1996 European Championship Qualifying (22 January 1994, Manchester)

Seeds were Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Russia and Sweden (each placed into one of eight groups). England qualified automatically, as hosts. If the FIFA rankings had been used, Norway (4) and Spain (5) would have had a claim to be seeded ahead of Russia (14) and France (15). With the finals expanded to 16 teams, six of the seeds qualified for the finals, though only two of them (Germany and Russia) won their group. The Republic of Ireland and Sweden failed to qualify, with the Irish eliminated by another seed, the Netherlands, in a play-off between the two teams with the worst runners-up records. With no teams from the fourth pot qualifying, Turkey became surprise qualifiers from the fifth pot.

1998 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (12 December 1995, Paris)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 21 November 1995):

France (9) qualified automatically as hosts.

GERMANY (2) - won Group 9.

SPAIN (3) - won Group 6.

ITALY (4) - runners-up to England in Group 2, beat Russia 2-1 on aggregate in play-offs.

RUSSIA (5) - runners-up to Bulgaria in Group 5, lost 2-1 on aggregate to Italy in play-offs.

NORWAY (6) - won Group 3.

DENMARK (8) - won Group 1.

NETHERLANDS (10) - won Group 7.

SWEDEN (11) - third in Group 4, behind Austria and Scotland.

ROMANIA (12) - won Group 8.

Seven of the nine seeds qualified, with six winning their group. Bulgaria (14) were the highest-ranked unseeded team and won Group 5, forcing Russia into their unsuccessful play-off. Yugoslavia were placed in the fourth pot after being banned from all competitions since 1992, due to the wars that had caused the break-up of the country, but they qualified with a 12-1 aggregate victory against Hungary in the play-offs after finishing runners-up to Spain in Group 6.

1996 European Championship - England (17 December 1995, Birmingham)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 21 November 1995):

GERMANY (2) - won Group C.

SPAIN (3) - runners-up to France in Group B.

DENMARK (Holders - 8) - third in Group D, behind Portugal and Croatia.

ENGLAND (Hosts - 20) - won Group A.

Italy (4) were the highest-ranked unseeded team, though by the time of the tournament it was Russia who had risen above them to third in the FIFA rankings, but both were in Group C with the two eventual finalists, and failed to reach the quarter-finals. France had also risen above Spain (to fifth) in the rankings by the time of the tournament and won their group ahead of them, before losing on penalties in the semi-finals. England defeated Spain on penalties in the quarter-finals, but lost to Germany on penalties in the last four, leaving the unseeded Czech Republic (ranked 18th at the time of the draw and tenth before the tournament) to face the Germans in the final.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Germany, Russia, Sweden (who did not qualify), France.

Top four placings in 1996 European Championship:

Germany, Czech Republic, England/France.

1998 World Cup - France (4 December 1997, Marseille)

SEEDS (and partially-used FIFA Rankings 19 November 1997):

GERMANY (2) - won Group F.

BRAZIL (Holders - 1) - won Group A.

ITALY (10) - won Group B.

SPAIN (3) - third in Group D, behind Nigeria and Paraguay.

ARGENTINA (19) - won Group H.

ROMANIA (5) - won Group G.

NETHERLANDS (12) - won Group E.

FRANCE (Hosts - 7) - won Group C.

A complex system of ranking was introduced, 60% of which was based on the performances in the last three World Cups, with 40% based on the FIFA ranking positions at the end of each of the past three years (1995-97). The highest-ranked unseeded team was Mexico, who were 11th in the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw (and up to fourth by the time of the tournament). They were runners-up on goal difference to the Netherlands in Group E, but failed to reach the quarter-finals.

If the seedings had been based purely on the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw, then England, Denmark and Colombia would have been ahead of Italy, Netherlands and Argentina. Alternatively, by the time of the tournament, Mexico, England and Norway would have replaced Italy, Spain and Romania.

The seedings used were proved fairly accurate, with seven of the eight seeds winning their group and only Spain failing to reach the last 16. Romania were the only one of the other seeds not to reach the quarter-finals. The unseeded, Croatia had only been competing since 1994 and were only ranked 28th at the time of the draw, but they fought their way through to third place. Holders, Brazil were comprehensively beaten in the final by France, who were only ranked 13th and would not have been seeded had they not been the hosts.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Brazil, Germany, Czech Republic (who did not qualify), Mexico.

Top four placings in 1998 World Cup:

France, Brazil, Croatia, Netherlands.

2000 European Championship Qualifying (18 January 1998, Ghent)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 23 December 1997):

Belgium (41) and the Netherlands (22) qualified automatically as co-hosts.

SPAIN (11) - won Group 6.

ROMANIA (7) - won Group 7.

RUSSIA (12) - third in Group 4, behind France and Ukraine.

ENGLAND (4) - runners-up to Sweden in Group 5, beat Scotland 2-1 on aggregate in play-offs.

GERMANY (Holders - 2) - won Group 3.

YUGOSLAVIA (20) - won Group 8.

