Euro 2016 Qualifying Results: Latest Scores and Updated Tables
The final field for the 2016 European Championship is one step closer to finalizing after Thursday night.
With the number of teams involved increasing from 16 in 2012 to 24, qualifying has become a slightly more labyrinthine process. UEFA's unveiling of the "Week of Football" scheduling has only muddied the waters.
At the end of the day, though, all one needs to do is take a look at the tables to figure out who's doing well and who's got a mountain to climb.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Countries are just kicking off with the second matchday, so it would be far too early to panic. With that said, plenty of supporters will unload on their favorite national team if things get off to a slow start.
Below is a recap for some of Thursday's action, followed by the full tables for all nine groups.
Saturday, Oct., 12 Recap
Group D
| Ireland | 7 - 0 | Gibraltar |
| Scotland | 1 - 0 | Georgia |
| Poland | 2 - 0 | Germany |
Poland produced the upset of the day, defeating reigning world champions Germany 2-0 at home to take the lead in Group B, level on points with Ireland. Arkadiusz Milik opened the score early in the second half with a header, taking advantage of a poor angle from German stopper Manuel Neuer.
Germany had a multitude of chances to tie things up but ran into an excellent Wojciech Szczesny who was a no-brainer for the Man of the Match award. Substitute Sebastian Mila scored in the final minutes to cement the win, as Poland broke a multitude of German streaks, via Goal's Cristian Nyari:
Die Mannschaft dominated possession but were woefully inefficient in front of goal. Szczesny played a large part in the shutout, but the likes of Thomas Muller and Karim Bellarabi really should have done better with their chances.
As shared by DW Sports, manager Joachim Low saw the same thing:
Ireland easily defeated Gibraltar 7-0 earlier in the evening, as Robbie Keane stole the show with a first-half hattrick. Scotland bounced back from their opening-match loss against Germany with a 1-0 win over Georgia, thanks to a Akaki Khubutia own-goal in the first half.
Group F
| Romania | 1 - 1 | Hungary |
| Finland | 1 - 1 | Greece |
| N.Ireland | 2 - 0 | Faroe Islands |
Group F didn't see any major surprises, as two of the three matches ended in drab 1-1 draws. Hungary's Balazs Dzsudzsak scored late to cancel out Raul Andrei Rusescu's opener, stealing a point in Romania.
Finland did well to do the same at home against Greece, after Nikos Karelis had opened the score. Jarrko Hurme struck early in the second half, and the hosts had several chances to claim the win against the Greeks.
Northern Ireland took sole possession of the top spot in Group F with an easy 2-0 win over Faroe Islands, who saw stopper Roy Carroll keep a clean sheet thanks to a vital penalty save in the first half.
Martin O'Neill's men will face a far sterner challenge against Greece on Tuesday, as their opponents are desperate for a result.
Group I
| Armenia | 1 - 1 | Serbia |
| Albania | 1 - 1 | Denmark |
Portugal were off in Group I (playing a friendly against France), and the remaining four teams all split the points equally. Armenia came from behind to hold the explosive Serbia squad to a 1-1 draw, while Albania continued their impressive start with a 1-1 draw against Denmark.
Friday, Oct., 12 Recap
Group A
| Latvia | 0 - 3 | Iceland |
| Netherlands | 3 - 1 | Kazakhstan |
| Turkey | 1 - 2 | Czech Republic |
The Netherlands overcame a dreadful start against Kazakhstan to win 3-1, earning their first points in Group A. Renat Abdulin gave the visitors a shock lead from a corner early in the first half, but Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Affelay restored order in the second half.
Baurzhan Dzholchiyev saw a straight red card after a dreadful tackle on Affelay, and Robin van Persie put the final score on the board from the penalty spot.
