2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Tournament details
Dates 20 August 2008 – 18 November 2009
Teams 53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 268
Goals scored 725 (2.71 per match)
Attendance 6,034,605 (22,517 per match)
Top scorer(s) Theofanis Gekas (10 goals)

The European zone of qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places at the finals in South Africa. The qualification process started on 20 August 2008, nearly two months after the end of UEFA Euro 2008, and ended on 18 November 2009. The qualification process saw the first competitive matches of Montenegro.

Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first round by winning their groups. France, Greece, Portugal, and Slovenia qualified via the second round play-offs.

Format

Teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The nine group winners qualified directly, while the best eight second-placed teams contested home and away play off matches for the remaining four places. In determining the best eight second placed teams, the results against teams finishing last in the six team groups were not counted for consistency between the five and six team groups.

Seeding

After initially proposing to use a similar system to recent World Cup and European Championship qualification (based on results across the previous two European qualification cycles), the UEFA Executive Committee decided on 27 September 2007 at its meeting in Istanbul that seeding for the qualifiers would be based on FIFA World Rankings, in accordance with the FIFA World Cup regulations (which note that where teams are ranked on "performance" criteria, the FIFA World Rankings must be used).

The November 2007 FIFA World Ranking the most recent at the time of the preliminary draw and used to determine the groups. Initially scheduled for 21 November, FIFA moved the release date of the ranking to 23 November to include the final match days of Euro 2008 qualification.

Pot A
Team Rank
Italy 3
Spain 4
Germany 5
Czech Republic 6
France 7
Portugal 8
Netherlands 9
Croatia 10
Greece 11
Pot B
Team Rank
England 12
Romania 13
Scotland 14
Turkey 16
Bulgaria 18
Russia 22
Poland 23
Sweden 24
Israel 26
Pot C
Team Rank
Norway 28
Ukraine 29
Serbia 30
Denmark 31
Northern Ireland 32
Republic of Ireland 35
Finland 36
Switzerland 44
Belgium 49
Pot D
Team Rank
Slovakia 50
Bosnia and Herzegovina 51
Hungary 52
Moldova 53
Wales 58
Macedonia 59
Belarus 60
Lithuania 61
Cyprus 65
Pot E
Team Rank
Georgia 77
Albania 82
Slovenia 83
Latvia 88
Iceland 89
Armenia 90
Austria 91
Kazakhstan 110
Liechtenstein 122
Pot F
Team Rank
Azerbaijan 125
Estonia 128
Malta 139
Luxembourg 152
Montenegro 172
Andorra 174
Faroe Islands 195
San Marino 197

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. During the draw, teams were drawn from the six pots A to F (see above) into the nine groups below, starting with pot F, which filled position 6 in the groups, then continued with pot E filling position 5, pot D in position 4 and so on.

Summary

Table – top row: group winners, second row: group runners-up, third row: others. The winner of each group qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup together with the winners of the play-off. The play-offs took place between the eight best runners-up among all nine groups while the worst group runner-up did not qualify.

  Group winners qualified directly for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
  Eight best runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs)
  Worst runner-up and all other teams were eliminated after the first round
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9

Denmark
Switzerland
Slovakia
Germany
Spain
England
Serbia
Italy
Netherlands

Portugal
Greece
Slovenia
Russia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ukraine
France
Republic of Ireland
Norway

Sweden

Hungary

Albania

Malta
Latvia

Israel

Luxembourg

Moldova
Czech Republic

Northern Ireland

Poland

San Marino
Finland

Wales

Azerbaijan

Liechtenstein
Turkey

Belgium

Estonia

Armenia
Croatia

Belarus

Kazakhstan

Andorra
Austria

Lithuania

Romania

Faroe Islands
Bulgaria

Cyprus

Montenegro

Georgia
Scotland

Macedonia

Iceland

First round

Group 1

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Denmark 10 6 3 1 16 5 +11 21 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 1–1 1–0 0–1 3–0 3–0
2 Portugal 10 5 4 1 17 5 +12 19 Advance to second round 2–3 — 0–0 3–0 0–0 4–0
3 Sweden 10 5 3 2 13 5 +8 18 0–1 0–0 — 2–1 4–1 4–0
4 Hungary 10 5 1 4 10 8 +2 16 0–0 0–1 1–2 — 2–0 3–0
5 Albania 10 1 4 5 6 13 −7 7 1–1 1–2 0–0 0–1 — 3–0
6 Malta 10 0 1 9 0 26 −26 1 0–3 0–4 0–1 0–1 0–0 —
Source:

Group 2

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Switzerland 10 6 3 1 18 8 +10 21 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 2–0 2–1 0–0 1–2 2–0
2 Greece 10 6 2 2 20 10 +10 20 Advance to second round 1–2 — 5–2 2–1 2–1 3–0
3 Latvia 10 5 2 3 18 15 +3 17 2–2 0–2 — 1–1 2–0 3–2
4 Israel 10 4 4 2 20 10 +10 16 2–2 1–1 0–1 — 7–0 3–1
5 Luxembourg 10 1 2 7 4 25 −21 5 0–3 0–3 0–4 1–3 — 0–0
6 Moldova 10 0 3 7 6 18 −12 3 0–2 1–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 —
Source:

Group 3

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Slovakia 10 7 1 2 22 10 +12 22 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 0–2 2–2 2–1 2–1 7–0
2 Slovenia 10 6 2 2 18 4 +14 20 Advance to second round 2–1 — 0–0 2–0 3–0 5–0
3 Czech Republic 10 4 4 2 17 6 +11 16 1–2 1–0 — 0–0 2–0 7–0
4 Northern Ireland 10 4 3 3 13 9 +4 15 0–2 1–0 0–0 — 3–2 4–0
5 Poland 10 3 2 5 19 14 +5 11 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 — 10–0
6 San Marino 10 0 0 10 1 47 −46 0 1–3 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–2 —
Source:

Group 4

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Germany 10 8 2 0 26 5 +21 26 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 2–1 1–1 1–0 4–0 4–0
2 Russia 10 7 1 2 19 6 +13 22 Advance to second round 0–1 — 3–0 2–1 2–0 3–0
3 Finland 10 5 3 2 14 14 0 18 3–3 0–3 — 2–1 1–0 2–1
4 Wales 10 4 0 6 9 12 −3 12 0–2 1–3 0–2 — 1–0 2–0
5 Azerbaijan 10 1 2 7 4 14 −10 5 0–2 1–1 1–2 0–1 — 0–0
6 Liechtenstein 10 0 2 8 2 23 −21 2 0–6 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 —
Source:

Group 5

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Spain 10 10 0 0 28 5 +23 30 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 1–0 1–0 5–0 3–0 4–0
2 Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 6 1 3 25 13 +12 19 Advance to second round 2–5 — 1–1 2–1 7–0 4–1
3 Turkey 10 4 3 3 13 10 +3 15 1–2 2–1 — 1–1 4–2 2–0
4 Belgium 10 3 1 6 13 20 −7 10 1–2 2–4 2–0 — 3–2 2–0
5 Estonia 10 2 2 6 9 24 −15 8 0–3 0–2 0–0 2–0 — 1–0
6 Armenia 10 1 1 8 6 22 −16 4 1–2 0–2 0–2 2–1 2–2 —
Source:

Group 6

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 England 10 9 0 1 34 6 +28 27 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 2–1 5–1 3–0 5–1 6–0
2 Ukraine 10 6 3 1 21 6 +15 21 Advance to second round 1–0 — 0–0 1–0 2–1 5–0
3 Croatia 10 6 2 2 19 13 +6 20 1–4 2–2 — 1–0 3–0 4–0
4 Belarus 10 4 1 5 19 14 +5 13 1–3 0–0 1–3 — 4–0 5–1
5 Kazakhstan 10 2 0 8 11 29 −18 6 0–4 1–3 1–2 1–5 — 3–0
6 Andorra 10 0 0 10 3 39 −36 0 0–2 0–6 0–2 1–3 1–3 —
Source:

Group 7

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Serbia 10 7 1 2 22 8 +14 22 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 1–1 1–0 3–0 5–0 2–0
2 France 10 6 3 1 18 9 +9 21 Advance to second round 2–1 — 3–1 1–0 1–1 5–0
3 Austria 10 4 2 4 14 15 −1 14 1–3 3–1 — 2–1 2–1 3–1
4 Lithuania 10 4 0 6 10 11 −1 12 2–1 0–1 2–0 — 0–1 1–0
5 Romania 10 3 3 4 12 18 −6 12 2–3 2–2 1–1 0–3 — 3–1
6 Faroe Islands 10 1 1 8 5 20 −15 4 0–2 0–1 1–1 2–1 0–1 —
Source:

