2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The European zone of qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places at the finals. The qualification process started on 20 August 2008, over a month after the end of UEFA Euro 2008, and ended on 18 November 2009. The qualification process saw the first competitive matches of Montenegro.

Format

Teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The nine group winners qualified directly, while the best eight second-placed teams contested home and away play-off matches for the remaining four places. In determining the best eight second-placed teams, the results against teams finishing last in the six-team groups were not counted for consistency between the five- and six-team groups.^[1]

Seeding

After initially proposing to use a similar system to recent World Cup and European Championship qualification (based on results across the previous two European qualification cycles), the UEFA Executive Committee decided on 27 September 2007 at its meeting in Istanbul that seeding for the qualifiers would be based on FIFA World Rankings, in accordance with the FIFA World Cup regulations (which note that where teams are ranked on "performance" criteria, the FIFA World Rankings must be used).^[2]

The FIFA World Ranking used for seeding was the most recent at the time of the preliminary draw, namely the November 2007 edition. Initially scheduled for 21 November, the release date of the ranking was moved to 23 November to include the final match days of Euro 2008 qualification.^[3]

The countries which eventually qualified for the final tournament are emboldened in the table below.

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007.^[4] During the draw, teams were drawn from the 6 pots A-F (see above) into the nine groups below, starting with pot F, which filled position 6 in the groups, then continued with pot E filling position 5, pot D in position 4 and so on.^[5]

First round

Summary

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8	Group 9
Denmark	Switzerland	Slovakia	Germany	Spain	England	Serbia	Italy	Netherlands
Portugal	Greece	Slovenia	Russia	Belgium	Ukraine	France	Republic of Ireland	Norway
Sweden Hungary Albania Malta	Latvia Israel Luxembourg Moldova	Czech Republic Northern Ireland Poland San Marino	Finland Wales Azerbaijan Liechtenstein	Turkey Bosnia and Herzegovina Estonia Armenia	Croatia Belarus Kazakhstan Andorra	Austria Lithuania Romania Faroe Islands	Bulgaria Cyprus Montenegro Georgia	Scotland Macedonia Iceland

Groups

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Denmark 10 6 3 1 16 5 +11 21  Portugal 10 5 4 1 17 5 +12 19  Sweden 10 5 3 2 13 5 +8 18  Hungary 10 5 1 4 10 8 +2 16  Albania 10 1 4 5 6 13 −7 7  Malta 10 0 1 9 0 26 −26 1

Albania  – 1–1 0–1 3–0 1–2 0–0 Denmark  3–0 – 0–1 3–0 1–1 1–0 Hungary  2–0 0–0 – 3–0 0–1 1–2 Malta  0–0 0–3 0–1 – 0–4 0–1 Portugal  0–0 2–3 3–0 4–0 – 0–0 Sweden  4–1 0–1 2–1 4–0 0–0 –

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Switzerland 10 6 3 1 18 8 +10 21  Greece 10 6 2 2 20 10 +10 20  Latvia 10 5 2 3 18 15 +3 17  Israel 10 4 4 2 20 10 +10 16  Luxembourg 10 1 2 7 4 25 −21 5  Moldova 10 0 3 7 6 18 −12 3

Greece  – 2–1 5–2 2–1 3–0 1–2 Israel  1–1 – 0–1 7–0 3–1 2–2 Latvia  0–2 1–1 – 2–0 3–2 2–2 Luxembourg  0–3 1–3 0–4 – 0–0 0–3 Moldova  1–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 – 0–2 Switzerland   2–0 0–0 2–1 1–2 2–0 –

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Slovakia 10 7 1 2 22 10 +12 22  Slovenia 10 6 2 2 18 4 +14 20  Czech Republic 10 4 4 2 17 6 +11 16  Northern Ireland 10 4 3 3 13 9 +4 15  Poland 10 3 2 5 19 14 +5 11  San Marino 10 0 0 10 1 47 −46 0

Czech Republic  – 0–0 2–0 7–0 1–2 1–0 Northern Ireland  0–0 – 3–2 4–0 0–2 1–0 Poland  2–1 1–1 – 10–0 0–1 1–1 San Marino  0–3 0–3 0–2 – 1–3 0–3 Slovakia  2–2 2–1 2–1 7–0 – 0–2 Slovenia  0–0 2–0 3–0 5–0 2–1 –

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Germany 10 8 2 0 26 5 +21 26  Russia 10 7 1 2 19 6 +13 22  Finland 10 5 3 2 14 14 0 18  Wales 10 4 0 6 9 12 −3 12  Azerbaijan 10 1 2 7 4 14 −10 5  Liechtenstein 10 0 2 8 2 23 −21 2

Azerbaijan  – 1–2 0–2 0–0 1–1 0–1 Finland  1–0 – 3–3 2–1 0–3 2–1 Germany  4–0 1–1 – 4–0 2–1 1–0 Liechtenstein  0–2 1–1 0–6 – 0–1 0–2 Russia  2–0 3–0 0–1 3–0 – 2–1 Wales  1–0 0–2 0–2 2–0 1–3 –

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 10 10 0 0 28 5 +23 30  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 6 1 3 25 13 +12 19  Turkey 10 4 3 3 13 10 +3 15  Belgium 10 3 1 6 13 20 −7 10  Estonia 10 2 2 6 9 24 −15 8  Armenia 10 1 1 8 6 22 −16 4

Armenia  – 2–1 0–2 2–2 1–2 0–2 Belgium  2–0 – 2–4 3–2 1–2 2–0 Bosnia and Herzegovina  4–1 2–1 – 7–0 2–5 1–1 Estonia  1–0 2–0 0–2 – 0–3 0–0 Spain  4–0 5–0 1–0 3–0 – 1–0 Turkey  2–0 1–1 2–1 4–2 1–2 –

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  England 10 9 0 1 34 6 +28 27  Ukraine 10 6 3 1 21 6 +15 21  Croatia 10 6 2 2 19 13 +6 20  Belarus 10 4 1 5 19 14 +5 13  Kazakhstan 10 2 0 8 11 29 −18 6  Andorra 10 0 0 10 3 39 −36 0

Andorra  – 1–3 0–2 0–2 1–3 0–6 Belarus  5–1 – 1–3 1–3 4–0 0–0 Croatia  4–0 1–0 – 1–4 3–0 2–2 England  6–0 3–0 5–1 – 5–1 2–1 Kazakhstan  3–0 1–5 1–2 0–4 – 1–3 Ukraine  5–0 1–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 –

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Serbia 10 7 1 2 22 8 +14 22  France 10 6 3 1 18 9 +9 21  Austria 10 4 2 4 14 15 −1 14  Lithuania 10 4 0 6 10 11 −1 12  Romania 10 3 3 4 12 18 −6 12  Faroe Islands 10 1 1 8 5 20 −15 4

Austria  – 3–1 3–1 2–1 2–1 1–3 Faroe Islands  1–1 – 0–1 2–1 0–1 0–2 France  3–1 5–0 – 1–0 1–1 2–1 Lithuania  2–0 1–0 0–1 – 0–1 2–1 Romania  1–1 3–1 2–2 0–3 – 2–3 Serbia  1–0 2–0 1–1 3–0 5–0 –

Notes on the tie-breaking situation:

• Lithuania and Romania are ranked by their overall goal difference.

Group 8

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 10 7 3 0 18 7 +11 24  Republic of Ireland 10 4 6 0 12 8 +4 18  Bulgaria 10 3 5 2 17 13 +4 14  Cyprus 10 2 3 5 14 16 −2 9  Montenegro 10 1 6 3 9 14 −5 9  Georgia 10 0 3 7 7 19 −12 3

Bulgaria  – 2–0 6–2 0–0 4–1 1–1 Cyprus  4–1 – 2–1 1–2 2–2 1–2 Georgia  0–0 1–1 – 0–2 0–0 1–2 Italy  2–0 3–2 2–0 – 2–1 1–1 Montenegro  2–2 1–1 2–1 0–2 – 0–0 Republic of Ireland  1–1 1–0 2–1 2–2 0–0 –

Notes on the tie-breaking situation:

• Cyprus and Montenegro are ranked by their overall goal difference.

Group 9

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Netherlands 8 8 0 0 17 2 +15 24  Norway 8 2 4 2 9 7 +2 10  Scotland 8 3 1 4 6 11 −5 10  Macedonia 8 2 1 5 5 11 −6 7  Iceland 8 1 2 5 7 13 −6 5

Iceland  – 1–0 1–2 1–1 1–2 Macedonia  2–0 – 1–2 0–0 1–0 Netherlands  2–0 4–0 – 2–0 3–0 Norway  2–2 2–1 0–1 – 4–0 Scotland  2–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 –

Notes on the tie-breaking situation:

• Norway and Scotland are ranked by their overall goal difference.

Ranking of second-placed teams

Because one group has one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.

Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
4	Russia	8	5	1	2	15	6	+9	16
2	Greece	8	5	1	2	16	9	+7	16
6	Ukraine	8	4	3	1	10	6	+4	15
7	France	8	4	3	1	12	9	+3	15
3	Slovenia	8	4	2	2	10	4	+6	14
5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	4	1	3	19	12	+7	13
1	Portugal	8	3	4	1	9	5	+4	13
8	Republic of Ireland	8	2	6	0	8	6	+2	12
9	Norway	8	2	4	2	9	7	+2	10

Ranking rules^[6]

1. Total points
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Goals scored away from home
5. Disciplinary record (yellow card, −1 point; two yellow cards in the same match, −3 points; red card, −3 points; yellow card followed by a direct red card in the same match, −4 points)
6. Drawing of lots

Second round

The UEFA second round (often referred to as the play-off stage) was contested by the best eight runners-up from the nine first round groups. The winners of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup finals in South Africa. Norway, with 10 points, was ranked 9th so failed to qualify for the second round.

Seeding and draw

The eight teams were seeded according to the FIFA World Rankings released on 16 October (shown in parentheses in the table below). The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 19 October, with the top four teams seeded into one pot and the bottom four teams seeded into a second. A separate draw decided the host of the first leg.^[7]

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Republic of Ireland	1–2	France	0–1	1–1 (aet)
Portugal	2–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–0	1–0
Greece	1–0	Ukraine	0–0	1–0
Russia	2–2 (a)	Slovenia	2–1	0–1

Goalscorers

There were 725 goals scored over 268 games by 399 different players, for an average of 2.71 goals per game. England were the highest scorers in the European section with 34 goals. Malta did not score any goals, but did score two own goals. The top scorer was Theofanis Gekas of Greece, who scored ten goals.

Note: Goals scored in the play-offs are included.

10 goals

• Theofanis Gekas

9 goals

• Edin Džeko
• Wayne Rooney

7 goals

• Miroslav Klose
• David Villa

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

2 own goals

1 own goal

References

External links

• European Zone at FIFA.com
• UEFA Qualifier results with full game box scores at Scoreshelf.com