UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying draw
Sunday, December 2, 2018
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The European Qualifiers draw for UEFA EURO 2020 has set the groups to be played from March.
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The ten UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying groups have been confirmed following the draw in Dublin on Sunday.
UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying groups
Group A: England, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo
Group B: Portugal, Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
Group C: Netherlands, Germany, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Belarus
Group D: Switzerland, Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Georgia, Gibraltar
Group E: Croatia, Wales, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan
Group F: Spain, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands, Malta
Group G: Poland, Austria, Israel, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Latvia
Group H: France, Iceland, Turkey, Albania, Moldova, Andorra
Group I: Belgium, Russia, Scotland, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, San Marino
Group J: Italy, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Finland, Greece, Armenia, Liechtenstein
How will qualifying work?
Simple: every team in a group plays each other twice, with the top two in each section qualifying automatically for the finals. That's 20 of the 24 finals places taken care of, with a further four filled via the play-offs.
How do the play-offs fit in?
Each separate League (A, B, C and D) in the UEFA Nations League has been allocated one UEFA EURO 2020 place. Four sides from each League will contest single-leg semi-finals and a one-off final (entirely specific to the EURO) in March 2020. The winner of each of these four one-off finals gets a ticket to UEFA EURO 2020.
In theory, the play-offs are contested by the four winners of the quartet of groups that form each of the four Leagues. However, if a UEFA Nations League group winner has already qualified via the European Qualifiers, their spot goes to the next best-ranked team in their League.
If a League does not have four teams to compete (say, for example, ten of the 12 League A teams qualify automatically), the remaining slots are allocated to sides from another League in accordance with the overall rankings. This is how the play-offs stand at the moment.
Dates for your diary
21–23/03/19: Matchday one
24–26/03/19: Matchday two
07–08/06/19: Matchday three
10–11/06/19: Matchday four
05–07/09/19: Matchday five
08–10/09/19: Matchday six
10–12/10/19: Matchday seven
13–15/10/19: Matchday eight
14–16/11/19: Matchday nine
17–19/11/19: Matchday ten
22/11/19: European Qualifiers play-off draw
30/11/19: UEFA EURO 2020 final tournament draw, Bucharest
26–31/03/20: European Qualifiers play-offs
01/04/20: Additional final tournament draw if required
12/06–12/07/20: UEFA EURO 2020 final tournament
How did the draw work?
The teams were split into seven pots: the UEFA Nations League pot, consisting of the four teams set to compete in next year's Finals, as well as Pots 1 to 6. The four countries in the UEFA Nations League pot – Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands and England – were drawn into the first position in Groups A to D to ensure they each have two dates free for the Finals in June.
The pots were determined by the overall UEFA Nations League rankings issued on 21 November.
The six teams in Pot 1 were drawn into the first position in Groups E to J. The ten teams in Pot 2 were drawn into second positions in the ten groups, with the draw continuing in similar style for Pots 3, 4 and 5 to fill positions 3, 4 and 5 respectively. The teams in Pot 6 were then drawn into the sixth position in the six-team Groups F to J.
