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68-502: The stadium was constructed on the site of the old Soviet multi-use Central Stadium of the Black Sea Shipping Company (ChMP), which was demolished in 2009. The venue was considered to be one of the stadiums of UEFA Euro 2012 but failed to be nominated as such. There is an ongoing renovation of the stadium. The completion date is still unknown. The former ChMP stadium was built on the same site in 1935, and it

136-492: A penalty shootout . The knockout stage was different from that of past tournaments. Teams in groups A and B were separated from teams in groups C and D until the final. This meant that two teams who meet in the same group would meet again in the semi-finals instead of the final if they got this far. Also, in another major change, for the first time in a European Championship, only two venues ( St. Jakob-Park , Basel and Ernst-Happel-Stadion , Vienna—the two largest of

204-716: A qualifying tournament , played between August 2006 and November 2007. As European champions, Spain earned the right to compete in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Austria and Switzerland jointly bid to host the games, and facing competition from six other bids: Bosnia and Herzegovina – Croatia , Greece – Turkey , a 4-way Nordic bid (from Denmark , Finland , Norway and Sweden ), Hungary , Russia and Scotland – Republic of Ireland . Austria and Hungary had previously bid together to host Euro 2004 , losing out to Portugal , while Sweden had hosted Euro 1992 . Austria–Switzerland, Hungary, Greece–Turkey and

272-413: A "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams trained and resided in these locations during the tournament, and travelled to games that took place away from their bases. The 16 teams validated their option with UEFA on 18 December 2007. Teams were required to select a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, with the final squad to be submitted to UEFA by 28 May 2008. If

340-580: A "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. From an initial list of thirty-eight potential locations (twenty-one in Poland, seventeen in Ukraine), the national associations chose their locations in 2011. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. Thirteen teams stayed in Poland and three in Ukraine. The Adidas Tango 12

408-401: A group tied on an equal number of points , the finishing positions were determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order: However, these criteria would not apply if two teams tied on points and goals scored played against each other in their final group match and no other team in the group finishes with the same number of points; in that case, the tie would be broken by

476-475: A member of the final squad suffered an injury prior to his team's first game that would keep him out of the entire tournament, another player could be called up to replace him. On 19 December 2007, UEFA announced twelve referees and twenty-four assistants were selected for the tournament. In April 2008, after failing a physical fitness test, Norwegian assistant referee Erik Ræstad was replaced by fellow countryman Jan Petter Randen. Italian referee Roberto Rosetti

544-486: A twenty-four-year absence to make their second appearance at a European Championship. One of the co-hosts, Ukraine , made their debut as an independent nation (before 1992 Ukraine participated as part of the Soviet Union ). With the exception of Serbia – according to UEFA's ranking at the end of the qualifying stage – Europe's sixteen highest-ranked teams all qualified for the tournament. Romania and Turkey were

612-477: The 2010 FIFA World Cup . Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he would be replaced by another player. On 20 December 2011, UEFA named twelve referees and four fourth officials for Euro 2012. On 27 March 2012, UEFA issued

680-588: The 2013 Confederations Cup by winning the World Cup, so runners-up Italy qualified instead. As at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, both 2012 host nations were eliminated in the group stage. There were several players ending on a total of 3 goals but because Fernando Torres made an assist and played the fewest minutes of the players who scored three goals, he was named as the Golden Boot winner for

748-630: The Agency in search and management of assets (Ukrainian). The pretrial investigation began based on a statement of public organization "Olimpik" that owns the football club with the same name. About ten days later it was announced that the same court decided to cancel arrest of the stadium. In February 2023, the facade of the Chornomorets stadium was de-Russified. UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship , commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012 ,

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816-634: The Netherlands in Pot 1. UEFA came under heavy criticism from Raymond Domenech , manager of France , who was not satisfied with his team's position in the draw, and was also in favour of having 2006 FIFA World Cup winners Italy as top seed. On 22 November 2007, Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's professional football director, announced that a review of the coefficient ranking system was under way for future European Championships . All teams from each pot, were drawn consecutively into Group A to D. From Pot 1,

884-657: The 2007 edition of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking, which measured performance of teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying and Euro 2008 qualifying , with each group having one team drawn from each pot. In a return to the format used at Euro 1992 and Euro 1996 the games in each group were held at just two stadia, with the seeded team playing all three matches in the same city. Switzerland and Austria , as co-hosts, were automatically assigned to positions A1 and B1, respectively. The remaining 14 teams were split into four pots, with title-holders Greece seeded alongside

952-555: The 2008 finals, and an all-time record for the UEFA European Championship. Owing to this over-subscription for the matches, lotteries were carried out to allocate tickets. Prices varied from €30 (£25) (for a seat behind the goals at a group match) to €600 (£513) (for a seat in the main stand at the final). In addition to individual match tickets, fans could buy packages to see either all matches played by one team, or all matches at one specific venue. Each team had

1020-477: The Netherlands with two extra-time goals. The last quarter-final match saw Spain defeat Italy on penalties, after a goalless draw in regular time. Turkey's progress was halted by Germany in the semi-finals. Turkey entered the game with nine of their squad members missing due to injury or suspension, but still scored the first goal. Later, they levelled the score at 2–2, before Germany scored the winning goal in

1088-615: The Nordic bid were recommended, in that order, before the final vote by UEFA 's National Teams Committee. The final vote by the UEFA executive committee was: The Austria–Switzerland bid became the second successful joint bid in the competition's history, following the UEFA Euro 2000 hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands . The following tournament , held in Poland and Ukraine , became

1156-402: The Pot 1 teams were assigned to the first positions of their groups, while next the positions of all other teams were drawn separately from Pot 4 to 2 (for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group). The draw resulted in the following groups: Eight cities were selected by UEFA as host venues. In a return to the format used at Euro 1992 , Euro 1996 and Euro 2008 , each of

1224-504: The UEFA national team coefficient rankings of the sixteen finalists at the end of the qualifying competition in November 2011. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating: Aside from the coefficient, three teams were automatically placed in Pot 1. Ukraine and Poland were both assigned to Pot 1 as the two host nations, despite the fact that their rankings were the two lowest in the tournament; this also occurred in 2008 when

1292-454: The assistant referees (including the four reserve assistant referees) were FIFA assistant referees. For each refereeing team, a third assistant referee from each country was named to remain on standby until the start of the tournament to take the place of a colleague if required. In two cases, for the French and Slovenian refereeing teams, the standby assistant referees took the place of one of

1360-723: The assistant referees before the start of the tournament. Continuing the experiments carried out in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League , the two additional assistant referees were used on the goal line for the first time in European Championship history with approval from the International Football Association Board . Four match officials, who served only as fourth officials, and four reserve assistant referees were also named: UEFA announced

1428-551: The city's venue, but legal challenges delayed the plan to a point that would not have allowed the ground to be used in 2008. This created a problem, as the agreement between UEFA and the organisers stipulated that four venues would be used in each country. The problem was solved when the organisers proposed renovating Letzigrund instead; UEFA approved the revised plan in January 2005. The Letzigrund stadium hosted its first football match on 23 September 2007. Each team had access to

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1496-446: The co-hosts Switzerland and Austria were also ranked below all other qualified teams. As defending champions, Spain were also automatically assigned to Pot 1, though their UEFA ranking at the time of the draw was coincidentally also the best. In the draw procedure, one team from each pot was drawn into each of the four groups. The draw also determined which place in the group teams in pots 2–4 would take (e.g. A2, A3 or A4) to create

1564-463: The defending champions going into the tournament, having won UEFA Euro 2004 . They recorded the worst finish in Euro 2008, losing their three group fixtures and collecting the least prize money. Throughout 31 matches, the participating nations totalled 77 goals, the same as the previous tournament. Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts; the remaining 14 teams were determined through

1632-496: The eight host cities. They were located in the centre of each city, with all 31 matches shown live on a total of 24 giant screens. The zones enabled supporters to come together in a secure and controlled environment. The Warsaw Fan Zone occupied 120,000 square meters and accommodated 100,000 visitors. In all, the fans zones had a 20% increase in capacity compared to Euro 2008. A total of 31 matches were played during Euro 2012, with Ukraine hosting 16 of them and Poland 15. Tickets for

1700-637: The end of the 1950s, it was renamed as Avanhard Stadium after the Ukrainian Sport Society of industrial workers. In 1959, the stadium was renamed to the Central Stadium of the Black Sea Shipping Company or alternatively Central Stadium Chornomorets . ChMP could hold 34,362 people. It hosted the Ukrainian Super Cup from 2004 until 2007. At the end of 2008, it was closed and, in 2009, it was demolished. The stadium

1768-544: The exact same group position number as their pot number. The draw resulted in the following groups: The tournament was played at eight venues throughout the two host nations; four in Austria and four in Switzerland. Each venue had a capacity of at least 30,000 for the tournament; the largest stadium was Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna with a capacity of 53,295. It was for this reason that Ernst-Happel-Stadion hosted

1836-615: The feed of German-speaking Swiss channel SF 1 . This act ensured that the German goal was actually broadcast in Germany although not in Turkey. Spain won the second semi-final against Russia by three goals to nil, through second-half goals from Xavi , Daniel Güiza and David Silva , earning Spain their first appearance in a major final for 24 years. In the final, held at Vienna 's Ernst-Happel-Stadion , Spain became European champions for

1904-479: The final minute. The world television feed of the match was intermittently lost during the match, which prevented the broadcast of Germany's second goal. This was due to a thunderstorm at the broadcasting relay station in Austria, despite the game being played in Switzerland. Swiss Television SRG SSR still had a feed, because of their own broadcasting facilities at the venue. During the lost world feed, German and Austrian television ZDF and ORF started to broadcast

1972-561: The final. Switzerland played all three group stage matches at St. Jakob Park in Basel, which also hosted the opening match of the tournament as a compromise for the final being held in Vienna. Austria played all of their group stage matches at Ernst-Happel-Stadion. In 2004, the Zürich venue became a problem for the organisers. Originally, the Hardturm stadium was to be renovated and used as

2040-570: The finals: The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2011 at the Ukraine Palace of Arts in Kyiv , Ukraine. The hour-long ceremony was hosted by Olha Freimut and Piotr Sobczyński, television presenters from the two host countries. As was the case for the 2000, 2004 and 2008 finals, the sixteen finalists were divided into four seeding pots, using the UEFA national team coefficient ranking. The pot allocations were based on

2108-400: The first team to be eliminated from the tournament, after losing their first two matches. Switzerland managed to beat the group winner Portugal in their last game. In Group B , Austria managed to set up a decisive final game against Germany, dubbed "Austria's final". However, they lost by one goal, making Euro 2008 the first European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in

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2176-508: The first time since 1980. Bulgaria and Latvia also failed to qualify after playing in Euro 2004. As of 2024, this is the last time England and Ukraine have failed to qualify for the European Championship. The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2007 at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre in Switzerland. As was the case at the 2000 and 2004 finals, the finalists were divided into four seeding pots, based on

2244-400: The four groups' matches were played in two stadiums. Host cities Warsaw , Gdańsk , Wrocław , Poznań , Kyiv , and Lviv are all popular tourist destinations, unlike Donetsk and Kharkiv , the latter of which replaced Dnipropetrovsk as a host city in 2009. In order to meet UEFA's requirement for football infrastructure improvements, five new stadiums were built and opened in advance of

2312-456: The fourteen remaining places in the finals, alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine . The teams were divided into nine groups, with the draw using the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings. As defending champions, Spain was automatically top-seeded. The qualifying process began in August 2010 and concluded in November 2011. At the conclusion of

2380-429: The full list of 80 referees to be used in Euro 2012, including the assistant referees, the additional assistant referees, and the four reserve assistant referees. Each refereeing team consisted of five match officials from the same country: one main referee, two assistant referees , and two additional assistant referees . All of the main referees, additional assistant referees, and fourth officials were FIFA referees, and

2448-466: The ground. The Turks joined Portugal as the qualifiers from Group A. France were the high-profile victims of Group C, recording just one point from a goalless draw against Romania in their opening game. Italy beat the French, on the final day, to finish on four points and join the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Finally, in Group D , Greece failed to reproduce the form of their shock 2004 win , and ended

2516-459: The group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied: In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984 , there was no third place play-off . There were 76 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.45 goals per match. 3 goals 2 goals 1 goal 1 own goal Source: UEFA The UEFA Technical Team

2584-455: The hosts invested heavily in improving infrastructure such as railways and roads at UEFA's request. Euro 2012 set attendance records for the 16-team format, for the highest aggregate attendance (1,440,896) and average per game (46,481). Spain became the first and to date only team to win two consecutive European Championships, and also three straight major tournaments ( Euro 2008 , 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012). Spain had already gained entry to

2652-621: The initial bid plan, regarding the venues, before UEFA confirmed the eight host cities in 2009. During the preparation process in Poland and Ukraine, UEFA repeatedly expressed concern about their preparation to host the event , with different candidates reported as being alternative hosts if they did not improve; however, in the end, UEFA affirmed their selection. The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying competition took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010. Fifty-one teams entered to compete for

2720-516: The knockout stage. In an exciting final game in Group A, an injury- and suspension-hit Turkey came back from 2–0 down to beat the Czech Republic 3–2, after an uncharacteristic handling mistake by Petr Čech , in the last few minutes, left Nihat Kahveci with the simplest of finishes. In the same game, goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was shown a red card for pushing Czech striker Jan Koller to

2788-453: The match schedule. With Poland automatically assigned in advance to A1, and Ukraine to D1, Pot 1 only had two teams as Spain and the Netherlands were to be drawn into position one in either group B or C. The balls were drawn by four former players who had each been part of European Championship winning teams: Horst Hrubesch , Marco van Basten , Peter Schmeichel and Zinedine Zidane . Teams were drawn consecutively into Group A to D. First,

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2856-503: The only goal of the game, which Spain dominated despite Germany having the majority of the possession, and Spain were crowned UEFA Euro 2008 champions. The draw for the qualifying round took place in Montreux , Switzerland on 27 January 2006 at 12:00 CET . The qualifying process commenced a month after the 2006 World Cup . Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified for the tournament finals as host nations. The qualifying format

2924-477: The only teams failing to qualify for the final tournament after qualifying to UEFA Euro 2008 . ( Austria and Switzerland also failed to qualify, but, as hosts of the previous tournament , they did not need to take part in qualifying .) As of 2024 , this was the last time Greece qualified for the European Championship finals, and the last time Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland and Turkey failed to qualify. The following sixteen teams qualified for

2992-567: The others contained seven. 12 out of 16 teams who qualified for previous tournament also qualified, but the hosts, Austria, and Poland made their debuts at the European Championship. Romania and Turkey returned after missing out the 2004 tournament. For the first time since 1984, all five teams from the British Isles failed to qualify, including 2006 World Cup quarter-finalists England. Other notable absentees were 2006 World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine, and Denmark, who failed to qualify for

3060-525: The qualifying group stage in October 2011, the nine group winners qualified automatically, along with the highest ranked second placed team. The remaining eight second-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs, and the four winners qualified for the finals. Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated at the previous tournament in 2008 . England and Denmark made their return to the Euro after missing out on 2008, while Republic of Ireland returned after

3128-561: The quarter-finals, the Portuguese team was unable to give their coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari , a fitting send-off – following the mid-tournament announcement that Scolari would be leaving to join English club Chelsea – losing in an exciting game against Germany. Turkey continued their streak of last-gasp wins, equalising at the end of extra-time against Croatia and advancing on penalties. Coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink , Russia eliminated

3196-405: The remaining 14 finalists were decided through a qualifying competition , featuring 51 teams, from August 2010 to November 2011. This was the last European Championship to employ the 16-team finals format in use since 1996 ; from Euro 2016 onward, it was expanded to 24 finalists. Euro 2012 was played at eight venues, four in each host country. Five new stadiums were built for the tournament, and

3264-432: The remaining two teams for Group C and Group D were first drawn. All Pot 1 teams automatically occupy the first positions of their groups. Next step was to draw all teams in the order from Pot 4, Pot 3 and Pot 2; and for these teams the next group positions 2/3/4 were drawn separately from an extra glass bowl, for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group. Coincidentally, all teams from Pots 2, 3, and 4 drew

3332-473: The schedule for the 31 matches of the final tournament in October 2010, with the final confirmation of kick-offs times being affirmed following the tournament draw in December 2011. The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the four groups progressed to the quarter-finals, while the bottom two teams were eliminated from the tournament. If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of

3400-420: The second time after Fernando Torres ' first-half goal proved enough to defeat Germany. Though Germany had a strong start, Spain started to look more dangerous after they had settled. After half an hour, Xavi played a pass in behind the Germany back line towards Torres, who outmuscled a hesitant Philipp Lahm and clipped the ball over the diving Jens Lehmann and just inside the far post. That goal proved to be

3468-441: The third jointly hosted tournament. Qualification for Euro 2008 started in August 2006, just over a month after the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup . The qualifying tournament was contested by national teams from each of UEFA 's member associations except Austria and Switzerland , who had automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, and Montenegro , who came into existence too late to be admitted to UEFA. England

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3536-514: The third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium–Netherlands ( 2000 ) and Austria–Switzerland ( 2008 ). Their bid received an absolute majority of votes, and was therefore announced the winner, without requiring a second round. Italy, which received the remaining votes, had been considered favourites to win the hosting, but incidents of fan violence and a match-fixing scandal were widely cited as factors behind their failure. There were some later alterations from

3604-491: The title. Torres also became the first player to score in two finals. UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship , commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008 , was the 13th UEFA European Championship , a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations). It took place in Austria and Switzerland (both hosting

3672-401: The tournament for the first time) from 7 to 29 June 2008. The tournament was won by Spain , who defeated Germany 1–0 in the final . Spain were only the second nation to win all their group stage fixtures and then the European Championship itself, matching France's achievement from 1984 . Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated. Greece were

3740-455: The tournament structure meant they could not meet Italy, France, the Netherlands or Spain until the final. In the group stage, Croatia , Spain and the Netherlands all qualified with maximum points. Austria and Switzerland were not expected to progress, despite the advantage of being the hosts. In Group A , the Swiss lost their captain, Alexander Frei , to injury in their first game and became

3808-481: The tournament with no points. Russia qualified at the expense of Sweden , after beating them in a final game decider, joining Spain in the knockout stage. Torrential rain during the Group A match between Switzerland and Turkey on 11 June resulted in the pitch at St. Jakob-Park in Basel requiring to be re-laid. The new pitch was installed in advance of the quarter-final match between Portugal and Germany on 19 June. In

3876-536: The tournament. The hosting of the event was initially contested by five bids representing seven countries: Croatia–Hungary, Greece, Italy, Poland–Ukraine, and Turkey. In November 2005, after an initial consideration of the bid data by UEFA, both the Greek and Turkish bids were eliminated from the process, to leave three candidates. In May 2006, this was followed by a second round of the selection process, which included visits by UEFA to all candidates. The final decision

3944-469: The tournament. The remaining three stadiums (in Kyiv, Poznań and Kharkiv) underwent major renovations in order to meet UEFA's infrastructure standards. Three of the stadiums are categorised as UEFA's highest category stadiums . The transport infrastructure in Poland and Ukraine was also extensively modified on the request of UEFA to cope with the large influx of football fans. UEFA organised fan zones in

4012-471: The venues were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 16 finalists. Applications had to be made during March 2011 for the 1.4 million tickets available for the 31 tournament matches. Over 20,000 were forecast to cross the Poland–Ukraine border each day during the tournament. Over 12 million applications were received, which represented a 17% increase on

4080-766: Was a part of a defunct Imexbank assets. On May 26, 2020, the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine sold at auction the Chornomorets Stadium to the American company "Allrise Capital Inc." , for ₴193.8 million ($ 7.24 million). Allrise Capital's main owner is Russian expat in America Vladimir Yevseyev. In August 2020, the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv arrested the stadium complex and handed over to

4148-526: Was changed compared to previous tournaments. The winners and runners-up from seven groups automatically qualified for the Championship, with the hosts filling the other two slots in the 16-team tournament. The change means there were no play-offs between teams finishing in second place in the groups – they qualified directly for the finals. Teams that finished outside the top two positions in their groups failed to qualify. Group A contained eight teams, and

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4216-575: Was charged with naming a squad composed of the 23 best players over the course of the tournament. The group of eleven analysts watched every game at the tournament before making their decision after the final. Ten players from the winning Spanish team were selected in the team of the tournament, while Zlatan Ibrahimović was the only player to be included whose team was knocked out in the group stage. Fernando Torres tied with five other players on goals and with Mario Gómez on goals and assists; however, he played 92 fewer minutes than Gómez did, thus earning

4284-604: Was due to be announced on 8 December 2006 in Nyon , but this was postponed to "give bidding associations more time for the fine-tuning of their bids". On 18 April 2007, the Poland–Ukraine bid was chosen by a vote of the UEFA Executive Committee, at a meeting in Cardiff . It was the first time UEFA awarded the tournament organization to the former Eastern Bloc since Yugoslavia in 1976 . Poland–Ukraine became

4352-678: Was originally named as Stanislav Kosior Stadium after the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR , Stanislav Kosior . After Stanislav Kosior was repressed in the 1930s, the name was changed to Shevchenko Park Stadium . After World War II , the stadium was passed to the ownership of the republican Ministry of Food and received name as the Central Stadium Kharchovyk . At

4420-514: Was selected to officiate both the opening match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic and the final between Germany and Spain. Fourth officials The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the four groups progressed to the quarter-finals, while the bottom two teams were eliminated from the tournament. All times are local, CEST ( UTC+2 ). For the three-game group stage of this tournament, where two or more teams in

4488-519: Was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA . The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 July 2012, was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine (both first time hosts), and was won by Spain , who beat Italy in the final at the Olympic Stadium , Kyiv , Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine's bid was chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee on 18 April 2007. The two host teams qualified automatically while

4556-614: Was the official match ball of UEFA Euro 2012. The ball is named after the original Adidas Tango family of footballs; however, the Tango 12 and its variations have a completely new design. Variations of the ball have been used in other contemporary competitions including the Africa Cup of Nations and the Summer Olympics . It is designed to be easier to dribble and control than the reportedly unpredictable Adidas Jabulani used at

4624-489: Was the only seeded team not to qualify for the tournament proper, whereas Russia was the only unseeded one to qualify. The tournament also marked the debuts of Austria and Poland . The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2007, and saw Group C immediately labelled as the " group of death ", with Italy , France , Romania and the Netherlands competing for the two qualifying places. In contrast, Germany and Portugal were deemed to have an easy draw, as

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