Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2000 final tournament, took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified automatically for the final tournament. The rest of the runners-up played an additional set of playoff matches amongst each other.

UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates4 June 1998 – 17 November 1999
Teams49
Tournament statistics
Matches played228
Goals scored652 (2.86 per match)
Top scorer(s)Spain Raúl (11 goals)
1996
2004

Both Belgium and the Netherlands qualified automatically as co-hosts of the event.[1][2]

Qualified teams

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  Qualified
  Did not qualify
  Did not enter
  Not a UEFA member


Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
  Belgium Co-host 14 July 1995 3 (1972, 1980, 1984)
  Netherlands 5 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996)
  Czech Republic[B] Group 9 winner 9 June 1999 4 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996)
  Norway Group 2 winner 8 September 1999 0 (debut)
  Sweden Group 5 winner 8 September 1999 1 (1992)
  Spain Group 6 winner 8 September 1999 5 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996)
  Italy Group 1 winner 9 October 1999 4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996)
  Germany[C] Group 3 winner 9 October 1999 7 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996)
  France Group 4 winner 9 October 1999 4 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996)
  Romania Group 7 winner 9 October 1999 2 (1984, 1996)
  FR Yugoslavia[D] Group 8 winner 9 October 1999 4 (1960, 1968, 1976, 1984)
  Portugal Best runner-up 9 October 1999 2 (1984, 1996)
  Denmark Play-off winner 17 November 1999 5 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996)
  England Play-off winner 17 November 1999 5 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996)
  Slovenia Play-off winner 17 November 1999 0 (debut)
  Turkey Play-off winner 17 November 1999 1 (1996)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
  2. ^ From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.
  3. ^ From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
  4. ^ From 1960 to 1984, FR Yugoslavia competed as Yugoslavia.

Qualification seeding

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The draw occurred on 18 January 1998, in Ghent, Belgium. The 49 participating teams were divided into five drawing pots based on the newly introduced 1997-edition of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking, which calculated an average of the team's points per game achieved combined in the Euro 1996 and 1998 World Cup qualifiers. The seeding list was however subject to some few minor modifications:[3][4]

  • Germany were seeded first and not fifth as the defending champions (title holders).
  • Netherlands (ranked 11th) and Belgium (ranked 18th) were not seeded, as they did not participate in the qualifying tournament due to already having qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts. Consequently, all teams ranked below them moved up one or two seeding places higher than their rankings.

Nine groups were formed by drawing one team from each of the five pots. The remaining four teams from pot five, were subsequently drawn into four of the groups (randomly selected); meaning that the four groups with six teams featured two teams from pot five.

Pot 1
Team Coeff[5] Seed[4]
  Germany (title holders) 2.35 1
  Spain 2.60 2
  Romania 2.45 3
  Russia 2.39 4
  England 2.37 5
  Scotland 2.30 6
  FR Yugoslavia 2.30 7
  Italy 2.28 8
  Norway 2.22 9
Pot 2
Team Coeff[5] Seed[4]
  Bulgaria 2.22 10
  Croatia 2.11 11
  Denmark 2.11 12
  Portugal 2.10 13
  Austria 2.05 14
  France 2.00 15
  Czech Republic 1.85 16
  Turkey 1.81 17
  Greece 1.78 18
Pot 3
Team Coeff[5] Seed[4]
  Republic of Ireland 1.75 19
   Switzerland 1.69 20
  Sweden 1.67 21
  Lithuania 1.65 22
  Ukraine 1.65 23
  Slovakia 1.50 24
  Finland 1.44 25
  Israel 1.38 26
  Georgia 1.38 27
Pot 4
Team Coeff[5] Seed[4]
  Poland 1.28 28
  Hungary 1.25 29
  Northern Ireland 1.20 30
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.12 31
  Latvia 1.10 32
  Macedonia 1.00 33
  Cyprus 0.94 34
  Wales 0.38 35
  Iceland 0.78 36
Pot 5
Team Coeff[5] Seed[4]
  Belarus 0.75 37
  Slovenia 0.67 38
  Armenia 0.65 39
  Albania 0.60 40
  Faroe Islands 0.60 41
  Luxembourg 0.55 42
  Moldova 0.50 43
  Azerbaijan 0.22 44
  Estonia 0.20 45
  Malta 0.20 46
  Liechtenstein 0.05 47
  San Marino 0.00 48
  Andorra NR 49

Note: The UEFA national team coefficient ranking automatically had taken into account in its ranking calculation, that France automatically qualified as hosts for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, meaning that the coefficient for France only factored their UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying record. Similarly, the coefficient considered only the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification record for England, FR Yugoslavia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. England automatically qualified as hosts of UEFA Euro 1996 while FR Yugoslavia were suspended due to UN sanctions. Bosnia and Herzegovina made their European qualification debut. Andorra made their qualification debut after being admitted to UEFA in November 1996.