SCOTLAND (37) - runners-up to Czech Republic in Group 9, lost 2-1 on aggregate to England in play-offs.

ITALY (9) - won Group 1.

NORWAY (13) - won Group 2.

UEFA introduced its new coefficient to determine the seedings. These were based on the performances in the two most recent qualifying competitions (1996 European Championship and 1998 World Cup), but not the final Euro '96 tournament. Just as in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers (based on the FIFA rankings), seven of the nine seeds qualified, and six won their group. Bulgaria were, again, the highest-ranked unseeded team, though only 36th in the FIFA rankings, and failed to qualify.

If the seedings had been based on the FIFA rankings, then the Czech Republic, France and Denmark would have been seeded ahead of Scotland, Italy and Norway.

With no qualifiers from the fourth pot, Slovenia squeezed through from the fifth pot, finishing runners-up to Norway in Group 2 with the worst record of the second-place finishers, but then defeated Ukraine 3-2 on aggregate in the play-offs to qualify for their first finals.

2002 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (7 December 1999, Tokyo)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 17 November 1999):

France (2) qualified automatically as holders.

SPAIN (4) - won Group 7.

ROMANIA (9) - runners-up to Italy in Group 8, lost 3-2 on aggregate to Slovenia in play-offs.

NORWAY (7=) - fourth in Group 5.

SWEDEN (16) - won Group 4.

NETHERLANDS (17) - third in Group 2, behind Portugal and Republic of Ireland.

CZECH REPUBLIC (3) - runners-up to Denmark in Group 3, lost 2-0 on aggregate to Belgium in play-offs.

GERMANY (5) - runners-up to England in Group 9, beat Ukraine 5-2 on aggregate in play-offs.

BELGIUM (30) - runners-up to Croatia in Group 6, beat Czech Republic 2-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

YUGOSLAVIA (13) - third in Group 1, behind Russia and Slovenia.

UEFA's coefficient was again used, this time based on the qualification competitions for the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship (excluding the World Cup finals of 1998). The second pot was to produce six qualifiers, with only four of the top seeds joining them in the finals, and with four of the top six in the UEFA coefficient failing to qualify, it begged the question of whether basing the seedings entirely on previous qualification performances was the right thing to do. Austria were the highest-ranked unseeded team, and were joint-26th in the FIFA rankings, but managed to reach the play-offs after finishing runners-up to Spain in Group 7. They were thrashed 6-0 on aggregate by Turkey in the play-offs, however.

If the FIFA rankings had been used, group winners, Croatia, England and Italy would have been seeded ahead of Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium. Croatia had been placed in the third pot. Slovenia had qualified for Euro 2000 via a fifth seeding pot, and they were to qualify for their first World Cup finals from the fourth pot, again via a 3-2 aggregate win in the play-offs.

2000 European Championship - Belgium/Netherlands (12 December 1999, Brussels)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 17 November 1999):

SPAIN (4) - won Group C.

BELGIUM (Co-hosts - 30) - third in Group B, behind Italy and Turkey.

GERMANY (Holders - 5) - bottom of Group A.

NETHERLANDS (Co-hosts - 17) - won Group D.

With two co-hosts, and Germany automatically seeded as holders, there was only one remaining place to be allocated. The same UEFA coefficient was used as for the 2002 World Cup qualifying draw, held just five days earlier, putting Spain at the top, this despite the fact that France were the World Champions (and would ultimately win this competition, as well). Incredibly, having only had this qualification campaign to count towards their coefficient, because they were the hosts for the 1998 World Cup and qualified automatically, they were languishing in twelfth place and ended up in the third pot.

The entire second pot (Romania, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic) were all ranked higher than the holders in UEFA's own coefficient, though of the four, only Romania progressed to the quarter-finals after finishing runners-up to Portugal in Group A. The Netherlands were the only one of the top seeds to make it to the semi-finals and would have been the only ones in the last eight had Spain not made a remarkable two-goal recovery that began in the fourth additional minute of their final group match, against Yugoslavia. Both finalists (France and Italy) came from the third pot (as did the other semi-finalists, Portugal).

If the FIFA rankings had been used, France would have been the fourth seed (after the co-hosts and holders). The Czech Republic (who had lost to Germany in the previous final, in 1996) were above them in both rankings. They also rose above France in the FIFA rankings after the draw, but dropped below them again prior to the tournament.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

France, Czech Republic, Spain, Germany.

Top four placings in 2000 European Championship:

France, Italy, Netherlands/Portugal.

2002 World Cup - Japan/Korea Republic (1 December 2001, Busan)

SEEDS (and partially-used FIFA Rankings 21 November 2001):

Seeds were announced on 28 November 2001:

BRAZIL (3) - won Group C.

ARGENTINA (2) - third in Group F, behind Sweden and England.

ITALY (6) - runners-up to Mexico in Group G.

GERMANY (11) - won Group E.

FRANCE (Holders - 1) - bottom of Group A.

