Uefa 2014 Fifa World Cup Qualification

The draw for the qualification groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	7 September 2012 – 19 November 2013
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	268
Goals scored	749 (2.79 per match)
Attendance	6,145,801 (22,932 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Robin van Persie (11 goals)
← 2010 2018 →

The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations.

The qualification process started on 7 September 2012, over two months after the end of UEFA Euro 2012, and ended on 19 November 2013. Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first round by winning their groups. Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal qualified via the second round play-offs.

All 53 UEFA national teams entered qualification, aiming to secure one of the 13 European Zone slots for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The draw for the qualification groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations.

The July 2011 FIFA World Rankings were used to seed the teams. In consideration of the delicate political situations of the relationships between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as relations between Russia and Georgia, UEFA requested that FIFA maintain the current UEFA policy not to draw these teams into the same qualification groups – although as Armenia and Azerbaijan were in the same pot they could not be drawn together anyway. The mechanism for keeping Russia and Georgia apart was confirmed by the FIFA Organising Committee on 29 July 2011.

Pot A Team Rank   Spain 1   Netherlands 2   Germany 3   England 6   Portugal 7   Italy 8   Croatia 9   Norway 12   Greece 13	Pot B Team Rank   France 16   Montenegro 17   Russia 18   Sweden 19   Denmark 21   Slovenia 22   Turkey 24   Serbia 27   Slovakia 29	Pot C Team Rank    Switzerland 30   Israel 32   Republic of Ireland 33   Belgium 37   Czech Republic 38   Bosnia and Herzegovina 41   Belarus 42   Ukraine 45   Hungary 47
Pot D Team Rank   Bulgaria 48   Romania 53   Georgia 57   Lithuania 58   Albania 59   Scotland 61   Northern Ireland 62   Austria 66   Poland 69	Pot E Team Rank   Armenia 70   Finland 75   Estonia 79   Cyprus 80   Latvia 84   Moldova 85   Macedonia 96   Azerbaijan 111   Faroe Islands 112	Pot F Team Rank   Wales 112   Liechtenstein 118   Iceland 121   Kazakhstan 126   Luxembourg 128   Malta 173   Andorra 203   San Marino 203

The matches were played between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013. An initial schedule that includes matches before this date was not ratified by FIFA. A win was awarded 3 points, a draw was awarded 1 point, and a loss 0. The team with the most points in each group secured direct qualification for the final tournament of the World Cup.

Summary

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H	Group I
Belgium	Italy	Germany	Netherlands	Switzerland	Russia	Bosnia and Herzegovina	England	Spain
Croatia	Denmark	Sweden	Romania	Iceland	Portugal	Greece	Ukraine	France
Serbia   Scotland   Wales   Macedonia	Czech Republic   Bulgaria   Armenia   Malta	Austria   Republic of Ireland   Kazakhstan   Faroe Islands	Hungary   Turkey   Estonia   Andorra	Slovenia   Norway   Albania   Cyprus	Israel   Azerbaijan   Northern Ireland   Luxembourg	Slovakia   Lithuania   Latvia   Liechtenstein	Montenegro   Poland   Moldova   San Marino	Finland   Georgia   Belarus

Groups

Tie-breaking criteria

If two teams had the same number of points the criteria below were used.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	10	8	2	0	18	4	+14	26	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–0
2	Croatia	10	5	2	3	12	9	+3	17	Advance to second round		1–2	—	2–0	0–1	2–0	1–0
3	Serbia	10	4	2	4	18	11	+7	14			0–3	1–1	—	2–0	6–1	5–1
4	Scotland	10	3	2	5	8	12	−4	11			0–2	2–0	0–0	—	1–2	1–1
5	Wales	10	3	1	6	9	20	−11	10			0–2	1–2	0–3	2–1	—	1–0
6	Macedonia	10	2	1	7	7	16	−9	7			0–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	—

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	10	6	4	0	19	9	+10	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–0
2	Denmark	10	4	4	2	17	12	+5	16			2–2	—	0–0	1–1	0–4	6–0
3	Czech Republic	10	4	3	3	13	9	+4	15			0–0	0–3	—	0–0	1–2	3–1
4	Bulgaria	10	3	4	3	14	9	+5	13			2–2	1–1	0–1	—	1–0	6–0
5	Armenia	10	4	1	5	12	13	−1	13			1–3	0–1	0–3	2–1	—	0–1
6	Malta	10	1	0	9	5	28	−23	3			0–2	1–2	1–4	1–2	0–1	—

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	9	1	0	36	10	+26	28	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	4–4	3–0	3–0	4–1	3–0
2	Sweden	10	6	2	2	19	14	+5	20	Advance to second round		3–5	—	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–0
3	Austria	10	5	2	3	20	10	+10	17			1–2	2–1	—	1–0	4–0	6–0
4	Republic of Ireland	10	4	2	4	16	17	−1	14			1–6	1–2	2–2	—	3–1	3–0
5	Kazakhstan	10	1	2	7	6	21	−15	5			0–3	0–1	0–0	1–2	—	2–1
6	Faroe Islands	10	0	1	9	4	29	−25	1			0–3	1–2	0–3	1–4	1–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	10	9	1	0	34	5	+29	28	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	4–0	8–1	2–0	3–0	3–0
2	Romania	10	6	1	3	19	12	+7	19	Advance to second round		1–4	—	3–0	0–2	2–0	4–0
3	Hungary	10	5	2	3	21	20	+1	17			1–4	2–2	—	3–1	5–1	2–0
4	Turkey	10	5	1	4	16	9	+7	16			0–2	0–1	1–1	—	3–0	5–0
5	Estonia	10	2	1	7	6	20	−14	7			2–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	—	2–0
6	Andorra	10	0	0	10	0	30	−30	0			0–2	0–4	0–5	0–2	0–1	—

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	10	7	3	0	17	6	+11	24	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	4–4	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0
2	Iceland	10	5	2	3	17	15	+2	17	Advance to second round		0–2	—	2–4	2–0	2–1	2–0
3	Slovenia	10	5	0	5	14	11	+3	15			0–2	1–2	—	3–0	1–0	2–1
4	Norway	10	3	3	4	10	13	−3	12			0–2	1–1	2–1	—	0–1	2–0
5	Albania	10	3	2	5	9	11	−2	11			1–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	—	3–1
6	Cyprus	10	1	2	7	4	15	−11	5			0–0	1–0	0–2	1–3	0–0	—

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	10	7	1	2	20	5	+15	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	4–1
2	Portugal	10	6	3	1	20	9	+11	21	Advance to second round		1–0	—	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0
3	Israel	10	3	5	2	19	14	+5	14			0–4	3–3	—	1–1	1–1	3–0
4	Azerbaijan	10	1	6	3	7	11	−4	9			1–1	0–2	1–1	—	2–0	1–1
5	Northern Ireland	10	1	4	5	9	17	−8	7			1–0	2–4	0–2	1–1	—	1–1
6	Luxembourg	10	1	3	6	7	26	−19	6			0–4	1–2	0–6	0–0	3–2	—

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	8	1	1	30	6	+24	25	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	3–1	0–1	3–0	4–1	4–1
2	Greece	10	8	1	1	12	4	+8	25	Advance to second round		0–0	—	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0
3	Slovakia	10	3	4	3	11	10	+1	13			1–2	0–1	—	1–1	2–1	2–0
4	Lithuania	10	3	2	5	9	11	−2	11			0–1	0–1	1–1	—	2–0	2–0
5	Latvia	10	2	2	6	10	20	−10	8			0–5	1–2	2–2	2–1	—	2–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	2	8	4	25	−21	2			1–8	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	—

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	6	4	0	31	4	+27	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	4–1	2–0	4–0	5–0
2	Ukraine	10	6	3	1	28	4	+24	21	Advance to second round		0–0	—	0–1	1–0	2–1	9–0
3	Montenegro	10	4	3	3	18	17	+1	15			1–1	0–4	—	2–2	2–5	3–0
4	Poland	10	3	4	3	18	12	+6	13			1–1	1–3	1–1	—	2–0	5–0
5	Moldova	10	3	2	5	12	17	−5	11			0–5	0–0	0–1	1–1	—	3–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	1	54	−53	0			0–8	0–8	0–6	1–5	0–2	—

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	8	6	2	0	14	3	+11	20	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–1
2	France	8	5	2	1	15	6	+9	17	Advance to second round		0–1	—	3–0	3–1	3–1
3	Finland	8	2	3	3	5	9	−4	9			0–2	0–1	—	1–1	1–0
4	Georgia	8	1	2	5	3	10	−7	5			0–1	0–0	0–1	—	1–0
5	Belarus	8	1	1	6	7	16	−9	4			0–4	2–4	1–1	2–0	—

Group runners-up

The eight best group runners-up contested the second round, where they were paired into four two-legged (home-and-away) fixtures. The four winners qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Because one group had one team fewer than the others, matches against the last-placed team in each of the six-team groups were not included in this ranking. Teams were ranked by the following parameters in order:

1. Highest number of points
2. Goal difference
3. Highest number of goals scored

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	G	Greece	8	6	1	1	9	4	+5	19	Advance to second round (play-offs)
2	I	France	8	5	2	1	15	6	+9	17
3	F	Portugal	8	4	3	1	15	8	+7	15
4	H	Ukraine	8	4	3	1	11	4	+7	15
5	C	Sweden	8	4	2	2	15	13	+2	14
6	E	Iceland	8	4	2	2	15	14	+1	14
7	D	Romania	8	4	1	3	11	12	−1	13
8	A	Croatia	8	3	2	3	9	8	+1	11
9	B	Denmark	8	2	4	2	9	11	−2	10

Matches

The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich on 21 October 2013. The October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams would be seeded (shown below in brackets).