Summary

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  Group winners and the best ranked runner-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 2000
  The remaining runners-up advanced to the play-offs
  Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9
 
Italy
 
Norway
 
Germany
 
France
 
Sweden
 
Spain
 
Romania
 
FR Yugoslavia
 
Czech Republic
 
Denmark
 
Slovenia
 
Turkey
 
Ukraine
 
England
 
Israel
 
Portugal
 
Republic of Ireland
 
Scotland
 
Switzerland
 
Wales
 
Belarus
 
Greece
 
Latvia
 
Albania
 
Georgia
 
Finland
 
Northern Ireland
 
Moldova
 
Russia
 
Iceland
 
Armenia
 
Andorra
 
Poland
 
Bulgaria
 
Luxembourg
 
Austria
 
Cyprus
 
San Marino
 
Slovakia
 
Hungary
 
Azerbaijan
 
Liechtenstein
 
Croatia
 
Macedonia
 
Malta
 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
 
Lithuania
 
Estonia
 
Faroe Islands

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:[6]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  5. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  6. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Fair play conduct in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).

Groups

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Group 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Italy 8 4 3 1 13 5 +8 15 Qualify for final tournament 2–3 2–0 4–0 1–1
2   Denmark 8 4 2 2 11 8 +3 14[a] Advance to play-offs 1–2 2–1 1–2 1–0
3    Switzerland 8 4 2 2 9 5 +4 14[a] 0–0 1–1 2–0 2–0
4   Wales 8 3 0 5 7 16 −9 9 0–2 0–2 0–2 3–2
5   Belarus 8 0 3 5 4 10 −6 3 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Denmark 4, Switzerland 1.

Group 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Norway 10 8 1 1 21 9 +12 25 Qualify for final tournament 4–0 1–0 1–3 2–2 1–0
2   Slovenia 10 5 2 3 12 14 −2 17 Advance to play-offs 1–2 0–3 1–0 2–0 2–1
3   Greece 10 4 3 3 13 8 +5 15 0–2 2–2 1–2 2–0 3–0
4   Latvia 10 3 4 3 13 12 +1 13 1–2 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–0
5   Albania 10 1 4 5 8 14 −6 7 1–2 0–1 0–0 3–3 2–1
6   Georgia 10 1 2 7 8 18 −10 5 1–4 1–1 1–2 2–2 1–0
Source: UEFA

Group 3

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Germany 8 6 1 1 20 4 +16 19 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 2–0 4–0 6–1
2   Turkey 8 5 2 1 15 6 +9 17 Advance to play-offs 1–0 1–3 3–0 2–0
3   Finland 8 3 1 4 13 13 0 10 1–2 2–4 4–1 3–2
4   Northern Ireland 8 1 2 5 4 19 −15 5 0–3 0–3 1–0 2–2
5   Moldova 8 0 4 4 7 17 −10 4 1–3 1–1 0–0 0–0
Source: UEFA

Group 4

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   France 10 6 3 1 17 10 +7 21 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 2–3 3–2 2–0 2–0
2   Ukraine 10 5 5 0 14 4 +10 20 Advance to play-offs 0–0 3–2 1–1 2–0 4–0
3   Russia 10 6 1 3 22 12 +10 19 2–3 1–1 1–0 2–0 6–1
4   Iceland 10 4 3 3 12 7 +5 15 1–1 0–1 1–0 2–0 3–0
5   Armenia 10 2 2 6 8 15 −7 8 2–3 0–0 0–3 0–0 3–1
6   Andorra 10 0 0 10 3 28 −25 0 0–1 0–2 1–2 0–2 0–3
Source: UEFA

Group 5

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Sweden 8 7 1 0 10 1 +9 22 Qualify for final tournament 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–0
2   England 8 3 4 1 14 4 +10 13[a] Advance to play-offs 0–0 3–1 0–0 6–0
3   Poland 8 4 1 3 12 8 +4 13[a] 0–1 0–0 2–0 3–0
4   Bulgaria 8 2 2 4 6 8 −2 8 0–1 1–1 0–3 3–0
5   Luxembourg 8 0 0 8 2 23 −21 0 0–1 0–3 2–3 0–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: England 4, Poland 1.

Group 6

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Spain 8 7 0 1 42 5 +37 21 Qualify for final tournament 3–0 9–0 8–0 9–0
2   Israel 8 4 1 3 25 9 +16 13[a] Advance to play-offs 1–2 5–0 3–0 8–0
3   Austria 8 4 1 3 19 20 −1 13[a] 1–3 1–1 3–1 7–0
4   Cyprus 8 4 0 4 12 21 −9 12 3–2 3–2 0–3 4–0
5   San Marino 8 0 0 8 1 44 −43 0 0–6 0–5 1–4 0–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Israel 4, Austria 1.