SPAIN (7) - won Group B.

KOREA REPUBLIC (Co-hosts - 43) - won Group D.

JAPAN (Co-hosts - 35) - won Group H.

A slight modification was made to the ranking system that was used for the 1998 tournament in that the performances in the last three World Cups now contributed to half of the final ranking points, with the remaining half calculated from the FIFA ranking positions at the end of each of the past three years (1999-2001). The highest-ranked unseeded team, for the second successive tournament, was Mexico, who were ninth in the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw (and up to seventh by the time of the tournament). Though they won their group, ahead of Italy, they again failed to reach the quarter-finals.

If the seedings had been based purely on the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw, then Portugal (who failed to reach the last 16) would have been seeded, instead of Germany (the eventual finalists). By the time of the tournament, Mexico had risen above Spain in the FIFA rankings.

Japan were ahead of their co-hosts in the FIFA rankings, but the Koreans (25th) were just ahead of Japan (26th) in the rankings used for the tournament (though irrelevant in their cases due to their automatic seeding status as co-hosts). Korea Republic surpassed all expectations by finishing fourth, whilst Japan were eliminated in the last 16.

The opening match made a mockery of the rankings, with Senegal (32nd and last ranked of the qualifiers) defeating the holders, France, who failed to score a goal in the tournament and crashed out at the group stage. Argentina's first-round exit was also a surprise, and only half of the seeds (Brazil, Germany, Korea Republic and Spain) reached the quarter-finals, with the Koreans beating Spain on penalties to reach the semi-finals, where the remaining seeds were joined by the unseeded, Turkey (ranked 23rd at the time of the draw), who finished third. Brazil beat Germany in the final.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

France, Argentina/Brazil, Colombia (who did not qualify).

Top four placings in 2002 World Cup:

Brazil, Germany, Turkey, Korea Republic.

2004 European Championship Qualifying (25 January 2002, Santa Maria da Feira)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 16 January 2002):

Portugal (4) qualified automatically as hosts.

SWEDEN (16) - won Group 4.

SPAIN (7) - runners-up to Greece in Group 6, beat Norway 5-1 on aggregate in play-offs.

CZECH REPUBLIC (14) - won Group 3.

GERMANY (12) - won Group 5.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (17=) - third in Group 10, behind Switzerland and Russia.

ROMANIA (15) - third in Group 2, behind Denmark and Norway.

ITALY (6) - won Group 9.

BELGIUM (20) - third in Group 8, behind Bulgaria and Croatia.

TURKEY (23) - runners-up to England in Group 7, lost 3-2 on aggregate to Latvia in play-offs.

FRANCE (Holders - 1) - won Group 1.

The UEFA coefficient was again used to determine the seedings, this time based on the performances in the qualifying competitions for the 2000 European Championship and 2002 World Cup, but not the final Euro 2000 tournament. Six of the ten seeds qualified, with five winning their group. Russia were the highest-ranked unseeded team, though only 21st in the FIFA rankings, but they finished runners-up to Switzerland in Group 10 and then beat Wales by a single goal in Cardiff to qualify via the play-offs.

World and European Champions, France were only eleventh in the UEFA coefficient, as their success had meant that they hadn't played a qualifying match in any competition since 1999. With Portugal in fourth place and qualifying automatically as hosts, France would have taken the last seeding position had they not rightly been installed as top seeds due to being the defending champions (not that it made any difference).

If the seedings had been based on the FIFA rankings, then the Netherlands, England and Yugoslavia would have been seeded ahead of the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Turkey, three of the four seeds that failed to qualify, whilst the Netherlands (via a play-off) and England both qualified. Latvia were ranked 105th by FIFA, but qualified from the fourth pot after finishing runners-up to Sweden in Group 4 and then beating Turkey in the play-offs.

2004 European Championship - Portugal (30 November 2003, Lisbon)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 19 November 2003):

FRANCE (Holders - 2) - won Group B.

PORTUGAL (Hosts - 18) - won Group A.

SWEDEN (17) - won Group C.

CZECH REPUBLIC (10) - won Group D.

The UEFA coefficient, using the last two qualification campaigns (but not the 2002 World Cup finals) placed the holders and hosts in the top two positions, though they would have been seeded, in any case. At first, it seemed perfectly justified as all four seeds won their groups, though only the Czech Republic and Portugal reached the semi-finals, and the hosts lost the final to the unseeded, Greece, who were 23rd in the UEFA coefficient and placed in the fourth pot, with only Latvia, of the 16 qualifiers, below them. At the time of the draw, they were thirtieth in the FIFA rankings and had dropped to 35th by the time of the tournament, before beating three of the top seeds (including hosts, Portugal, twice) to lift the trophy.

Italy, who were finalists in 2000 and seconds away from winning the tournament, were the highest-ranked unseeded team, but along with fellow second-pot members, Germany (World Cup finalists, just 17 months earlier) and Spain, failed to make the quarter-finals, though the Italians did finish level on points with the two teams that qualified from their group, Sweden and Denmark. England were the only team from the second pot to qualify from their group, whilst the Netherlands reached the semi-finals from the third pot.

The Dutch would have been seeded if the FIFA rankings had been used, as would Spain, ahead of Sweden and the Czech Republic. Spain ended up in a group with the two eventual finalists (but their time would come).

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany.

Top four placings in 2004 European Championship:

Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic/Netherlands.

2006 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (5 December 2003, Frankfurt)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 19 November 2003):

Germany (9) qualified automatically as hosts.

FRANCE (2) - won Group 4.

PORTUGAL (18) - won Group 3.

SWEDEN (17) - runners-up to Croatia in Group 8.

CZECH REPUBLIC (10) - runners-up to Netherlands in Group 1, beat Norway 2-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

ITALY (11) - won Group 5.

SPAIN (3) - runners-up to Serbia and Montenegro in Group 7, beat Slovakia 6-2 on aggregate in play-offs.

ENGLAND (8) - won Group 6.

TURKEY (7) - runners-up to Ukraine in Group 2, lost on away goals to Switzerland in play-offs.

The same UEFA coefficient was used as for the European Championship draw, five days earlier. Seven of the top eight seeds qualified for the finals. If the FIFA rankings had been used, the Netherlands and Denmark would have been seeded ahead of Portugal and Sweden, and it was the Dutch who were the unseeded team with the highest UEFA coefficient. They were sixth in the FIFA rankings and proceeded to win their group with the highest points total of all of the European qualifiers. Ukraine were the lowest-ranked of the qualifiers, winning their group after being placed in the fourth pot. They were 53rd in the FIFA rankings.

2006 World Cup - Germany (9 December 2005, Leipzig)

SEEDS (and partially-used FIFA Rankings 23 November 2005):

Seeds were announced on 6 December 2005:

BRAZIL (Holders - 1) - won Group F.

ENGLAND (9) - won Group B.

SPAIN (6) - won Group H.

GERMANY (Hosts - 16) - won Group A.

MEXICO (7) - runners-up to Portugal in Group D.

FRANCE (5) - runners-up to Switzerland in Group G.

ITALY (12) - won Group E.

ARGENTINA (4) - won Group C.

This was the first time that all eight seeds in a 32-team World Cup had progressed through to the last 16, with six winning their groups. There was, again, a slight modification to the rankings system that was used for the 2002 tournament in that only performances in the last two World Cups were taken into account. Previously, it had been the last three. Half of the calculated scores were still based on the last FIFA ranking positions of the past three years (2003-05).

The highest-ranked unseeded team was the United States, who were eighth in the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw (and up to joint-fifth with Spain by the time of the tournament). They finished bottom of their group, however.

If the seedings had been based purely on the FIFA rankings at the time of the draw, then the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (second and third, respectively) would surely have been seeded, instead of England, and Italy (the eventual winners). They were still in those positions at the time of the tournament, but the Dutch failed to reach the quarter-finals, whilst the Czechs failed to progress beyond the group stage into the last 16. The United States and Portugal had also risen above France and Argentina.

Six of the top seeds made it to the quarter-finals, and France, Germany and Italy were joined by the unseeded, Portugal (who had been ranked 17th at the draw) in the last four, but it was Italy (ranked 13th by FIFA at the time) who beat France on penalties in the final.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Brazil, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Mexico.

Top four placings in 2006 World Cup:

Italy, France, Germany, Portugal.

2008 European Championship Qualifying (27 January 2006, Montreux)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 18 January 2006):

Austria (71) and Switzerland (36) qualified automatically as co-hosts.

NETHERLANDS (3) - runners-up to Romania in Group G.

ENGLAND (9) - third in Group E, behind Croatia and Russia.

PORTUGAL (10) - runners-up to Poland in Group A.

CZECH REPUBLIC (2) - won Group D.

FRANCE (5=) - runners-up to Italy in Group B.

SWEDEN (14) - runners-up to Spain in Group F.

GREECE (Holders - 16) - won Group C.

The UEFA coefficient was based on the performances in the qualifying competitions for the 2004 European Championship and 2006 World Cup, but not the final Euro 2004 tournament. Although six of the seven seeds qualified, only two of them won their group, curiously including the lowest ranked, defending champions, Greece, whose UEFA coefficient was lower than the entire second pot, who all qualified. In fact, 14 of the top 16 in the coefficient went through to the finals, with Russia (34th in the FIFA rankings) the sole qualifiers from the third pot. The highest-ranked unseeded team was Germany, who were 17th in the FIFA rankings, but qualified as Group D runners-up to the Czech Republic.

If the seedings had been based on the FIFA rankings, joint-fifth-placed Spain, the eventual winners, would have been seeded ahead of Sweden, the team that they beat to first place in their group, so no real difference to the outcome.

2010 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (25 November 2007, Durban)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 23 November 2007):

ITALY (Holders - 3) - won Group 8.

SPAIN (4) - won Group 5.

GERMANY (5) - won Group 4.

CZECH REPUBLIC (6) - third in Group 3, behind Slovakia and Slovenia.

FRANCE (7) - runners-up to Serbia in Group 7, beat Republic of Ireland 2-1 on aggregate after extra time in play-offs.

PORTUGAL (8) - runners-up to Denmark in Group 1, beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

NETHERLANDS (9) - won Group 9.

CROATIA (10) - third in Group 6, behind England and Ukraine.

GREECE (11) - runners-up to Switzerland in Group 2, beat Ukraine 1-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

The UEFA coefficient was abandoned as the seedings reverted to the FIFA rankings for the first time since 1998. Seven of the top nine seeds qualified for the finals, though three of them needed a play-off to progress. If the UEFA coefficient had been used, Sweden and Romania would have been seeded ahead of France and Greece, but neither of them qualified. England (12) were the highest-ranked unseeded team and they were the only team from the second pot to qualify. The seedings were turned on their heads in Group 3 where, remarkably, both Slovakia (50) from the fourth pot, and Slovenia (83) from the fifth pot, finished clear of the seeded, Czech Republic. Slovenia then defeated Russia on away goals in a play-off to qualify along with the Slovaks.

2008 European Championship - Austria/Switzerland (2 December 2007, Lucerne)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 23 November 2007):

NETHERLANDS (9) - won Group C.

GREECE (Holders - 11) - bottom of Group D.

SWITZERLAND (Co-hosts - 44) - bottom of Group A.

AUSTRIA (Co-hosts - 91) - third in Group B, behind Croatia and Germany.

The UEFA coefficient made its last appearance, before being overhauled, but due to there being two co-hosts, only one top seed was determined by it. It was based on the last two qualification campaigns (but not the 2006 World Cup finals). Clearly, the co-hosts were the weakest teams left in the competition, and Greece would have appeared in the third pot had they not been the holders. Although the Netherlands were hugely impressive in winning their group, they had had to overcome the challenges of the two World Cup finalists from the previous year (France and Italy).

Though they were second in the UEFA coefficient, Croatia were unseeded, but like all four top seeds, they also failed to reach the semi-finals. All four groups were curiously won after two matches each, suggesting a separate set of what the seeds should have been, yet only one of these teams (Spain) progressed to the semi-finals, and went on to win the tournament. Russia and Turkey from the fourth pot joined them in the last four, having been ranked 22nd and 16th, respectively, by FIFA, with Germany and Spain contesting the final with respective UEFA coefficients of seventh and ninth.

If the FIFA rankings had been used, World Champions, Italy would have been seeded, ahead of the Netherlands, but they too exited at the quarter-final stage.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic.

Top four placings in 2008 European Championship:

Spain, Germany, Russia/Turkey.

2010 World Cup - South Africa (4 December 2009, Cape Town)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 16 October 2009):

Seeds were announced on 2 December 2009:

BRAZIL (1) - won Group G.

SPAIN (2) - won Group H.

NETHERLANDS (3) - won Group E.

ITALY (Holders - 4) - bottom of Group F.

GERMANY (5) - won Group D.

ARGENTINA (6) - won Group B.

ENGLAND (7) - runners-up to United States in Group C.

SOUTH AFRICA (Hosts - 85) - third in Group A, behind Uruguay and Mexico.

Despite the success of the seeding in the 2006 tournament, FIFA abandoned their complex ranking system that they had used for the last three tournaments, excluding the consideration of the qualifiers' previous tournament performances and basing it entirely on the FIFA rankings from October, thereby deliberately excluding any perceived unfair advantages gained by play-off winners in the previous month to the draw. This prevented Portugal and France from ousting Argentina and England from the seedings. The highest-ranked unseeded qualifiers were France, who had only lost the 2006 final on penalties, but finished bottom of their group. By the time of the tournament, Portugal had risen to third in the FIFA rankings, but they too, failed to progress beyond the last 16.

Five of the top seeds made it to the quarter-finals, and Germany, Netherlands and Spain were joined by the unseeded, Uruguay (who had been ranked 25th at the draw) in the last four, but it was the European Champions, Spain who beat the Netherlands in the final to add their first world title to their collection.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands.

Top four placings in 2010 World Cup:

Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay.

2012 European Championship Qualifying (7 February 2010, Warsaw)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 3 February 2010):

Poland (57=) and Ukraine (24) qualified automatically as co-hosts.

SPAIN (Holders - 1) - won Group I.

GERMANY (6) - won Group A.

NETHERLANDS (3) - won Group E.

ITALY (4) - won Group C.

ENGLAND (9) - won Group G.

CROATIA (11) - runners-up to Greece in Group F, beat Turkey 3-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

PORTUGAL (5) - runners-up to Denmark in Group H, beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2 on aggregate in play-offs.

FRANCE (7) - won Group D.

RUSSIA (13) - won Group B.

The UEFA coefficient was re-constructed to include the last three qualifying competitions for both World Cup and European Championship, plus the last two finals tournaments, with 80% of the ranking points coming from the last two competitions. The outcome was something very close to the FIFA rankings and it resulted in all eight seeds qualifying for the European Championship for the first time. Only two of the top seeds needed play-offs (which they both won comfortably) to qualify and the twelve highest-ranked teams were all qualifiers.

If the FIFA rankings had been used, instead, Greece (12) would have sneaked into the last seeding position, ahead of Russia, and they were also UEFA's highest-ranked unseeded team. To prove a point, they won their group, ahead of Croatia. The Republic of Ireland were the sole qualifiers from the third pot after being ranked 25th (and 37th in the FIFA rankings).

2014 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (30 July 2011, Rio de Janeiro)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 27 July 2011):

SPAIN (Holders - 1) - won Group I.

NETHERLANDS (2) - won Group D.

GERMANY (3) - won Group C.

ENGLAND (6) - won Group H.

PORTUGAL (7) - runners-up to Russia in Group F, beat Sweden 4-2 on aggregate in play-offs.

ITALY (8) - won Group B.

CROATIA (9) - runners-up to Belgium in Group A, beat Iceland 2-0 on aggregate in play-offs.

NORWAY (12) - fourth in Group E.

GREECE (13) - runners-up to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group G, beat Romania 4-2 on aggregate in play-offs.

With the 2012 European Championship qualifying competition still in progress, there was no current UEFA coefficient to compare with the FIFA rankings that were used for seeding. Eight of the top nine seeds qualified for the finals, though three of them needed a play-off to progress. France (16) were the highest-ranked unseeded team and overcame a two-goal first-leg deficit to beat Ukraine in the play-offs after finishing runners-up in Spain's group. There were three qualifiers from the third pot (Switzerland (30), Belgium (37) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (41)), all of whom won their qualifying groups.

2012 European Championship - Poland/Ukraine (2 December 2011, Kyiv)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 23 November 2011):

SPAIN (Holders - 1) - won Group C.

NETHERLANDS (2) - bottom of Group B.

UKRAINE (Co-hosts - 55) - third in Group D, behind England and France.

POLAND (Co-hosts - 66) - bottom of Group A.

Although the improved UEFA coefficient was again available to determine the seeds, there were, again, two relatively weak co-hosts, leaving only one seed to be decided after the holders and World Champions, Spain were allocated a seeding with them. Spain, of course, would have been seeded, anyway, because they were also at the top of the coefficient, and they reinforced their superiority by retaining their title with relative ease. The Netherlands, who had lost to Spain in extra time in the previous year's World Cup Final, were in a tough group, with the highest-ranked unseeded team, Germany (who had lost to Spain in the 2008 final) and Portugal, both of whom went on to reach the semi-finals, where Portugal only lost to the eventual winners on penalties, having only been allocated a place in the third pot at the draw. Italy were beaten 4-0 by Spain in the final.

The top three in the FIFA rankings were the same as in the UEFA coefficient, so there would have been no difference in the seedings if those had been used.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Spain, Germany, Netherlands, England.

Top four placings in 2012 European Championship:

Spain, Italy, Germany/Portugal.

2014 World Cup - Brazil (6 December 2013, Sauipe)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 17 October 2013):

Seeds were announced on 20 November 2013:

SPAIN (Holders - 1) - third in Group B, behind Netherlands and Chile.

GERMANY (2) - won Group G.

ARGENTINA (3) - won Group F.

COLOMBIA (4) - won Group C.

BELGIUM (5) - won Group H.

URUGUAY (6) - runners-up to Costa Rica in Group D.

SWITZERLAND (7) - runners-up to France in Group E.

BRAZIL (Hosts - 11) - won Group A.

The FIFA rankings from October were again used in order to exclude subsequent movements up the rankings by play-off winners, yet the seedings could not be confirmed until the play-offs were completed, when Uruguay qualified, leaving the Netherlands and Italy as the highest-ranked unseeded teams, in joint-eighth place. If they had used the latest rankings (from 28 November) then Portugal and Italy would have ousted Switzerland and Belgium from the seedings, though the Swiss had risen back above Italy by the time of the tournament. The Netherlands (who had only lost the 2010 final in extra time) remained outside of the top-seven-ranked teams, but managed to reach the semi-finals again, and finished third.

Just as in 2010, Portugal qualified via the play-offs with too low a ranking to be seeded. They then rose up to third in the FIFA rankings and were fourth on the eve of the tournament, but they failed to reach even the last 16 of this World Cup. Italy, meanwhile, found themselves in a group with two other former World Cup winners, in England and Uruguay, yet it was the Central Americans of Costa Rica that surprisingly won the group leaving the two European giants on an early flight home.

