| Tourney Name: | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying |
| Num Teams: | 47 |
| Matches: | 231 |
| Goals: | 680 |
| Prevseason: | 1992 |
| Nextseason: | 2000 |
Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group and the six best runners-up qualified automatically, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off at a neutral venue. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.
This was the first European Championship qualifying phase in which three points were awarded for each win, as opposed to the two points that had been awarded previously.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in tournament |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992) | ||||
| Group 2 winner | 4 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988) | |||
| Group 8 winner | 6 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992) | |||
| Group 3 winner | 0 (debut) | |||
| Group 4 winner | 0 (debut) | |||
| 1 (1992) | ||||
| 0 (debut) | ||||
| Group 7 winner | 6 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992) | |||
| Group 1 winner | 1 (1984) | |||
| 0 (debut) | ||||
| 4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992) | ||||
| Group 5 winner | 3 (1960, 1976, 1980) | |||
| 3 (1968, 1980, 1988) | ||||
| 3 (1960, 1984, 1992) | ||||
| Group 6 winner | 1 (1984) | |||
| 4 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992) |
The draw was made on 22 January 1994 in Manchester. Denmark were seeded first as title holders, while the remaining 46 teams were divided into six pots. Yugoslavia did not enter qualifying as they were suspended due to United Nations Security Council Resolution 757.[1]
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This was also the first UEFA Euro qualifying appearance for Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Lithuania.
Initially Czech Republic were in Pool 2 and Wales in Pool 3. Slovakia were initially in Pool 4, before being replaced by Macedonia and put into Pool 5 in place of Luxembourg who were moved down to Pool 6.
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tiebreakers were used to determine the final ranking:[2]
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 1.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 2.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 3.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 4.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 5.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 6.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 7.
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 8.
The runners-up of each of the eight groups were ranked in a table to decide which seven of them would qualify. The best six runners-up would qualify automatically, while the two worst would compete in a play-off at a neutral venue to determine the final qualifier. As one group had five teams and the others had six, results against fifth and sixth placed teams were not factored in (despite the fact that discarding results against sixth placed teams would’ve been sufficient enough).
See main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying play-off.
The bottom two runners-up, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, took part in a play-off on a neutral ground, Anfield, to determine the last team to qualify for the final tournament.