Introduction
Saturday, August 3, 2002
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Fifty of UEFA’s 51 member associations were included in the draw for EURO 2004™, with hosts Portugal qualifying automatically. Fifteen teams will qualify to join Portugal in the finals.
Ten groups
UEFA has decided that the qualifying competition shall be staged in ten groups of five teams, with the qualifying matches to be played on the ten allocated international matchdays between September 2002 and October 2003.
Five play-offs
The ten group winners will qualify automatically for the final tournament. The ten runners-up will take part in five play-off matches on a home-and-away basis in 15 and 19 November 2003, with the five winners progressing to the finals.
Final tournament
In the final tournament, which will take place between 12 June and 4 July 2004, the 16 teams will be divided into four groups of four. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals, with a knockout system in force from that stage.
