Europe ready for Euro 2012 qualification draw
By:Ian
2010-02-05
Soccer fans from all over Europe will turn their attentions this weekend to the draw for the 2012 European Championships, which are to be held jointly in Poland and Ukraine.
The draw for the finals takes place on Sunday 7th February in Warsaw. The draw is structured so that there are six pots, Pot 1 contains the top ranked sides, down to Pot 6 which contains the lowest ranked sides. The pot groupings are as follows;
Pot One : Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia
Pot Two : Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania
Pot Three : Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-H
Pot Four : Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, Macedonia, Cyprus
Pot Five : Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Pot Six : Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faeroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino.
There is certainly the potential for some of the bigger teams to be sorely tested in qualification due to the weighting of the pots. For example none of the nine teams seeded in Pot One would fancy a group consisting of Serbia, Ireland, Belgium, Montenegro and Azerbaijan and the flip side of that is that a group consisting of Slovakia, Scotland, Macedonia, Liechtenstein and San Marino would be viewed positively, though respectfully, in most camps.
Drawing a preferable group could well be vital to any team’s hopes of qualification. The 2012 finals will be the last European Championship finals to feature just 16 teams (from 2016, this will increase to 24 teams) and qualification is always very tough with just the nine group winners and the best second placed team out of all nine groups qualifying for the finals outright. These ten teams will join hosts Ukraine and Poland in the finals with the final four places in the finals contested by means of a two legged play off between the remaining eight teams who finished second in their groups.
At the draw in Warsaw, there will be four of the biggest names ever in Polish and Ukrainian soccer history representing their nations and drawing the teams. For Poland Andrzej Szarmach and Zbigniew Boniek will fly the flag while for the Ukraine Oleg Blochin and Andriy Shevchenko will represent their nation.
The groups will be formed by selecting one team from each pot for the first five rounds, however groups A-F will be the groups designated to have one extra team in from Pot Six, meaning groups G,H and I will be the groups with just five teams in.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino will oversee the draw.
So will England avoid the pitfall of drawing Sweden and auld rivals Scotland? Will Greece and Cyprus play each other? Which of the top sides will draw the stronger Pot Two sides like Serbia, Denmark and Turkey? Who will draw Belgium out of Pot Four and make their qualification, on paper at least, a great deal more difficult and who will get the chance to rack up their goal difference by getting San Marino in their group?
On Sunday, we will all find out.
