http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Uefaeuro2012logo.png

 

The six pots of the UEFA Euro 2012 Draw:

 

Pot 1 (top seeds): Spain, Germany, Netherland, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia.

Pot 2: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania.

Pot 3: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Pot 4: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus.

Pot 5: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.

Pot 6: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino.

 

The best teams in each of the nine groups and the best second-placed team will join hots Poland and Ukraine. The other second-placed themes will play two play-off games to decide the last four teams.

 

This will be the last Euro with 16 teams. From 2016 on, it will be 24 team torunament.

 

 

Ooh so Poland and Ukraine are still hosting it SO far. And how the heck a 24 team tourney will work I have no idea.

 

My prediction for England's group:

 

England

Turkey

Scotland

Lithuania

Georgia

Faroe Islands

Ooh so Poland and Ukraine are still hosting it SO far.

 

And how the heck a 24 team tourney will work I have no idea.

 

Yeah, I think UEFA deep inside is now regreting it.

 

For 24 teams, I believe it will work like the model for the World Cups between 1986 and 1994, used nowadays for the Under-17 and Under-20 world cups (6 groups of four, top 2 of each group + 4 best third placed advence to 1/8 finals).

Yeah, I think UEFA deep inside is now regreting it.

 

For 24 teams, I believe it will work like the model for the World Cups between 1986 and 1994, used nowadays for the Under-17 and Under-20 world cups (6 groups of four, top 2 of each group + 4 best third placed advence to 1/8 finals).

Which is an utterly barmy way of doing it. 36 games to eliminate eight teams. But I suspect that's how they'll do it as the alternatives are just as bad. 20 teams would have been vaguely manageable. They could have four groups of five with the top two going through with the fixtures arranged so that the lowest ranked team in each group misses out on the final round of matches. There is no satisfactory way to organise a 24-team tournament but UEFA were more interested in maximising revenue than having a logical tournament structure.

The Draw was made at lunch time today, England & Wales in the same group.

 

Euro 2012 qualifying draw:

 

GROUP A: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Germany

 

GROUP B: Andorra, Armenia, Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Russia

 

GROUP C: Faroes, Estonia, Slovenia, NORTHERN IRELAND, Serbia, Italy

 

GROUP D: Luxembourg, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Romania, France

 

GROUP E: San Marino, Moldova, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands

 

GROUP F: Malta, Georgia, Latvia, Israel, Greece, Croatia

 

GROUP G: Montenegro, WALES, Bulgaria, Switzerland, ENGLAND

 

GROUP H: Iceland, Cyprus, Norway, Denmark, Portugal

 

GROUP I: Liechtenstein, Lithuania, SCOTLAND, Czech Republic, Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My predictions for qualifiers in bold, 2nd placed teams in italics...some of these groups are truly dire. I spot no obvious winner in Group F, for example.

 

GROUP A: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Germany

GROUP B: Andorra, Armenia, Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Russia

GROUP C: Faroes, Estonia, Slovenia, NORTHERN IRELAND, Serbia, Italy

GROUP D: Luxembourg, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Romania, France

GROUP E: San Marino, Moldova, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands

GROUP F: Malta, Georgia, Latvia, Israel, Greece, Croatia

GROUP G: Montenegro, WALES, Bulgaria, Switzerland, ENGLAND

GROUP H: Iceland, Cyprus, Norway, Denmark, Portugal

GROUP I: Liechtenstein, Lithuania, SCOTLAND, Czech Republic, Spain

Capello has got to be happy with that draw. Switzerland maybe isn't the best team to have, as they're a well organised and strong side, but things could have been much worse.

My prediction completely wrong :lol: But at least the logo is good. And to think days later it will be followed up by this monstrosity:

 

http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/2009/03/london2012_logo.jpg

The one they used for the bid campaign was fine!

 

 

GROUP A: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Germany

 

GROUP B: Andorra, Armenia, Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Russia

 

GROUP C: Faroes, Estonia, Slovenia, NORTHERN IRELAND, Serbia, Italy

 

GROUP D: Luxembourg, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Romania, France

 

GROUP E: San Marino, Moldova, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands

 

GROUP F: Malta, Georgia, Latvia, Israel, Greece, Croatia

 

GROUP G: Montenegro, WALES, Bulgaria, Switzerland, ENGLAND

 

GROUP H: Iceland, Cyprus, Norway, Denmark, Portugal

 

GROUP I: Liechtenstein, Lithuania, SCOTLAND, Czech Republic, Spain

 

Group Winners

2nd Placed Team

 

I could see the Republic sneaking the Group if they have their best players fit, and I can see Northern Ireland slipping into 2nd if they out up a good fight.

England do need to be careful though, a group without whipping boys, means they have to be on the ball for all 8 matches, but if the WC2010 campaign is anything to go by they should. All depends on if Capello stays though! Czech Rep not who they used to be, so Scotland should break their winless run against them, otherwise I will be wrong :lol:

Reasonably happy with England's group. We've not got anyone really good but all four teams we're paired with are good enough to put up a stern test. Montenegro did quite well in World Cup qualifying, because they're still a new country they're lower down that they possibly deserve. I can see them soon being regulars in pot 4, maybe even 3.

Nice groups ;) . We play much better against good opponent.

Edited February 9, 201015 yr by yahandsup

Northern Ire + ROI in the same pot :o

Edited April 27, 201015 yr by CianS

The Draw was made at lunch time today, England & Wales in the same group.

 

Euro 2012 qualifying draw:

GROUP H: Iceland, Cyprus, Norway, Denmark, Portugal

Damn it :(

 

Our only hope is that Denmark does really bad

It just occurred to me that making the Euros a 24 team tournament is probably the only way of seeing Scotland in the finals again. They'll most probably finish second in their group having despatched the Czech Rep and probably lose in the playoffs to somebody poor.

England should win their group comfortably with the Swiss second

 

As for the 24 selection for 2016 seems a tad stupid, unless you put 4 teams in each group.

 

Any news who is the host country or countries for 2016 yet, I don't like the idea of 2 countries hosting it every 4 years, I prefer just 1 country hosting it.

England should win their group comfortably with the Swiss second

 

As for the 24 selection for 2016 seems a tad stupid, unless you put 4 teams in each group.

 

Any news who is the host country or countries for 2016 yet, I don't like the idea of 2 countries hosting it every 4 years, I prefer just 1 country hosting it.

Er, you always DO get 4 teams in each group :unsure:

England should win their group comfortably with the Swiss second

 

As for the 24 selection for 2016 seems a tad stupid, unless you put 4 teams in each group.

 

Any news who is the host country or countries for 2016 yet, I don't like the idea of 2 countries hosting it every 4 years, I prefer just 1 country hosting it.

There are only a handful amount of countires that could host it themselves, especially now we're going to 24 teams (England, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Italy is probably about it). It would be unfair to constantly share between those few countries when there are a large number of others that would be perfectly capable of hosting but don't have the population or enough stadia to do so themselves. It's not as if the tournaments in Korea/Japan, Holland/Belgium and Austria/Switzerland have been poor anyway.

Er, you always DO get 4 teams in each group :unsure:

I imagine he was talking about qualification... It'll probably end up being top 2 and 3rd place play-offs.