One obvious weakness of the FIFA rankings was the inevitable fall that always befell the hosts in the two years prior to a major tournament, purely because they were mainly playing friendlies and unable to maximise the points that qualifying competition matches offered. The most successful team in the history of the World Cup, Brazil, had slumped to an all-time low FIFA ranking of 22nd, a year before the tournament. They clawed their way back up to third, but the hosts were always compensated by being allocated an automatic seeding position. Brazil were one of the five seeds to reach the quarter-finals, and one of the three to contest the last four placings. Argentina and Germany went through to the final.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Spain, Germany, Brazil, Portugal.

Top four placings in 2014 World Cup:

Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, Brazil.

2016 European Championship Qualifying (23 February 2014, Nice)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 13 February 2014):

Seeds were announced on 24 January 2014:

France (19) qualified automatically as hosts.

SPAIN (Holders - 1) - won Group C.

GERMANY (2) - won Group D.

NETHERLANDS (10) - fourth in Group A.

ITALY (8) - won Group H.

ENGLAND (15) - won Group E.

PORTUGAL (4) - won Group I.

GREECE (12) - bottom of Group F.

RUSSIA (22) - runners-up to Austria in Group G.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (17) - third in Group B, behind Belgium and Wales, lost 3-1 on aggregate to Republic of Ireland in play-offs.

The process for calculating the UEFA coefficient was unchanged. Remarkably, the same top five seeds were in exactly the same order as for the 2012 qualifying competition. Furthermore, the top six seeds were the same as for the recently completed World Cup qualifying competition based on the FIFA rankings, though these were in a slightly different order. The final tournament had been expanded to 24 teams, yet three of the top seeds still failed to qualify. Ukraine were the highest-ranked unseeded team (18th in the FIFA rankings) and qualified by beating Slovenia in a play-off.

If the FIFA rankings had been used, instead, Switzerland (6) and Belgium (11) would have been seeded, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Russia. They were both in the second pot amongst eight qualifiers out of nine, Belgium winning their group. Three teams from the fifth pot qualified for the first time; Albania (55th in the FIFA rankings), Iceland (48th), and Northern Ireland (85th), who were the only team from outside of the top three seeding pots to win their qualifying group.

2018 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA (25 July 2015, Saint Petersburg)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 9 July 2015):

Russia (28) qualified automatically as hosts.

GERMANY (Holders - 2) - won Group C.

BELGIUM (3) - won Group H.

NETHERLANDS (5) - third in Group A, behind France and Sweden.

PORTUGAL (7) - won Group B.

ROMANIA (8) - fourth in Group E.

ENGLAND (9) - won Group F.

WALES (10) - third in Group D, behind Serbia and Republic of Ireland.

SPAIN (12) - won Group G.

CROATIA (14) - runners-up to Iceland in Group I, beat Greece 4-1 on aggregate in play-offs.

Once again, the European Championship qualifying competition (2016) was still in progress, so only some of those qualifiers were represented in the FIFA rankings used for the World Cup qualifying draw. Six of the top nine seeds qualified for the finals. Slovakia (15) were the highest-ranked unseeded team and finished runners-up to England in Group F, only to miss out on a play-off by a point, due to them having the worst record of the nine runners-ups. Three teams qualified from the third pot (Poland (30), Sweden (33) and Serbia (43)). Sweden famously knocked out four-times winners, Italy, by a single goal in the first leg of a play-off, whilst Poland and Serbia both qualified by winning their group.

2016 European Championship - France (12 December 2015, Paris)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 3 December 2015):

GERMANY (4) - won Group C.

SPAIN (Holders - 3) - runners-up to Croatia in Group D.

ENGLAND (9) - runners-up to Wales in Group B.

PORTUGAL (7) - third in Group F, behind Hungary and Iceland.

BELGIUM (1) - runners-up to Italy in Group E.

FRANCE (Hosts - 25) - won Group A.

With only one host for the first time since 2004, and six groups for the first time ever, there were four seeds to be allocated after the hosts and holders, though Spain would have been ranked second, in any case, behind the World Champions, Germany. Only two of the seeds won their group, but all six went through to the last 16, including eventual winners, Portugal, who needed three equalisers against Hungary in their last group match to ensure their progress as one of the leading four third-place finishers.

Italy (15) were the highest-ranked unseeded team, won their group and knocked out the holders, before losing on penalties to the World Champions in the quarter-finals. France, Germany and Portugal were joined in the last four by Wales, first-time semi-finalists from the fourth pot, and 26th in the FIFA rankings at the time of the tournament, but it was France and Portugal who contested the final.

Using the FIFA rankings would have resulted in the same seeds as in the UEFA coefficient, although Austria had moved above England by the time of the tournament, only to finish bottom of Group F.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal.

Top four placings in 2016 European Championship:

Portugal, France, Germany/Wales.

2018 World Cup - Russia (1 December 2017, Moscow)

SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 16 October 2017):

Seeds were announced on 16 October 2017:

GERMANY (Holders - 1) - bottom of Group F.

BRAZIL (2) - won Group E.

PORTUGAL (3) - runners-up to Spain in Group B.

ARGENTINA (4) - runners-up to Croatia in Group D.

BELGIUM (5) - won Group G.

POLAND (6) - bottom of Group H.

