Spain among top draw seeds
Friday, February 5, 2010
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The holders will be joined by Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France and Russia as top seeds for Sunday's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying draw.
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Titleholders Spain will be among nine top seeds in the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw on Sunday.
Nine groups will be put together in the qualifying draw – six sections of six teams and three of five – as Europe's footballing nations chase 14 finals places alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine. The seeding pots are formed on the basis of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system, finalised after the completion of FIFA World Cup qualifying, with the reigning European champions automatically top seeded. All groups will contain one side from the first five pots and six sections will also feature a team from Pot 6.
The countries in each group will play one another on a home-and-away basis, with qualifiers scheduled according to the international match calendar between September 2010 and October 2011. The nine winners and the runner-up with the best record against the teams first, third, fourth and fifth in their pool qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up contest play-off matches in November 2011.
Read the official regulations.
View full UEFA national team coefficient rankings.
Seeding pots
Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia
Pot 2: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania
Pot 3: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Pot 4: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus
Pot 5: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Pot 6: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino