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.
|
2021 European Championship
(30 November 2019, Bucharest) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 28 November
2019):
BELGIUM (1) -
won Group B.
ITALY (Co-hosts, 13) -
won Group A.
ENGLAND
(Co-hosts, 4) - won Group D.
GERMANY (Co-hosts, 15) -
runners-up to France in
Group F.
SPAIN (Co-hosts, 8) -
runners-up to Sweden in Group E.
UKRAINE (24) - third in Group
C, behind Netherlands and Austria.
Basing the seeds entirely on points won in
the qualifying competition, the defending champions and Nations
League winners, Portugal found themselves in the third pot (they
were seventh in the FIFA rankings). Finishing third in their
group, they were eliminated in the last 16. The highest unseeded
team was World Champions, France (second in the FIFA rankings),
who won their group, but also went out in the last 16, on
penalties, to Switzerland.
If the FIFA rankings had been used,
Croatia (6), the previous year's World Cup finalists, would have
joined France and Portugal as seeds, instead of Italy (the
eventual winners), Germany and Ukraine, though Croatia also failed
to progress beyond the last 16. By the time that the tournament
was eventually played, twelve months late because of the pandemic,
France and Portugal had remained comfortably ahead of Germany and
Ukraine in the rankings, though Croatia had dropped below the
Germans. There had also been another group stage played in the
UEFA Nations League, whereby France, Netherlands and Portugal were
ranked higher than England, Germany and Ukraine.
Four of the six seeds were co-hosts,
playing all of their three group games at home. Germany were the
only one of the top seeds not to reach the quarter-finals, beaten
at Wembley by England, and England, Italy and Spain all went
through to the semi-finals at Wembley, where they were joined by
Denmark, who were in the third pot, but were ranked tenth by FIFA.
Italy beat England on penalties in the final.
Top four European teams in FIFA rankings
at the beginning of the tournament:
Belgium, France, England, Portugal.
Top four placings in 2021 European
Championship:
Italy, England, Denmark/Spain.
|
2020-21 UEFA Nations League
(3 March 2020, Amsterdam) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 20 February 2020):
Seeds were announced on 4 December 2019:
PORTUGAL (Holders
- 7) -
runners-up to France in Group
A3.
NETHERLANDS (14) -
runners-up to Italy in
Group A1.
ENGLAND
(4) - third in Group A2.
SWITZERLAND (12) -
third in Group A4.
Reflecting the volatile nature of the
fledgling competition, or perhaps, the unwillingness of some
nations to treat it as seriously as the bigger prizes, the top
four from 2019 all failed to reach the finals this time.
Curiously, the final four places were all taken by the teams in
the second pot; Belgium (the highest ranked of them, and top of
the FIFA rankings), World Champions, France (second in the FIFA
rankings), Spain (8th) and Italy (13th). Italy hosted the finals,
fresh from winning the European Championship, but it was France
who beat Spain in the final.
Only two 2022 World Cup qualifying
play-off places were available for Nations League group winners
that did not qualify from their World Cup group (either to the
play-offs as group runners-up or to the finals direct as group
winners).
Top four European teams in FIFA rankings
at the beginning of the final tournament:
Belgium, England, France, Italy.
Top four placings in 2021 Nations League:
France, Spain, Italy, Belgium.
|
2022 World Cup Qualifying - UEFA
(7 December 2020, Zürich) |
SEEDS (and FIFA Rankings 26 November
2020):
BELGIUM (1) - won
Group E.
FRANCE (Holders - 2) -
won Group D.
ENGLAND (4) - won
Group I.
PORTUGAL (5) -
runners-up to Serbia in Group A, beat Turkey 3-1 and North
Macedonia 2-0 at home in play-offs.
SPAIN (6) - won Group
B.
ITALY (10) -
runners-up to Switzerland in Group
C, lost 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in play-off semi-final.
CROATIA (11) -
won
Group H.
DENMARK (12) -
won Group F.
GERMANY (13) - won
Group J.
NETHERLANDS (14) -
won
Group G.
Because the World Cup qualifying fixtures
were not due to start until March 2021, the draw was able to take
place after the group stage of the latest UEFA Nations League, and
the results from that competition were, therefore, included in the
FIFA rankings that were used to determine the seeds. Twelve of the
13 highest-ranked teams qualified for the finals, four-times
winners, Italy being the exception (failing to qualify for their
second successive World Cup), despite winning the European
Championship in the same year.