FRANCE (7) - won Group C.

RUSSIA (Hosts - 65) - runners-up to Uruguay in Group A.

For the first time, the FIFA rankings were used to make up the three lowest pots. In previous tournaments, unlike the first pot of seeds, the other pots were arranged in geographic regions. This time, the only adjustment to the rankings position was to place the hosts into the first pot, as was the custom. Russia were the lowest-ranked of the 32 teams, so would otherwise have been in the fourth pot. The draw still had to be manipulated slightly to ensure that two teams from the same confederation were not in the same group (apart from UEFA which had a maximum of two in each group).

The highest-ranked unseeded team was Spain (8), who were eliminated in the last 16 by the hosts, on penalties. Spain would have been seeded ahead of France, the eventual winners, if the more recent rankings from 23 November had been used, but these were again ignored so as to avoid giving an unfair advantage to the play-off winners (which did not include Spain). France climbed above Spain again in the rankings before the tournament, though Switzerland climbed above France to seventh on the eve of the World Cup. The Swiss also went out in the last 16.

Only three of the eight top seeds won their group, and only four of them made it to the quarter-finals. Belgium and France were the only seeds in the semi-finals and faced each other, whilst two teams from the second pot contested the other semi-final. Croatia (18) beat England (12), but lost to France in the final.

Top four teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the tournament:

Germany, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal.

Top four placings in 2018 World Cup:

France, Croatia, Belgium, England.

2018-19 UEFA Nations League (24 January 2018, Lausanne)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 18 January 2018):

Seeds were announced on 7 December 2017:

GERMANY (1) - bottom of Group A1.

PORTUGAL (3) - won Group A3.

BELGIUM (5) - runners-up to Switzerland in Group A2.

SPAIN (6) - runners-up to England in Group A4.

The Nations League was introduced to replace the UEFA coefficient by ranking teams based on actual league positions, rather than a complex mathematical calculation. However, the coefficient was used for one last time to determine which teams were placed in each of the four leagues (A-D). Like the World Cup draws, the coefficient did not include results from the most recently completed World Cup qualifying play-off matches in November 2017.

France were the highest-ranked unseeded team (ninth in the FIFA rankings) and went into Germany's group which was won by the Netherlands, the lowest-ranked team in League A (and 21st in the FIFA rankings). With only three teams in each group there was little margin for error, and European Champions, Portugal were the only top seeds to reach the finals which they hosted and won, beating the Dutch in the final. The other Group A winners, England and Switzerland, were beaten in the semi-finals.

In a dramatic break from the norm, an additional incentive for teams to do well in this competition was the fact that the highest-placed teams in each league were eligible to go straight into the qualifying play-offs for the next European Championship if they failed to qualify directly from their group. One play-off path was created for each of the four Nations Leagues (A-D) which meant that a team ranked forty or below was now guaranteed a place in the European Championship finals of 2020.

Top four European teams in FIFA rankings at the beginning of the final tournament:

Belgium, France, England, Croatia.

Top four placings in 2019 Nations League:

Portugal, Netherlands, England, Switzerland.

2020 European Championship Qualifying (2 December 2018, Dublin)

SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 29 November 2018):

Seeds were announced on 20 November 2018:

SWITZERLAND (8) - won Group D.

PORTUGAL (Holders - 6) - runners-up to Ukraine in Group B.

NETHERLANDS (15) - runners-up to Germany in Group C.

ENGLAND (5) - won Group A.

BELGIUM (1) - won Group I.

FRANCE (2) - won Group H.

SPAIN (9) - won Group F.

ITALY (18) - won Group J.

CROATIA (4) - won Group E.

POLAND (20) - won Group G.

The Nations League rankings were used for the first time, though because only the group stage had been completed, the top four seeds were ranked in order of their group performances, rather than the final ranking, which resulted in Switzerland dropping to fourth place, six months later, below Portugal, Netherlands and England. This made no difference to the actual seedings, however.

Eleven of the top-twelve placings from the Nations League all qualified for the European Championship, including the highest-ranked unseeded team, Germany, who were 16th in the FIFA rankings. The Germans also won their group, unlike the two eventual Nations League finalists, including defending European Champions, Portugal.

If the FIFA rankings had been used, instead, Denmark (10) and Sweden (14) would have been seeded, ahead of Italy (the eventual winners) and Poland. The two Scandinavian countries qualified from the second pot with each having been promoted from League B in the Nations League. North Macedonia from the fifth pot qualified for the first time, having won Group D4 of the Nations League and then beaten Kosovo and Georgia in the play-offs. They were 68th in the FIFA rankings.

The final tournament was unique in the fact that it was to be held in 13 cities across Europe, but with the Covid pandemic delaying it for a year, this was reduced to eleven by the time of the tournament. Dublin, which had hosted the qualifying draw, was withdrawn, as was Brussels, whilst Bilbao replaced Seville. Baku and Bucharest remained as hosts, despite Azerbaijan and Romania failing to qualify.