The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 1992 was a series of parallel association football competitions to be held over 1990 and 1991 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1992, to be held in Sweden. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 2 February 1990.

UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates30 May 1990 – 22 December 1991
Teams33[note 1]
Tournament statistics
Matches played123
Goals scored333 (2.71 per match)
Top scorer(s)Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Darko Pančev (10 goals)
1988
1996

There were a total of seven groups. At the conclusion of qualifying, the team at the top of each group qualified for the final tournament, to join the hosts in completing the eight participants. This was the last European Championship to feature eight teams, as the competition was expanded to 16 teams for 1996.[1]

Qualified teams

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  Qualified for the tournament
  Expelled after qualification
  Did not qualify
  Withdrew before playing any matches
  Did not enter
  Not a UEFA member
Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
  Sweden Host 16 December 1988 0 (debut)
  France Group 1 winner 12 October 1991 2 (1960, 1984)
  England Group 7 winner 13 November 1991 3 (1968, 1980, 1988)
  CIS[B] Group 3 winner[C] 13 November 1991 5 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988)
  Scotland Group 2 winner 20 November 1991 0 (debut)
  Netherlands Group 6 winner 4 December 1991 3 (1976, 1980, 1988)
  Germany[D] Group 5 winner 18 December 1991 5 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988)
  Denmark Group 4 runner-up[E] 31 May 1992 3 (1964, 1984, 1988)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
  2. ^ From 1960 to 1988, CIS competed as the Soviet Union.
  3. ^ Replaced the Soviet Union.
  4. ^ From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
  5. ^ Replaced FR Yugoslavia (after qualifying as Yugoslavia), who were subject to sanctions under UN Security Council Resolution 757 and thus banned from appearing.[2]

Seedings

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The draw took place on 2 February 1990. Sweden qualified automatically as hosts of the competition, and 34 teams entered the draw, with the Faroe Islands and San Marino participating in a European qualifying tournament for the first time.

As initially made, the draw placed East Germany and West Germany in the same qualifying group; this would have been the first time the two sides had met since the 1974 World Cup. However, following German reunification on 3 October 1990, the East German team was withdrawn and its fixtures scrapped, while the unified German team took over the fixtures of West Germany.

The qualifiers thus consisted of 33 teams divided into seven groups (two of four teams and five of five teams) were played in 1990 and 1991. Each group winner progressed to the finals. This was the last European Championship qualifying phase which awarded two points for a win; from 1996 onward, teams earned 3 points for a win.

Pool 1 Pool 2 Pool 3 Pool 4 Pool 5
  Netherlands (title holders)
  England
  Spain
  Italy
  Yugoslavia
  West Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union
  Republic of Ireland
  Czechoslovakia
  Denmark
  Belgium
  Scotland
  Portugal
  East Germany
  Hungary
  Austria
  France
  Bulgaria
  Poland
  Greece
   Switzerland
  Iceland
  Wales
  Turkey
  Norway
  Northern Ireland
  Finland
  Malta
  Cyprus
  Luxembourg
  Albania
  San Marino
  Faroe Islands

Summary

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  Six group winners and one runner-up (replacing a banned team) qualified directly for UEFA Euro 1992
  Group winner was banned from UEFA Euro 1992
  Other teams were eliminated
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7
 
France
 
Scotland
 
Soviet Union
 
Yugoslavia
 
Germany
 
Netherlands
 
England
 
Czechoslovakia
 
Switzerland
 
Italy
 
Denmark
 
Wales
 
Portugal
 
Republic of Ireland
 
Spain
 
Iceland
 
Albania
 
Romania
 
Bulgaria
 
San Marino
 
Norway
 
Hungary
 
Cyprus
 
Northern Ireland
 
Austria
 
Faroe Islands
 
Belgium
 
Luxembourg
 
Greece
 
Finland
 
Malta
 
Poland
 
Turkey

Tiebreakers

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If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

  1. Greater number of points in all group matches
  2. Goal difference in all group matches
  3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  4. Drawing of lots

Groups

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Group 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   France 8 8 0 0 20 6 +14 16 Qualify for final tournament 2–1 3–1 3–1 5–0
2   Czechoslovakia 8 5 0 3 12 9 +3 10 1–2 3–2 1–0 2–1
3   Spain 7 3 0 4 17 12 +5 6 1–2 2–1 2–1 9–0
4   Iceland 8 2 0 6 7 10 −3 4 1–2 0–1 2–0 2–0
5   Albania 7 1 0 6 2 21 −19 2 0–1 0–2 Canc.[a] 1–0
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ The match was cancelled due to the political crisis in Albania; both countries were already eliminated.[3]