Group 7

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Romania 10 7 3 0 25 3 +22 24 Qualify for final tournament 1–1 0–0 2–0 4–0 7–0
2   Portugal 10 7 2 1 32 4 +28 23 0–1 1–0 3–0 7–0 8–0
3   Slovakia 10 5 2 3 12 9 +3 17 1–5 0–3 0–0 3–0 2–0
4   Hungary 10 3 3 4 14 10 +4 12 1–1 1–3 0–1 3–0 5–0
5   Azerbaijan 10 1 1 8 6 26 −20 4[a] 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–4 4–0
6   Liechtenstein 10 1 1 8 2 39 −37 4[a] 0–3 0–5 0–4 0–0 2–1
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head points (3). Head-to-head goal difference: Azerbaijan +3, Liechtenstein −3.

Group 8

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   FR Yugoslavia 8 5 2 1 18 8 +10 17 Qualify for final tournament 1–0 0–0 3–1 4–1
2   Republic of Ireland 8 5 1 2 14 6 +8 16 Advance to play-offs 2–1 2–0 1–0 5–0
3   Croatia 8 4 3 1 13 9 +4 15 2–2 1–0 3–2 2–1
4   FYR Macedonia 8 2 2 4 13 14 −1 8 2–4 1–1 1–1 4–0
5   Malta 8 0 0 8 6 27 −21 0 0–3 2–3 1–4 1–2
Source: UEFA

Group 9

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Czech Republic 10 10 0 0 26 5 +21 30 Qualify for final tournament 3–2 3–0 2–0 4–1 2–0
2   Scotland 10 5 3 2 15 10 +5 18 Advance to play-offs 1–2 1–0 3–0 3–2 2–1
3   Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 3 2 5 14 17 −3 11[a] 1–3 1–2 2–0 1–1 1–0
4   Lithuania 10 3 2 5 8 16 −8 11[a] 0–4 0–0 4–2 1–2 0–0
5   Estonia 10 3 2 5 15 17 −2 11[a] 0–2 0–0 1–4 1–2 5–0
6   Faroe Islands 10 0 3 7 4 17 −13 3 0–1 1–1 2–2 0–1 0–2
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Head-to-head points: Bosnia and Herzegovina 7, Lithuania 6, Estonia 4.

Ranking of second-placed teams

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The best runner-up of the entire group phase qualified automatically for the final tournament. To determine the best runner-up, a comparison was made between all of them. As some groups had five teams and others had six, matches played against fifth and sixth placed teams were discarded, despite the fact that only discarding matches against sixth-place teams would have been sufficient. After the best runner-up was found, all the others entered a random playoff to determine the last four qualifiers.

Portugal qualified automatically as best runner-up, beating Turkey on goal difference.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 7   Portugal 6 4 1 1 11 3 +8 13 Qualify for final tournament
2 3   Turkey 6 4 1 1 12 5 +7 13 Advance to play-offs
3 9   Scotland 6 3 1 2 9 6 +3 10
4 1   Denmark 6 3 1 2 10 8 +2 10
5 4   Ukraine 6 2 4 0 6 4 +2 10
6 8   Republic of Ireland 6 3 1 2 6 4 +2 10
7 6   Israel 6 2 1 3 12 9 +3 7
8 5   England 6 1 4 1 5 4 +1 7
9 2   Slovenia 6 2 1 3 6 12 −6 7
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fourth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Drawing of lots.

Play-offs

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The remaining eight runners-up entered a random playoff, disputed in two legs, home and away.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Scotland   1–2   England 0–2 1–0
Israel   0–8   Denmark 0–5 0–3
Slovenia   3–2   Ukraine 2–1 1–1
Republic of Ireland   1–1 (a)   Turkey 1–1 0–0

Goalscorers

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There were 652 goals scored in 228 matches, for an average of 2.86 goals per match.

11 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

References

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  1. ^ "SPORTS BRIEFS". Deseret News. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  2. ^ Archives, L. A. Times (28 October 1998). "Euro 2000 Officials Say Sites Will Be Ready". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  3. ^ Shaw, Phil (17 January 1998). "Football: Andorra and Bosnia join the long march to Euro 2000". The Independent. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "European Championship 2000 Preliminary Competition". englandfootballonline.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e "UEFA European National Team Ranking Table 1997". England Football Online. 21 December 2001. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  6. ^ "European Championship 2000". RSSSF. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 17 January 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
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