Russia and Croatia in top pot for Euro draw
Reuters - Thursday 04 February 2010, 18:30
WARSAW - Russia and Croatia, who have
failed to make this year's World Cup finals in South Africa,
will be among the top seeds when the draw for the qualifying
round of Euro 2012 is made on Sunday.
The qualifying competition, which starts in September and
lasts until November 2011, will feature 51 teams split into nine
groups. There will be six groups of six teams and three groups
made up of five teams.
In all 14 teams will join the co-hosts Poland and Ukraine in
the finals in 2012.
The top seeded nations are European champions Spain, along
with Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, France,
Croatia and Russia.
Greece, the surprise 2004 champions, who are in the World
Cup finals, are in Pot Two, along with fellow World Cup
finalists Switzerland, Serbia, Denmark and Slovakia.
RUSSIAN THEME
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union's
success in winning the first European Championship in 1960, and
a theme of Sunday's draw at 11am GMT at Warsaw's Palace
of Culture and Sciences will recall those first finals.
Russia, the Soviet Union's footballing successors, however,
will be absent from the World Cup in June and July after losing
to Slovenia in a playoff while Croatia will also be absent after
only finishing third in their qualifying group behind England
and Ukraine.
Poland and Ukraine will also be absent from the World Cup
after Poland finished second bottom in their group and Ukraine
were eliminated by Greece in a play-off.
The World Cup playoffs became the issue of intense debate
when FIFA decided to hold the draw after seeding the teams based
on the country's world ranking.
FIFA was criticised for failing to indicate this beforehand
whereas UEFA has ensured the playoff criteria is clearly
established.
BEST RECORD
The runner-up with the best record will automatically join
the nine group winners in the finals with the remaining eight
runners-up contesting the playoffs.
UEFA has confirmed the top four ranked countries out of the
eight will be seeded for the playoffs, with the higher-ranked
country playing at home in the second leg.
A UEFA spokesman told Reuters: "We do not want there to be
any confusion about this. The rules have already been set in
stone and that is the way the playoffs will be organised."
UEFA's seedings were finalised after the completion of the
World Cup qualifying competition.
Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England,
Portugal, France, Croatia, Russia
Pot 2: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia,
Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania
Pot 3: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Scotland,
Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia
Pot 4: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus,
Belgium, Wales, Macedonia, Cyprus
Pot 5: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova,
Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Pot 6: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands,
Andorra, San Marino