Switzerland (16) were the highest-ranked unseeded team and
won Group C, forcing Italy into the play-offs.
All of the qualifiers came from the top
two seeding pots. Austria and the Czech Republic were unable to
turn their Nations League promotions to League A into tickets to
the World Cup, as they were both beaten in the play-off
semi-finals. Serbia (30) were the lowest-ranked qualifiers, after
winning Group A.
If the rankings from the recently
completed group stage of the UEFA Nations League had been used to
determine the seeds, then Poland would have replaced Croatia. The
Poles qualified by beating Sweden in the play-offs.
|
2022-23 UEFA Nations League
(16 December 2021, Nyon) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 19
November 2021):
Seeds were announced on 22 September 2021:
FRANCE (Holders
- 3) -
third in Group
A1.
SPAIN (7) -
won
Group A2.
ITALY
(6) - won Group A3.
BELGIUM (1) -
runners-up to Netherlands in Group A4.
As in the 2020-21 edition, the top four
from the previous Nations League were seeded. With only two of the four seeds
progressing to the finals again, their opponents in the last four were
the Netherlands (tenth in the FIFA rankings) and, from the third
pot, Croatia (15th in the FIFA rankings). These two had risen
above Italy and Spain in the FIFA rankings, to sixth and seventh,
respectively, by the time of the final tournament, however, mainly
due to both reaching the latter stages of the intervening World
Cup. The highest-ranked
unseeded team was Portugal (8th), who were runners-up to Spain in
Group A2.
Spain had reached the 2021 final by
beating Italy 2-1, and they repeated the scoreline against the
same opponents, before going on to win the league for the first
time, on penalties, against Croatia.
This competition was again used to provide
an additional route into the next European Championship finals
(2024), but because the Nations League had been re-structured
since the first edition, leaving only seven teams in League D,
there would only be three paths to play-off qualification, instead
of the four in 2020.
Top four European teams in FIFA rankings
at the beginning of the final tournament:
France, Belgium, England, Netherlands.
Top four placings in 2023 Nations League:
Spain, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands.
|
2022 World Cup - Qatar
(1 April 2022, Doha) |
SEEDS (and
FIFA Rankings 31 March 2022):
BRAZIL (1) - won Group
G.
BELGIUM (2) -
third
in Group F.
FRANCE (Holders - 3) -
won
Group D.
ARGENTINA (4) -
won Group C.
ENGLAND (5) -
won Group B.
SPAIN (7) -
runners-up to Japan in
Group E.
PORTUGAL (8) -
won Group H.
QATAR (Hosts - 51)
- bottom of Group A.
The FIFA rankings
were again used to make up all four seeding pots, with the
hosts added to the top seeds. Three qualifiers were not
known at the time of the draw, which meant that the highest
ranked of them, Wales, in their first tournament since 1958, ended up in the fourth pot instead of
the third, and finished bottom of a tough group.
The highest-ranked unseeded team was
Mexico (9), who failed to reach the last 16 for the first
time since 1990, whilst the Netherlands had risen above
Portugal by the time of the tournament, helped by becoming
the top UEFA-ranked team after reaching the Nations League
semi-finals, though they ended up in the same group as the
seeded hosts, who failed to win a point. The Dutch reached
the quarter-finals before losing on penalties to the
eventual winners. Portugal also reached the last eight.
Five of the eight seeds reached the
quarter-finals, but only two reached the last four, and they
went on to contest the final. To get there, Argentina had to
beat the 2018 finalists, Croatia, who were ranked 16th at
the time of the draw, the last team in the second pot. They
had risen to twelfth by the time of the tournament, but were
ranked second by UEFA after reaching the last four of the
Nations League.
Croatia's group was won by a team
from the third pot, Morocco, who were ranked 24th at the
time of the draw and 22nd at the start of the tournament.
Beating three top-ten-ranked teams (Belgium, Spain (on
penalties) and Portugal), they became the first African team
to reach the semi-finals, before falling to the holders,
France, whose defence of the title ended agonisingly on
penalties after a dramatic six-goal final.
Top four teams in FIFA rankings at
the beginning of the tournament:
Brazil, Belgium, Argentina, France.
Top four placings in 2022 World Cup:
Argentina, France, Croatia, Morocco.
|
2024 European Championship Qualifying
(9 October 2022,
Frankfurt) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings
6 October 2022):
Seeds were announced on 27 September 2022:
Germany (11, tenth in Nations
League) qualified automatically as hosts.
NETHERLANDS (8) -
runners-up to France in
Group B.
CROATIA (12) -
runners-up to Turkey in
Group D.
SPAIN (7) -
won Group
A.
ITALY (Holders, 6) -
runners-up to England in Group C.
DENMARK (10) -
won Group H.
PORTUGAL (9) -
won Group
J.
BELGIUM (2) -
won
Group F.
HUNGARY (36) -
won
Group G.
SWITZERLAND (15) -
runners-up to Romania in
Group I.
POLAND (26) -
third
in
Group E.
The Nations League rankings were used
once again, and this resulted in the highest-ranked
unseeded team being the World and Nations League Champions, France
(ranked twelfth),
who were to narrowly miss out on retaining the World Cup,
two months later, and were
fourth in the FIFA rankings. If the FIFA rankings had been
used to decide the seeds, then England (fifth), who only lost
the 2021 final on penalties, would have joined France in being seeded, ahead of Poland and Hungary.
With Nations League performances
from 2022 being taken into account, the top 23 ranked
teams either qualified or had their fate decided by
play-offs in the scramble for 23 places in the finals.
Before the play-offs, the lowest-ranked qualifiers were
Turkey (who won their group) from the fourth pot, and
Slovakia, the highest-ranked team in the fifth pot.
Georgia, who were ranked two places higher than Turkey at
the top of the fourth pot, at the start of the campaign,
joined them in the finals after winning the League C path
of the play-offs on penalties, against Greece, having only
finished fourth in their qualifying group.
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2024 European Championship
(2 December 2023, Hamburg) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 30 November
2023):
PORTUGAL (7) - won Group
F.
FRANCE
(2) - runners-up to Austria in Group D.
SPAIN (8) -
won
Group B.
BELGIUM (4) -
runners-up to Romania
in Group E.
ENGLAND (3) - won Group
C.
GERMANY (hosts, 16) -
won Group A.
Seeds were again decided by each nation's
record in the qualifying competition. If the FIFA rankings had
been used then the Netherlands (who were sixth) would have been
seeded ahead of Spain, the eventual winners. Defending champions, Italy (ninth in the
FIFA rankings) also missed out on the seedings and were
languishing back in the fourth pot. The highest-ranked unseeded team were
Hungary, who were 27th in the FIFA rankings. At the start of the
tournament, the top four European teams in the FIFA rankings were
the same teams as before the 2021 tournament, with the only change
being France swapping places with Belgium to go top.
At the time of the draw, Georgia were 77th
in the FIFA rankings, but became the first team to reach the last
16 after qualifying via the play-offs from the Nations League, and
it was achieved from League C, the third division.
Five of the six seeds made it to the
quarter-finals, with Belgium knocked out by France. Four of the
remaining seeds played each other in the quarter-finals and
semi-finals, with Spain emerging to face the remaining seed,
England in the final. Spain's record fourth victory, added to the
previous year's Nations League triumph, meant that England had
become the first team to lose consecutive European Championship
finals.
Top four European teams in FIFA rankings
at the beginning of the tournament:
France, Belgium, England, Portugal.
Top four placings in 2024 European
Championship:
Spain, England, France/Netherlands.
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2024-25 UEFA Nations League
(8 February 2024, Paris) |
SEEDS (and unused FIFA Rankings 21 December 2023):
Seeds were announced on 2 December 2023:
SPAIN (Holders - 8)
CROATIA (10)
ITALY (9)
NETHERLANDS (6)
Once again, the top four
from the previous Nations League were seeded. The highest-ranked
unseeded team was Denmark, who were 19th in the FIFA rankings. If
the FIFA rankings had been used instead, then Belgium, England and
France would have been in line to be seeded ahead of Croatia,
Italy and Spain, except for the fact that England had been
relegated to League B, so could not be seeded in League A.
Portugal (seventh) would be next to be seeded in League A if FIFA
rankings had determined the pots.
This edition made further changes to the
format with the introduction of a quarter-final stage and
promotion/relegation play-offs between each league.
With the World Cup expanding to 48
entrants for the 2026 tournament, with 16 coming from UEFA
qualifying, there were four paths open to play-off qualification
from the Nations League, after having only two for the 2022
tournament and three for the 2024 European Championship.
Top four European teams in FIFA rankings
at the beginning of the final tournament:
.
Top four placings in 2025 Nations League:
.
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