The Netherlands got the win, but they were far from perfect. One ugly spat in particular saw Van Persie and Huntelaar get into an argument on the pitch, when the Manchester United man elected to shoot on goal rather than pass to a wide-open Huntelaar. Via Dutch Football, Van Persie felt Hunterlaar overreacted:
"Van Persie, "The reaction of Huntelaar was a bit exaggerated."
— Dutch Football (@football_oranje) October 10, 2014"
The Czechs took a strong option on qualification by beating Turkey 2-1, Tomas Sivok and Borek Dockai cancelling out Umut Bulut's opener. Manager Pavel Vrba didn't hide his praise of Sivok, via UEFA.com's Ondrej Zlamal:
Iceland recorded an easy 3-0 win in Latvia, completing Group A's slate of fixtures.
Group B
| Belgium | 6 - 0 | Andorra |
| Cyprus | 1 - 2 | Israel |
| Wales | 0 - 0 | Bosnia-Herzegovina |
Belgium completely dominated Andorra in their first qualifier for Euro 2016, winning 6-0.
The Red Devils took the lead through Kevin de Bruyne, who took over penalty duties from Eden Hazard. Belgium had already hit the post twice and the crossbar once by then, as it was a small miracle it took until the 30th minute for the first goal to fall.
The opener opened the floodgates, however. De Bruyne got his second just minutes later and in-form Nacer Chadli added a third before half-time. Divock Origi bagged one of his own after a beautiful solo action, and a Dries Mertens brace made it 6-0, equaling Belgium's biggest margin of victory in a European qualifier.
The team's official Twitter feed was hardly surprised:
Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the favourites to join Belgium from Group B, played out a drab 0-0 draw, although Gareth Bale came inches from winning it with a last-minute shot. Israel survived a late scare in Cyprus, winning 2-1 in their first match of the campaign.
Group H
| Bulgaria | 0 - 1 | Croatia |
| Italy | 2 - 1 | Azerbaijan |
| Malta | 0 - 3 | Norway |
Giorgio Chiellini stole the headlines in Italy's 2-1 win over Azerbaijan, scoring both of the hosts' goals and adding plenty of intrigue by putting the ball past his own goalkeeper as well. After tying things up in favour for the visitors, Chiellini redeemed himself on a great cross from Sebastian Giovinco. Italy international Giuseppe Rossi was relieved, to say the least:
The Juventus defender scored all three of his goals on crosses, including one where he beat teammate Gianluigi Buffon. The centre-back has a reputation for being a force on set pieces, but Friday's showing was unusual even by his standards, prompting this tweet from ESPN's Julian of Martinis:
"Chiellini giveth and Chiellini taketh
— Julian of Martinis (@JulianDM11) October 10, 2014"
Norway had little difficulty in Malta, as Mats Moeller Daehli and Joshua King gave the visitors a comfortable 2-0 lead heading into half-time. King added a second early in the second half just to be safe, as the Norwegians cruised to a 3-0 win.
Croatia continued their strong start with a 1-0 win over Bulgaria, with Nikolay Bodurov putting the ball in his own net for the only score of the match.
Thurs., Oct. 9 Recap
Group C
| Belarus | 0-2 | Ukraine |
| Macedonia | 3-2 | Luxembourg |
| Slovakia | 2-1 | Spain |
By far the biggest surprise of the day belonged to Slovakia, who beat Spain 2-1 on the strength of a Miroslav Stoch goal in the 87th minute. While Slovakia is ranked 40th in FIFA's World Ranking, you can't overstate how much of an upset this is.
Coming into the night, Spain hadn't lost a qualifying match in eight years, per European Qualifiers:
While La Roja were embarrassed at the World Cup, everybody expected the 2010 World Cup winners to make a quick recovery. Now, the questions that were asked about coach Vicente del Bosque will grow even louder.
Del Bosque attempted to minimize some of the panic following the result, per Spanish football journalist Dermot Corrigan:
Of course, the nature of the new qualifying structure makes it nearly impossible for the top sides to miss out on the tournament. Even if Spain finish third in Group C, which seems unlikely given the other teams in the group, they'd still have the playoff to revive their Euro hopes.
