Iceland, Russia, Spain are play-off seeds
Thursday, September 20, 2012
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In Friday's play-off draw, streamed live on UEFA.com from 12.45CET, Iceland, Russia and Spain will be seeded and drawn against one from Scotland, Ukraine and Austria.
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The UEFA Women's EURO 2013 play-off draw will be streamed live on UEFA.com from 12.45CET on Friday with six teams to compete for the three remaining places in the finals in Sweden.
Nine countries have already ensured their places in the finals from 10 to 28 July 2013: hosts Sweden, the seven qualifying group winners and best runners-up the Netherlands. The other six second-placed teams will play off over two legs on 20/21 and 24/25 October and three of them have been seeded as per their UEFA women's national team coefficient ranking following the qualifying group stage: Iceland, Russia and Spain. Scotland, Ukraine and Austria will form their opposition.
The three seeded sides will be away in the first leg, and if Iceland, Russia and Ukraine qualify through the play-offs – as they also did for the 2009 tournament – the lineup next summer will be identical to that at those Finland finals. The 2009 and 2013 editions of the Women's EURO will be the only two 12-strong tournaments having expanded from eight in 2005, with the finals set to grow to 16 in 2017.
In the draw there is the possibility of a rematch of the 2009 play-off which Russia won on away goals against Scotland. Like Scotland that year, Austria enter the play-offs for the first time, while Spain are hoping to make up for their 2009 two-legged loss to eventual semi-finalists the Netherlands. Ukraine and Iceland made finals debuts in 2009 after winning play-offs, something Austria and Scotland intend to emulate.
Pot 1 (Seeds)
ICELAND: Group 3 runners-up
Coefficient: 33.637
Finals appearances: 1
2009 performance: Group stage
Best performance: Group stage (2009)
Qualifying top scorer: Margrét Lára Vidarsdóttir 9
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: 2009 v Republic of Ireland W4-1 (1-1 a, 3-0 h); 2005 v Norway L2-9 (2-7 a, 0-2 h); 1997 v Germany L0-7 (0-3 h, 0-4 a)
RUSSIA: Group 1 runners-up
Coefficient: 33.480
Finals appearances: 3
2009 performance: Group stage
Best performance: Group stage (1997, 2001, 2009)
Qualifying top scorer: Natalia Shlyapina 6
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: 2009 v Scotland W4-4 on away goals (3-2 a 1-2 h); 2005 v Finland L1-4 (0-1 a, 1-3 h)
SPAIN: Group 2 runners-up
Coefficient: 32.679
Finals appearances: 1
2009 performance: Play-offs
Best performance: Semi-finals (1997)
Qualifying top scorer: Verónica Boquete, María Paz 10
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: 2009 v Netherlands L0-4 (0-2 h, 0-2 a); 2001 v Denmark L3-10 (1-6 a, 2-4 h); 1997 v England W3-2 (2-1 h, 1-1 a)
Pot 2
SCOTLAND: Group 4 runners-up
Coefficient: 31.123
Finals appearances: 0
2009 performance: Play-offs
Best performance: Play-offs (2009, 2013)
Qualifying top scorer: Kim Little 6
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: 2009 v Russia L4-4 on away goals (2-3 h, 2-1 a)
UKRAINE: Group 5 runners-up
Coefficient: 30.325
Finals appearances: 1
2009 performance: Group stage
Best performance: Group stage
Qualifying top scorer: Daryna Apanaschenko 7
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: 2009 v Slovenia W5-0 (3-0 h, 2-0 a); 2001 v England L1-4 (1-2 h, 0-2 a)
AUSTRIA: Group 7 runners-up
Coefficient: 26.915
Finals appearances: 0
2009 performance: Did not qualify
Best performance: Play-offs (2013)
Qualifying top scorer: Nina Burger 6
Past EURO qualifying play-offs: none
Finals: 4 teams until 1995; 8 teams 1997, 2001, 2005; 12 teams 2009; max appearances 11