Sunday, December 2, 2007

Stage set for UEFA EURO 2008™ drawStage set for UEFA EURO 2008™ draw

The Netherlands will join holders Greece and co-hosts Switzerland and Austria in Pot 1 for the UEFA EURO 2008™ final-round draw in Lucerne.

Coefficient order
With the two co-host nations already occupying positions A1 and B1 in the draw, European champions Greece join the side with the highest coefficient from 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying, the Netherlands, in Pot 1. The remaining pots have been filled in order of coefficient. The teams in Pot 2 will be Croatia, world champions Italy, the Czech Republic and Sweden, with Romania, Germany, Portugal and Spain in Pot 3. The final pot contains UEFA European Championship finals newcomers Poland, France, Turkey and Russia.

Competition cycle
"The system is based on the results of the qualifying competitions – a cycle of two competitions, that is to say one EURO qualifying competition and one World Cup qualifying competition," explained UEFA's professional football director Giorgio Marchetti. "The coefficients are drawn up by dividing the total number of points earned by each team during the two qualifying competitions by the number of matches played. From this point of view, the system is simple, transparent and objective, there is no interference.

Same coefficient
"In the case that teams have the same coefficient over the two qualifying competitions – which is the case for Romania and Germany, and Turkey and Russia – we apply the coefficient over the last competition [EURO], the average goal difference of the last competition, the average number of goals scored, average number of away goals scored and finally, if everything is still equal, we would draw lots.

Four top seeds

"The UEFA ranking has been constantly and consistently applied in this way over the past few editions of the European Championship," Marchetti said. "The hosts and the reigning champions are always seeded, and this is the case for 2008 – the hosts are Switzerland and Austria, Greece is the third top seed as 2004 European champions, and the top team in the ranking is the fourth top seed." With constant improvement in mind, a UEFA review of its coefficient ranking system is under way for future EURO competitions.

Draw procedure

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