Group 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Scotland 8 4 3 1 14 7 +7 11 Qualify for final tournament 2–1 2–1 1–1 4–0
2    Switzerland 8 4 2 2 19 7 +12 10 2–2 0–0 2–0 7–0
3   Romania 8 4 2 2 13 7 +6 10 1–0 1–0 0–3 6–0
4   Bulgaria 8 3 3 2 15 8 +7 9 1–1 2–3 1–1 4–0
5   San Marino 8 0 0 8 1 33 −32 0 0–2 0–4 1–3 0–3
Source: UEFA

Group 3

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Soviet Union[a] 8 5 3 0 13 2 +11 13 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 2–0 2–2 4–0
2   Italy 8 3 4 1 12 5 +7 10 0–0 1–1 3–1 2–0
3   Norway 8 3 3 2 9 5 +4 9 0–1 2–1 0–0 3–0
4   Hungary 8 2 4 2 10 9 +1 8 0–1 1–1 0–0 4–2
5   Cyprus 8 0 0 8 2 25 −23 0 0–3 0–4 0–3 0–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ The Soviet Union team was replaced by CIS in the final tournament due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union just after the end of the qualifying stages.

Group 4

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Yugoslavia 8 7 0 1 24 4 +20 14 Banned from final tournament[a] 1–2 4–1 4–1 7–0
2   Denmark 8 6 1 1 18 7 +11 13 Qualify for final tournament[a] 0–2 2–1 2–1 4–1
3   Northern Ireland 8 2 3 3 11 11 0 7 0–2 1–1 2–1 1–1
4   Austria 8 1 1 6 6 14 −8 3 0–2 0–3 0–0 3–0
5   Faroe Islands 8 1 1 6 3 26 −23 3 0–2 0–4 0–5 1–0
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Yugoslavia were to participate in the final tournament as FR Yugoslavia. However, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was placed under sanctions on 30 May 1992 by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 after the outbreak of Yugoslav Wars.[2] FIFA and UEFA therefore suspended FR Yugoslavia from competitive football on 31 May 1992, meaning they could not participate in the final tournament. Group runners-up Denmark instead took the spot at the final tournament.[4][5][6][7]

Group 5

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East Germany were originally drawn into this group alongside West Germany, but after reunification, a single German team participated in the qualification process, taking over the fixtures of West Germany.

Subsequently, East Germany's game on 12 September 1990 against Belgium was reclassified as a friendly, and was also East Germany's final international match, which it won 2–0: the remaining seven fixtures of East Germany were scratched.[8]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   Germany 6 5 0 1 13 4 +9 10 Qualify for final tournament 4–1 1–0 4–0
2   Wales 6 4 1 1 8 6 +2 9 1–0 3–1 1–0
3   Belgium 6 2 1 3 7 6 +1 5 0–1 1–1 3–0
4   Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 2 14 −12 0 2–3 0–1 0–2
Source: UEFA

Group 6

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Netherlands 8 6 1 1 17 2 +15 13 Qualify for final tournament 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0
2   Portugal 8 5 1 2 11 4 +7 11 1–0 1–0 1–0 5–0
3   Greece 8 3 2 3 11 9 +2 8 0–2 3–2 2–0 4–0
4   Finland 8 1 4 3 5 8 −3 6 1–1 0–0 1–1 2–0
5   Malta 8 0 2 6 2 23 −21 2 0–8 0–1 1–1 1–1
Source: UEFA

Group 7

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification        
1   England 6 3 3 0 7 3 +4 9 Qualify for final tournament 1–1 2–0 1–0
2   Republic of Ireland 6 2 4 0 13 6 +7 8 1–1 0–0 5–0
3   Poland 6 2 3 1 8 6 +2 7 1–1 3–3 3–0
4   Turkey 6 0 0 6 1 14 −13 0 0–1 1–3 0–1
Source: UEFA

Goalscorers

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There were 333 goals scored in 123 matches, for an average of 2.71 goals per match.

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

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  1. ^ 34 teams entered the competition: due to German reunification on 3 October 1990, West Germany's place was taken by unified Germany, while East Germany were withdrawn as they had ceased to exist.

References

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  1. ^ Stokkermans, Karel (22 October 2001). "European Championship 1992". RSSSF.com. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b "United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (Implementing Trade Embargo on Yugoslavia)". UMN.edu. United Nations. 30 May 1992. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  3. ^ "La UEFA suspende el Albania-España por el clima de inestabilidad que padece el país" [UEFA suspends Albania-Spain match due to climate of instability in the country]. elpais.com (in Spanish). El País. 17 December 1991. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Yugoslavia barred from European Championships". UPI. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Sports ban hits Yugoslavia - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Yugoslavia banned for 1994 World - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  7. ^ Lowe, Sid (29 May 2020). "Slavisa Jokanovic: 'Euro 92 was taken away from us. We were better than Denmark'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  8. ^ "East Germany - International Results 1952-1990". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
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