In a way, losing this early in qualification might force Del Bosque to rethink his handling of the team and whether some of the players previously considered stalwarts of the national team still deserve to be automatic selections.
Group E
| England | 5-0 | San Marino |
| Lithuania | 1-0 | Estonia |
| Slovenia | 1-0 | Switzerland |
England played to type and dismantled San Marino 5-0. Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Andros Townsend were the goalscorers for the Three Lions, with Alessandro Della Valle notching an own goal late in the match.
Given the talent gap between the two teams, England were expected to win this in a walk, and they duly delivered. Some, however, will likely be underwhelmed by the final score. How could England only beat a team made up of mostly part-time footballers by only five goals?
James Maw of FourFourTwo countered that San Marino don't exactly ship double digits in goals every time they step onto the pitch:
Although it's difficult to read much into the game, the continued strong form of Welbeck is encouraging for both England and Arsenal. According to Opta, he's scored seven goals in his last eight matches:
The 23-year-old credited some of his success to simply finding a comfort zone in terms of how he's deployed, per Ian Dennis of BBC Sport:
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Switzerland limped to their second defeat of qualification. According to UEFA, Switzerland had 65 percent of possession and six shots on goal but still couldn't find the back of the net.
With the amount of attacking talent at coach Vladimir Petkovic's disposal, more should be expected of the Swiss.
"We still have a lot of matches in this qualifying campaign and have every chance of coming back," he said after the match, per UEFA.com. "It will not be easy, of course. I believe that this defeat will not have major consequences."
The bigger concern for Petkovic will be ensuring that younger stars like Xherdan Shaqiri and Josip Drmic are getting regular minutes with their respective clubs.
Group G
| Liechtenstein | 0-0 | Montenegro |
| Moldova | 1-2 | Austria |
| Sweden | 1-1 | Russia |
The marquee fixture of Group G didn't exactly deliver in terms of excitement, with Sweden drawing 1-1 at home with Russia. Aleksandr Kokorin put the Russians ahead in the 10th minute and Ola Toivonen leveled the score in the 49th.
"We scored the first goal as we expected and after that we held out," Kokorin said after the match, per UEFA.com. "A lot of players in our team are not in good shape so it's a good result for us. We're disappointed but it's a normal result for us."
A heel injury kept Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of the match, and it was clear to see how much he means to Sweden.
"When you have Zlatan on the pitch they can play more long balls because he can hold the ball," said Russia coach Fabio Capello after the match, per UEFA. "He is one of the three best players in the world. He can change the game, score and make assists. Defenders always have problems with him, he can draw yellow and red cards."
Capello added that even without Ibra, the Swedes were no pushovers.
Bosnian journalist Sasa Ibrulj, however, felt that his absence left the Swedes with little idea how to approach the match:
As a result, Ibrulj believes that Sweden will be happier with the result:
Euro 2016 Qualifying Standings
| Group A | |||||||||
| 1 | Iceland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 |
| 5 | Latvia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
| 6 | Turkey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| Group B | |||||||||
| 1 | Wales | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Belgium | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| 3 | Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Cyprus | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| 6 | Andorra | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 0 |
| Group C | |||||||||
| 1 | Slovakia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | Spain | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | FYR Macedonia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| 5 | Luxembourg | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 |
| 6 | Belarus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 |
| Group D | |||||||||
| 1 | Poland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 6 |
| 2 | Ireland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
| 3 | Germany | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| 4 | Scotland | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Georgia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| 6 | Gibraltar | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | -14 | 0 |
| Group E | |||||||||
| 1 | England | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| 2 | Lithuania | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Estonia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 6 | San Marino | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 0 |
| Group F | |||||||||
| 1 | N.Ireland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Finland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Romania | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Hungary | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| 5 | Greece | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| 6 | Faroe Islands | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| