UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying play-offs

The play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament decided the final four teams which qualified for the UEFA Euro 2016 final tournament. Eight teams, each of which finished third in their qualifying group were paired and contested in four ties, with the winner of each pair qualifying for the final tournament. Each of the four ties were played over two home-and-away legs with the four winners found according to the standard rules for the knockout phase in European competitions. The matches took place between 12 and 17 November 2015.

Ranking of third-placed teams

The highest ranked third placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the playoffs. As most groups contained six teams but one contained five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team were counted in the third-placed ranking table.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A  Turkey 8 5 1 2 12 7 +5 16 Qualify for final tournament
2 F  Hungary 8 4 3 1 8 5 +3 15 Advance to play-offs
3 C  Ukraine 8 4 1 3 11 4 +7 13
4 H  Norway 8 4 1 3 8 10 −2 13
5 I  Denmark 8 3 3 2 8 5 +3 12
6 G  Sweden 8 3 3 2 11 9 +2 12
7 D  Republic of Ireland 8 3 3 2 8 7 +1 12
8 B  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 3 2 3 11 12 −1 11
9 E  Slovenia 8 3 1 4 10 11 −1 10
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fifth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Lower disciplinary points total; 6) UEFA national team coefficient ranking; 7) Drawing of lots.

Seeding

The draw for the play-offs was held on 18 October 2015, 11:20 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage. The four top-ranked teams were seeded and paired with the four unseeded teams. The order of legs of each tie was also decided by draw.

The seedings were as follows:

Pot 1 (seeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 30,367 13
 Ukraine 30,313 14
 Sweden 29,028 16
 Hungary 27,142 20
Pot 2 (unseeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Denmark 27,140 21
 Republic of Ireland 26,902 23
 Norway 26,439 25
 Slovenia 25,441 26

Summary

The schedule of the play-offs was published by UEFA within one hour of the draw. The eight matches were spread over the six days, with the first legs on 12–14 November and the second legs on 15–17 November. The kickoff times were 18:00 or 20:45 CET (local times are in parentheses).

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ukraine  3–1  Slovenia 2–0 1–1
Sweden  4–3  Denmark 2–1 2–2
Bosnia and Herzegovina  1–3  Republic of Ireland 1–1 0–2
Norway  1–3  Hungary 0–1 1–2

Matches

Ukraine 2–0 Slovenia
  • Yarmolenko 22'
  • Seleznyov 54'
Report
Arena Lviv, Lviv
Attendance: 32,592
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)
Slovenia 1–1 Ukraine
  • Cesar 11'
Report
  • Yarmolenko 90+7'
Ljudski vrt, Maribor
Attendance: 12,702
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

Ukraine won 3–1 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2016.


Sweden 2–1 Denmark
  • Forsberg 45'
  • Ibrahimović 50' (pen.)
Report
  • Jørgensen 80'
Friends Arena, Solna
Attendance: 49,053
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
Denmark 2–2 Sweden
  • Y. Poulsen 82'
  • Vestergaard 90+1'
Report
  • Ibrahimović 19', 76'
Telia Parken, Copenhagen
Attendance: 36,051
Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

Sweden won 4–3 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2016.


Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–1 Republic of Ireland
  • Džeko 85'
Report
  • Brady 82'
Bilino Polje, Zenica
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Republic of Ireland 2–0 Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Walters 24' (pen.), 70'
Report
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 50,500
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

Republic of Ireland won 3–1 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2016.


Norway 0–1 Hungary
Report
  • Kleinheisler 26'
Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo
Attendance: 27,182
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)
Hungary 2–1 Norway
  • Priskin 14'
  • Henriksen 83' (o.g.)
Report
  • Henriksen 87'
Groupama Arena, Budapest
Attendance: 22,189
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)

Hungary won 3–1 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2016.

Goalscorers

There were 19 goals scored in 8 matches, for an average of 2.38 goals per match.

3 goals

  • Zlatan Ibrahimović

2 goals

  • Jonathan Walters
  • Andriy Yarmolenko

1 goal

  • Edin Džeko
  • Nicolai Jørgensen
  • Yussuf Poulsen
  • Jannik Vestergaard
  • László Kleinheisler
  • Tamás Priskin
  • Markus Henriksen
  • Robbie Brady
  • Boštjan Cesar
  • Emil Forsberg
  • Yevhen Seleznyov

1 own goal

  • Markus Henriksen (against Hungary)

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
  • Receiving three yellow cards in three different matches, as well as after fifth and any subsequent yellow card (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the play-off matches:

Team Player Offence(s) Suspended for match(es)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Muhamed Bešić vs Andorra (6 September 2015) vs Republic of Ireland (13 November 2015)
 Hungary Roland Juhász vs Romania (11 October 2014)
vs Finland (13 June 2015)
vs Greece (11 October 2015)
vs Norway (12 November 2015)
Zoltán Gera vs Romania (11 October 2014)
vs Faroe Islands (14 October 2014)
vs Finland (13 June 2015)
vs Faroe Islands (8 October 2015)
vs Norway (12 November 2015)
vs Norway (15 November 2015)
 Republic of Ireland John O'Shea   vs Poland (11 October 2015) vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 November 2015)
Jonathan Walters vs Georgia (7 September 2014)
vs Gibraltar (4 September 2015)
vs Poland (11 October 2015)
vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 November 2015)
 Ukraine Oleksandr Kucher vs Belarus (9 October 2014)
vs Spain (27 March 2015)
vs Spain (12 October 2015)
vs Slovenia (14 November 2015)
Taras Stepanenko vs Slovakia (8 September 2014)
vs Slovakia (8 September 2015)
vs Spain (12 October 2015)
vs Slovenia (14 November 2015)

See also

  • Denmark–Sweden football rivalry

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