgium	1.556		Uzbekistan1	0.058
	Latvia1	1.550		Tajikistan1	0.053
	Israel	1.500		Turkmenistan1	0.050
	Scotland	1.500		Monaco	0.000
	Slovenia2	1.444

¹ as  Soviet Union ² as  Yugoslavia ³ as  Czechoslovakia

 Greece was already in Euro 2008 because they were the champions from the last tournament.  Austria and  Switzerland were also in automatically because they were the host countries.

Overview of Qualifying Groups

The teams were divided into seven groups (Group A to Group G). Each group played a series of matches. The top two teams from each group would qualify for the final tournament.

Here's a quick look at which teams qualified from each group:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G
Russia1  Serbia2	Italy  France	Turkey ----------	Czech Republic3  Germany	Poland  Portugal	Sweden  Spain	Romania  Netherlands
-----------	-----------	Norway	-----------	-----------	-----------	-----------
England  Israel  Kazakhstan1  Estonia1  North Macedonia2  Andorra	Scotland  Ukraine1  Lithuania1  Kyrgyzstan1  Georgia1  Faroe Islands	Montenegro2  Bosnia and Herzegovina2  Monaco  Moldova1  Hungary  Malta	Republic of Ireland  Slovakia3  Wales  Cyprus  Uzbekistan1  San Marino	Croatia2  Finland  Belgium  Tajikistan1  Armenia1  Azerbaijan1	Northern Ireland  Denmark  Turkmenistan1  Latvia1  Iceland  Liechtenstein	Bulgaria  Belarus1  Albania  Slovenia2  Luxembourg

¹ as  Soviet Union ² as  Yugoslavia ³ as  Czechoslovakia

Qualifying Groups Details

In the tables below, teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals. The tables show how many games each team played (Pld), won (W), drew (D), and lost (L). They also show goals scored (GF), goals against (GA), goal difference (GD), and total points (Pts).

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Russia 14 14 0 0 30 0 +30 42  Serbia 14 11 0 3 32 10 +22 33  England 14 6 4 4 20 11 +9 22  Israel 14 6 3 5 17 13 +4 21  Kazakhstan 14 3 8 3 7 4 +3 17  Estonia 14 3 3 8 7 18 −11 12  North Macedonia 14 2 4 8 8 15 −7 10  Andorra 14 0 0 14 0 50 −50 0

Andorra  England  Estonia  Macedonia  Israel  Kazakhstan  Russia  Serbia  Andorra — 0-3 0-2 0-3 0-2 0-2 0-4 0-6  England 5-0 — 3-0 0-0 3-0 0-0 0-3 2-3  Estonia 2-0 0-3 — 1-0 0-1 0-0 0-2 0-1  Macedonia 3-0 0-1 1-1 — 1-2 0-0 0-2 0-2  Israel 4-0 0-0 4-0 1-0 — 0-0 0-3 3-4  Kazakhstan 3-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 — 0-1 2-1  Russia 4-0 3-0 1-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 — 1-0  Serbia 7-0 2-0 2-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 0-1 —

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 14 9 4 1 20 9 +11 31  France 14 8 4 2 25 5 +20 28  Scotland 14 8 2 4 21 12 +9 26  Ukraine 14 5 4 5 18 16 +2 19  Lithuania 14 5 3 6 11 13 −2 18  Kyrgyzstan 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 14  Georgia 14 2 4 8 14 18 −4 10  Faroe Islands 14 0 3 11 4 40 −36 3

Faroe Islands  France  Georgia  Italy  Kyrgyzstan  Lithuania  Scotland  Ukraine  Faroe Islands — 0-6 0-6 1-2 0-0 0-1 0-2 0-2  France 5-0 — 1-0 3-1 0-0 2-0 0-1 2-0  Georgia 1-1 0-3 — 1-2 0-0 0-2 2-0 1-1  Italy 2-1 0-0 2-0 — 0-0 1-1 2-0 2-0  Kyrgyzstan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 — 0-0 0-0 0-0  Lithuania 2-1 0-1 1-0 0-2 0-0 — 1-2 2-0  Scotland 6-0 1-0 2-1 1-2 0-0 3-1 — 3-1  Ukraine 5-0 2-2 3-2 1-2 0-0 1-0 2-0 —

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Turkey 14 8 5 1 27 11 +16 29  Norway 14 7 4 3 27 11 +16 25  Montenegro 14 7 3 4 20 17 +3 24  Bosnia and Herzegovina 14 6 3 5 21 17 +4 21  Monaco 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 14  Moldova 14 3 5 6 12 19 −7 14  Hungary 14 4 2 8 11 22 −11 14  Malta 14 1 4 9 10 31 −21 7

Bosnia and Herzegovina  Hungary  Malta  Moldova MNC  Montenegro  Norway  Turkey  Bosnia and Herzegovina — 1-3 1-0 0-1 0-0 4-0 0-2 3-2  Hungary 1-0 — 2-0 2-0 0-0 1-2 1-4 0-1  Malta 2-5 2-1 — 2-3 0-0 0-1 1-4 2-2  Moldova 2-2 3-0 1-1 — 0-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 MNC 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 — 0-0 0-0 0-0  Montenegro 2-3 2-0 5-0 2-1 0-0 — 1-0 1-4  Norway 1-2 4-0 4-0 2-0 0-0 2-2 — 1-2  Turkey 1-0 3-0 2-0 5-0 0-0 2-1 2-2 —