Group 8

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Italy 10 7 3 0 18 7 +11 24 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 1–1 2–0 3–2 2–1 2–0
2 Republic of Ireland 10 4 6 0 12 8 +4 18 Advance to second round 2–2 — 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–1
3 Bulgaria 10 3 5 2 17 13 +4 14 0–0 1–1 — 2–0 4–1 6–2
4 Cyprus 10 2 3 5 14 16 −2 9 1–2 1–2 4–1 — 2–2 2–1
5 Montenegro 10 1 6 3 9 14 −5 9 0–2 0–0 2–2 1–1 — 2–1
6 Georgia 10 0 3 7 7 19 −12 3 0–2 1–2 0–0 1–1 0–0 —
Source:

Group 9

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Netherlands 8 8 0 0 17 2 +15 24 Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup — 2–0 3–0 4–0 2–0
2 Norway 8 2 4 2 9 7 +2 10 0–1 — 4–0 2–1 2–2
3 Scotland 8 3 1 4 6 11 −5 10 0–1 0–0 — 2–0 2–1
4 Macedonia 8 2 1 5 5 11 −6 7 1–2 0–0 1–0 — 2–0
5 Iceland 8 1 2 5 7 13 −6 5 1–2 1–1 1–2 1–0 —
Source: MacedonianFootball

Ranking of second placed teams

Because one group had one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second placed table.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 4 Russia 8 5 1 2 15 6 +9 16 Advance to second round (play-offs)
2 2 Greece 8 5 1 2 16 9 +7 16
3 6 Ukraine 8 4 3 1 10 6 +4 15
4 7 France 8 4 3 1 12 9 +3 15
5 3 Slovenia 8 4 2 2 10 4 +6 14
6 5 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 4 1 3 19 12 +7 13
7 1 Portugal 8 3 4 1 9 5 +4 13
8 8 Republic of Ireland 8 2 6 0 8 6 +2 12
9 9 Norway 8 2 4 2 9 7 +2 10
Source:
Rules for classification: 1. Total points, 2. Goal difference, 3. Goals scored, 4. Goals scored away from home, 5. Disciplinary record (yellow card, –1 point; two yellow cards in the same match, –3 points; red card, –3 points; yellow card followed by a direct red card in the same match, –4 points), 6. Drawing of lots

Second round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round

The UEFA second round (often referred to as the play off stage) was contested by the best eight runners up from the nine first round groups. The winners of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup finals in South Africa. Norway, with 10 points, was ranked 9th so failed to qualify for the second round.

Seeding and draw

The eight teams were seeded according to the FIFA World Rankings released on 16 October (shown in parentheses in the table below). The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 19 October, with the top four teams seeded into one pot and the bottom four teams seeded into a second. A separate draw decided the host of the first leg.

Pot 1 (seeded)
Team Pos
France 9
Portugal 10
Russia 12
Greece 16
Pot 2 (unseeded)
Team Pos
Ukraine 22
Republic of Ireland 34
Bosnia and Herzegovina 42
Slovenia 49

Matches

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Republic of Ireland 1–2 France 0–1 1–1 (aet)
Portugal 2–0 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 1–0
Greece 1–0 Ukraine 0–0 1–0
Russia 2–2 (a) Slovenia 2–1 0–1

Qualified teams

The following 13 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Denmark Group 1 winners 10 October 2009 3 (1986, 1998, 2002)
Switzerland Group 2 winners 14 October 2009 8 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006)
Slovakia Group 3 winners 14 October 2009 8 (19344, 19384, 19544, 19584, 19624, 19704, 19824, 19904)
Germany Group 4 winners 10 October 2009 16 (1934, 1938, 19542, 19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19742, 19782, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Spain Group 5 winners 9 September 2009 12 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
England Group 6 winners 9 September 2009 12 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Serbia Group 7 winners 10 October 2009 10 (19303, 19503, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19743, 19823, 19903, 19983, 20063)
Italy Group 8 winners 10 October 2009 16 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Netherlands Group 9 winners 6 June 2009 8 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006)
Greece Second round (play-off) winners 18 November 2009 1 (1994)
Slovenia Second round (play-off) winners 18 November 2009 1 (2002)
Portugal Second round (play-off) winners 18 November 2009 4 (1966, 1986, 2002, 2006)
France Second round (play-off) winners 18 November 2009 12 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
2 Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.
3 From 1930 to 1998, Serbia competed together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia as part of Yugoslavia, while in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro together with Montenegro.
4 From 1934 to 1990, Slovakia competed as Czechoslovakia.

Goalscorers

There were 725 goals scored over 268 games by 399 different players, for an average of 2.71 goals per game. England were the highest scorers in the European section with 34 goals. Malta did not score any goals, but did score two own goals. The top scorer was Theofanis Gekas of Greece, who scored ten goals.

Note: Goals scored in the play-offs are included.

10 goals
9 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
2 own goals