EURO 2008™ draw procedure

50 countries
Fifty countries will go into the draw, with Austria and Switzerland qualifying automatically as co-hosts of the final round in three summers' time.

The draw procedure is as follows:

Basic conditions
• All 52 UEFA member associations have entered the competition.
• Austria and Switzerland qualify directly for the final tournament as host associations and are therefore not part of the qualifying draw.
• 50 UEFA member associations will participate in the qualifying draw.

Qualifying competition
• 7 groups: 1 group of 8 teams (Group A) and 6 groups of 7 teams (Groups B-G).
• League system on a home-and-away basis.
• Qualification games to be played according to the international match calendar between September 2006 and November 2007.
• The associations in a group have 90 days after the draw in which to agree on the order of their matches. If the associations in question are unable to reach agreement, the games will take place according to a standard fixture list drawn up by the UEFA administration.
• The 7 winners and 7 runners-up of each group qualify for the final tournament.

Allocation of teams to pots 
• The 50 teams are allocated into 7 pots. Pots 1-6 contain 7 teams, Pot 7 contains 8 teams.
• The sides are classified on the basis of their results in the qualifying competitions for the 2004 UEFA European Championship and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• The reigning European champions, Greece, will be seeded into Pot 1.

Draw Procedure
• The draw starts with Pot 7 and ends with Pot 1 in order to ensure the strongest teams are drawn last. Each pot is entirely emptied before proceeding to the next pot.
• A ball will first be drawn from Pot 7 to determine the team in the eighth position of Group A. Then, a second ball will be drawn from Pot 7 to determine the team in the seventh position of Group B. The third ball drawn from Pot 7 will determine the team in the seventh position of Group C.
• The same procedure is repeated until the seventh position of Group G is filled. The last ball from Pot 7 will determine the side in the seventh position of Group A.
• Then the 7 teams in Pot 6 are drawn into the sixth position of each group, starting with Group A and ending with Group G (in alphabetical order).
• The same procedure applies to Pots 5-1 taking into consideration the respective positions within the respective groups.

How qualifying will work

Matches will be played in groups according to the league system, with each team playing every opponent in their group in a series of home and away matches. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat.

If two or more sides are level on points on completion of the qualifying group games, the following criteria will be applied to determine the rankings:

• Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question.
• Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question.
• Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question.
• Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question.

If, after applying these criteria to several teams, two or more sides still have an equal ranking, the criteria a) to d) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria f) and g) will apply:

• Results of all group matches:
1. Superior goal difference
2. Higher number of goals scored
3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
4. Fair play conduct.
• Drawing of lots