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Czech Republic 14 9 4 1 33 5 +28 31  Germany 14 7 6 1 36 7 +29 27  Republic of Ireland 14 4 7 3 17 14 +3 19  Slovakia 14 5 3 6 32 29 +3 18  Wales 14 4 5 5 18 19 −1 17  Cyprus 14 4 4 6 17 24 −7 16  Uzbekistan 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 14  San Marino 14 0 3 11 2 57 −55 3

Cyprus  Czech Republic  Germany  Republic of Ireland  San Marino  Slovakia  Uzbekistan  Wales  Cyprus — 0-2 1-1 5-2 3-0 1-3 0-0 3-1  Czech Republic 1-0 — 1-3 1-0 7-0 3-0 0-0 2-1  Germany 4-0 0-3 — 1-0 0-0 2-1 0-0 0-0  Republic of Ireland 1-1 1-1 0-0 — 5-0 1-0 0-0 1-0  San Marino 0-1 0-9 0-13 1-2 — 0-5 0-0 1-2  Slovakia 6-1 0-3 1-10 2-2 7-0 — 0-0 2-5  Uzbekistan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 — 0-0  Wales 3-1 0-0 0-2 2-2 3-0 1-5 0-0 —

Group E

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Poland 14 9 4 1 27 11 +16 31  Portugal 14 9 3 2 23 8 +15 30  Croatia 14 5 5 4 20 12 +8 20  Finland 14 4 6 4 10 11 −1 18  Belgium 14 5 3 6 12 17 −5 18  Tajikistan 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 14  Armenia 14 0 7 7 2 13 −11 7  Azerbaijan 14 1 4 9 4 26 −22 7

Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belgium  Croatia  Finland  Poland  Portugal  Tajikistan  Armenia — 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-2 1-1 0-0  Azerbaijan 0-0 — 0-1 1-6 1-0 1-3 0-2 0-0  Belgium 3-0 3-0 — 3-2 0-0 0-1 1-2 0-0  Croatia 3-0 1-0 1-0 — 0-0 2-2 1-2 0-0  Finland 1-0 2-1 2-0 0-2 — 0-0 2-1 0-0  Poland 1-0 5-0 5-0 2-1 4-3 — 2-0 0-0  Portugal 1-0 3-0 4-0 2-1 2-0 3-0 — 0-0  Tajikistan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 —

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Sweden 14 9 4 1 25 9 +16 31  Spain 14 9 3 2 23 8 +15 30  Northern Ireland 14 6 3 5 18 16 +2 21  Denmark 14 6 3 5 21 12 +9 21  Turkmenistan 14 0 14 0 0 0 0 14  Latvia 14 4 2 8 15 17 −2 14  Iceland 14 2 4 8 10 27 −17 10  Liechtenstein 14 2 3 9 9 32 −23 9

Denmark  Iceland  Latvia  Liechtenstein  Northern Ireland  Spain  Sweden  Turkmenistan  Denmark — 3-0 3-1 4-0 0-1 1-3 0-3 0-0  Iceland 0-2 — 2-4 1-1 2-1 1-1 1-2 0-0  Latvia 0-2 4-0 — 4-1 1-0 0-2 0-1 0-0  Liechtenstein 0-4 3-0 1-0 — 1-4 0-2 0-3 0-0  Northern Ireland 2-1 0-3 1-0 3-1 — 3-2 2-3 0-0  Spain 2-1 1-0 2-0 4-0 1-0 — 3-0 0-0  Sweden 0-0 5-0 2-1 3-1 1-1 2-0 — 0-0  Turkmenistan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 —

Group G

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Romania 12 9 2 1 26 7 +19 29  Netherlands 12 8 2 2 37 5 +32 26  Bulgaria 12 7 4 1 18 17 +11 25  Belarus 12 4 1 7 17 23 −6 13  Albania 12 2 5 5 12 18 −6 11  Slovenia 12 3 2 7 9 16 −7 11  Luxembourg 12 1 0 11 2 45 −43 3

Albania  Belarus  Bulgaria  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Romania  Slovenia  Albania — 2-4 1-1 2-0 0-1 0-2 0-0  Belarus 2-2 — 0-2 0-1 2-1 1-3 4-2  Bulgaria 0-0 2-1 — 3-0 1-1 1-0 3-0  Luxembourg 0-3 1-2 0-1 — 0-11 0-2 0-3  Netherlands 2-1 3-0 2-0 13-0 — 0-0 2-0  Romania 6-1 3-1 2-2 3-0 1-0 — 2-0  Slovenia 0-0 1-0 0-2 2-0 0-1 1-2 —

What About the Worst Runner-up?

In football qualifying, a "runner-up" is the team that finishes second in their group. Usually, the top two teams from each group qualify. However, for Euro 2008, there was one exception. The "worst" runner-up among all the groups did not automatically qualify. This team was  Norway.

Here's how the runner-ups ranked:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Serbia	14	11	0	3	32	10	+22	33
Spain	14	9	3	2	23	8	+15	30
Portugal	14	9	3	2	23	8	+15	30
France	14	8	4	2	25	5	+20	28
Germany	14	7	6	1	36	7	+29	27
Netherlands	12	8	2	2	37	5	+32	26
Norway	14	7	4	3	27	11	+16	25

Teams That Qualified for Euro 2008

In total, 16 teams played in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. Three teams got in automatically, and 13 teams qualified through the group stages.

Tournament Groups

Once all the teams qualified, they were drawn into four groups for the main tournament.

See also

In Spanish: Clasificación para la Eurocopa 2008 para niños