Euro 2012 Qualification

Euro 2012 will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The first qualification match will be on August 11th, although most will be at the start of September.

Group: A
Teams (world rank): Germany (4), Turkey (28), Austria (60), Belgium (48), Kazakhstan (126), Azerbaijan (106)
Comments: Germany are certain to go through. Apart from that, Turkey are a good team and quite a few good world cup players usually play in the Turkish league. As for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan being in Europe, they used to be in the USSR and are predominantly Muslim countries, but also are ex-Turkic states, which places them between Europe and Asia. Kazakhstan actually only became a country in 1991, nineteen years ago.

Group: B
Teams (world rank): Russia (17), Slovakia (27), Republic of Ireland (36), FYR Macedonia (66), Armenia (96), Andorra (201)
Comments: Russia are one of the best-ranked countries to not qualify for the World Cup 2010. Slovakia are one of the worst to qualify, but did well. The Republic of Ireland were denied entry to South Africa 2010 by a handball from France's Thierry Henry. Andorra are one of the worst-ranked teams in the world, probably because of a lack of players to choose from. I'd say Russia will qualify.

Group: C
Teams (world rank): Italy (11), Serbia (13), Northern Ireland (59), Slovenia (19), Estonia (95), Faroe Islands (117)
Comments: Italy had a terrible World Cup, and are under pressure to do better. Serbia, meanwhile, managed to be one of only two teams to beat Germany. Slovenia didn't do so well, but they did have to face England and the USA. I'd say Italy may qualify, but they may also end up in the playoffs.
Estonia and Faroe Islands kick off the first game of the tournament on August 11th. I won't be able to watch it, but I'll comment afterwards.

Group: D
Teams (world rank): France (21), Romania (42), Bosnia-Herzegovina (57), Belarus (77), Albania (71), Luxembourg (116)
Comments: France lost to South Africa and had the worst world ranking drop of any good team. Can they beat any of the other low-ranked teams in this group? Romania are a pretty good team usually, although they failed to qualify for the World Cup this year. I will put my vote on Romania.

Group: E
Teams (world rank): Netherlands (2), Sweden (35), Finland (51), Hungary (62), Moldova (89), San Marino (202)
Comments: San Marino are worse-ranked than Andorra! Netherlands and Sweden will probably qualify, but the Sweden-Finland game should be nicely competitive.

Group: F
Teams (world rank): Croatia (15), Greece (12), Israel (37), Latvia (50), Georgia (111), Malta (152)
Comments: England and Croatia aren't in the same group, so they will definitely face in the finals (it always happens. England stopped Croatia getting to the World Cup). However, Greece will get into the playoffs.

Group: G
Teams (world rank): England (7), Switzerland (18), Bulgaria (43), Wales (84), Montenegro (72)
Comments: Guess who I'm supporting? Switzerland did okay in the World Cup, but with the other teams (usually) much lower-ranked, and England still being reasonable at football, England surely cannot fail to qualify.

Group: H
Teams: Portugal (8), Denmark (29), Norway (22), Cyprus (63), Iceland (79)
Comments: Portugal are most likely to qualify, but Denmark are a good team, even if Norway are currently better-ranked. There is another Scandinavian clash between Denmark and Norway here.

Group: I
Teams: Spain (1), Czech Republic (31), Scotland (41), Lithuania (52), Liechtenstein (140)
Comments: Yes, Euro and World Cup holders Spain do have to fight to hold their title. I have no doubt that they will do so. Sorry, Scotland, but you will remain the butt of England's football jokes. As for Liechtenstein, they managed to hold England down to only 2-0 wins in 2004. It was a great disappointment for England.

How does qualification work? In each group, the winner qualifies for Euro 2012, which is nine teams. They will join Poland and Ukraine (the hosts) in the group stages. The best runner up in groups A-F (six team groups) will also qualify, and the other eight runners up will enter the playoffs for the final four competitors. The four top-seed (best UEFA ranked) teams will play against the other four to decide who also qualifies to get into the top sixteen European teams. The UEFA ranking is found by cutting all the non-European teams out of the FIFA rankings and renumbering. This makes England the fourth-best team in Europe!