Pot 1 (seeded) Team Pos   Portugal 14   Greece 15   Croatia 18   Ukraine 20

Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Pos   France 21   Sweden 25   Romania 29   Iceland 46

One team from pot 1 was paired with one from pot 2 as shown below. The matches were played on 15 and 19 November 2013. Winners: Portugal, France, Greece and Croatia as shown in bold.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Portugal	4–2	Sweden	1–0	3–2
Ukraine	2–3	France	2–0	0–3
Greece	4–2	Romania	3–1	1–1
Iceland	0–2	Croatia	0–0	0–2

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

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Belgium	Group A winners	11 October 2013	11 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
Italy	Group B winners	10 September 2013	17 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Germany	Group C winners	11 October 2013	17 (1934, 1938, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19663, 19703, 19743, 19783, 19823, 19863, 19903, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Netherlands	Group D winners	10 September 2013	9 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010)
Switzerland	Group E winners	11 October 2013	9 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006, 2010)
Russia	Group F winners	15 October 2013	9 (19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 2002)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Group G winners	15 October 2013	0 (debut)
England	Group H winners	15 October 2013	13 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Spain	Group I winners	15 October 2013	13 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Greece	Second round (play-off) winners	19 November 2013	2 (1994, 2010)
Croatia	Second round (play-off) winners	19 November 2013	3 (1998, 2002, 2006)
Portugal	Second round (play-off) winners	19 November 2013	5 (1966, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2010)
France	Second round (play-off) winners	19 November 2013	13 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
² Competed as Soviet Union.
³ Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.

In the qualification tournament, a player would be suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g., for violent conduct). Single yellow card cautions would be erased prior to the play-off portion, and would not carry over. Single yellow cards and suspensions for yellow card accumulations do not carry over to the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament matches. The following players were suspended during the final tournament – for one or more games – as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulations:

Player	Offences	Suspensions
Keith Andrews	UEFA Euro 2012 v Italy	Group C v Kazakhstan
Roman Berezovsky	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying v Republic of Ireland	Group B v Malta
James Collins	v Belgium	Group A v Serbia
Marc Vales	v Hungary	Group D v Romania
Tranquillo Barnetta	v Slovenia	Group E v Albania
Viktor Pečovský	v Lithuania	Group G v Liechtenstein
Tadas Labukas	v Slovakia	Group G v Greece
Savo Pavićević	v Poland	Group H v San Marino
Ludovic Obraniak	v Montenegro	Group H v Moldova
Svetoslav Dyakov	v Armenia	Group B v Denmark
Gevorg Ghazaryan	v Bulgaria	Group B v Italy
Marcos Pizzelli	v Bulgaria	Group B v Italy
Enar Jääger	v Turkey	Group D v Hungary
Sölvi Ottesen	v Cyprus	Group E v Albania
Steven Gerrard	v Ukraine	Group H v San Marino
Alexei Eremenko	v Georgia	Group I v Spain
Ivan Bandalovski	v Denmark	Group B v Czech Republic
Boštjan Cesar	v Cyprus	Group E v Albania
Daniel Kaufmann	v Latvia	Group G v Latvia
Nenad Tomović	v Macedonia	Group A v Croatia
Pablo Osvaldo	v Denmark	Group B v Malta
Andi Lila	v Norway	Group E v Norway
Gerard Piqué	2013 FIFA Confederations Cup v Brazil	Group I v Finland
Savo Pavicevic	v Ukraine	Group H v Poland
Vladimir Volkov	v Ukraine	Group H v Poland
Roman Zozulya	v Montenegro	Group H v San Marino
Mario Balotelli	v Czech Republic	Group B v Bulgaria
Andreas Granqvist	v Faroe Islands	Group C v Republic of Ireland
Josip Šimunić	v Serbia	Group A v Belgium
		Group A v Scotland

There were 749 goals scored in 268 matches, for an average of 2.79 goals per match.

11 goals

10 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for all groups and the play-off rounds: