UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs

Gianni Infantino (left) and Zbigniew Boniek during a draw for the play-offs

The UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-off ties were played over two legs, with the first legs on 11 November and the second legs on 15 November 2011.^[1] The four winners are found according to the standard rules for the knockout phase in European competitions, and the winners qualified for the Euro 2012 tournament.^[2] Qualifying play-offs was a second stage (round) of UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying.

Ranking of second-placed teams

The highest ranked second placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the playoffs. As some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the second-placed ranking table.

Tiebreakers
If two or more runners-up had an equal number of points from their eight matches contributing toward the ranking, then the following criteria were applied:

1. Superior goal difference from these matches
2. Higher number of goals scored in these matches
3. Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
4. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system
5. Fair play ranking in these matches
6. Drawing of lots

Final standings

Group	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	AG	Pts
E	Sweden	8	6	0	2	20	11	+9	8	18
H	Portugal	8	5	1	2	21	12	+9	8	16
F	Croatia	8	5	1	2	12	6	+6	5	16
B	Republic of Ireland	8	4	3	1	10	6	+4	4	15
D	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	4	2	2	9	8	+1	4	14
I	Czech Republic	8	4	1	3	12	8	+4	9	13
C	Estonia	8	4	1	3	13	11	+2	7	13
G	Montenegro	8	3	3	2	7	7	0	2	12
A	Turkey	8	3	2	3	8	10	−2	1	11

Seedings

The draw for the play-offs was held on 13 October 2011 in Kraków, Poland, to determine the four pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties.^[3]

After the controversy caused by the UEFA play-offs during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying – which was originally to be an unseeded draw, but was later altered by FIFA to a seeded one – UEFA stated from the outset that the draw for the play-offs would be seeded.^[2] The four runners-up with the best positions in the UEFA team coefficient ranking system were therefore seeded.

Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:^[4]

• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying group stage.
• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and final tournament.
• 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stage and final tournament.

The seedings were as follows:^[5]

Pot 1 (seeded) Team Coeff Rank  Croatia 32.723 7  Portugal 31.202 11  Republic of Ireland 28.203 13  Czech Republic 27.982 15

Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Coeff Rank  Turkey 27.601 18  Bosnia and Herzegovina 27.199 19  Montenegro 21.876 35  Estonia 20.355 37

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Turkey	0–3	Croatia	0–3	0–0
Estonia	1–5	Republic of Ireland	0–4	1–1
Czech Republic	3–0	Montenegro	2–0	1–0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–6	Portugal	0–0	2–6

First leg

Bosnia and Herzegovina  v  Portugal

11 November 2011 20:00 UTC+1

Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–0	Portugal
	Report

Bilino Polje, Zenica Attendance: 12,352[6] Referee: Howard Webb (England)

Turkey  v  Croatia

11 November 2011 21:05 UTC+2

Turkey	0–3	Croatia
	Report	Olić  2' Mandžukić  32' Ćorluka  51'

Türk Telekom Arena, Istanbul Attendance: 42,863[7] Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

Czech Republic  v  Montenegro

11 November 2011 20:15 UTC+1

Czech Republic	2–0	Montenegro
Pilař  63' Sivok  90+2'	Report

Generali Arena, Prague Attendance: 14,560[8] Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

Estonia  v  Republic of Ireland

11 November 2011 21:45 UTC+2

Estonia	0–4	Republic of Ireland
	Report	Andrews  13' Walters  67' Keane  71', 88' (pen.)

A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn Attendance: 9,692[9] Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Second leg

Croatia  v  Turkey

15 November 2011 20:05 UTC+1

Croatia	0–0	Turkey
	Report

Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb Attendance: 26,371[10] Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Croatia won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.

Montenegro  v  Czech Republic

15 November 2011 20:15 UTC+1

Montenegro	0–1	Czech Republic
	Report	Jiráček  81'

Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica Attendance: 10,100[11] Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)

Czech Republic won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.

Republic of Ireland  v  Estonia

15 November 2011 19:45 UTC±0

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Estonia
Ward  32'	Report	Vassiljev  57'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 51,151[12] Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

Republic of Ireland won 5–1 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.

Portugal  v  Bosnia and Herzegovina

15 November 2011 21:00 UTC±0

Portugal	6–2	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ronaldo  8', 53' Nani  24' Postiga  72', 82' Veloso  80'	Report	Misimović  41' (pen.) Spahić  65'

Estádio da Luz, Lisbon Attendance: 47,728[13] Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)

Portugal won 6–2 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.

Goalscorers

2 goals

1 goal

Discipline

References