EURO 2016 qualifying draw results: England in an easy group

England were placed in what was considered the easiest group. Their opponents were only Switzerland, Estonia, Slovenia, San Marino or Lithuania.

With the top two teams in the group having tickets to the final round, England will almost certainly be present at EURO 2016 when their group includes opponents considered much weaker such as Switzerland, Estonia,San Marino,Lithuania, Slovenia.

Meanwhile, Spain, Germany and Portugal are in much tougher groups. Spain will have to compete with Ukraine and Slovakia in Group C, Germany will have to be careful against the Republic of Ireland, Poland and Scotland in Group D. In Group I, Portugal will have to struggle against two tough teams, Serbia and Denmark.

Euro 2016 qualifying draw results:

Table A:Netherlands, Czech Republic,Türkiye,Latvia,Iceland,Kazakhstan,

Table B:Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Israel,Wales,Cyprus,Andorra,

Table C:Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia,Belarus,Macedonia,Luxembourg,

Table D:Germany, Republic of Ireland, Poland,Scotland,Gibraltar,Georgia,

Table E:UK, Switzerland, Estonia,San Marino,Lithuania, Slovenia

Group F: Greece, Romania, Finland, Faroes Islands, Hungary, Northern Ireland

Group G:Russia, Austria, Sweden, Montenegro, Moldova

Table H:Italy, Croatia, Malta, Bulgaria, Norway,Azerbaijan,Liechtenstein,

Table I:Portugal, Denmark, Serbia, Armenia, Albania, (France).

(Hosting France will still play in the qualifiers but matches involving them will not count for points)

The qualifying matches will begin on September 7, 2014 and end on October 13, 2015. The 18 winners and runners-up from the nine groups, plus the best third-placed team, will advance directly to the finals.

The remaining eight third-placed teams will play a play-off to determine the remaining four teams, creating a total of 23 teams to join hosts France in the summer of 2016.

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This evening (February 23), 53 UEFA member teams will be divided into 9 groups for the EURO 2016 qualifying round. The most notable change of this qualifying round compared to previous tournaments is that the host team will also participate in the matches, but only as friendly matches.

Of the 9 groups, groups A to H have 6 teams, while group I will only have 5 teams participating in the official qualifying round, and the host of EURO 2016, France, will play with the group I teams. France’s matches are only friendly matches and do not count for points. This makes people wait and see how the group I teams will “treat” the matches against France?

Among the draw rules, the most important is that England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain will be drawn into groups of six teams. This is a requirement of the TV companies to maximize the matches of these “big guys” and increase revenue.

Another rule is that two pairs of teams will not be allowed to be drawn together for political reasons: Azerbaijan-Armenia and Spain-Gibraltar. Unlike previous qualifiers, Russia and Georgia, two countries with political conflicts, have agreed to play each other if drawn in the same group.

The strongest group (according to the current UEFA rankings) that could be created would include: Spain, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Iceland and Luxembourg.

But the most interesting group will probably consist of five teams: Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia (or Slovenia), Montenegro, Medonia. These are teams from the lands of the former Yugoslavia, and it will be interesting to see the convergence of a footballing nation that people once said “if it still exists, it will be the strongest in Europe”.

Of the four pairs that had to “fight” to get through the European play-off round in the EURO 2012 qualifiers, Bosnia and Portugal have no chance to “settle the score” with each other because they are in the same group. But Turkey may have a chance to “take revenge” on Croatia, Montenegro may also settle the score with the Czech Republic and similarly Estonia with the Republic of Ireland.

Euro 2016 seeding groups

Group 1: Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland

Group 3: Serbia, Türkiye, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland

Group 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus

Group 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus

Group 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar.

According to Bongdaplus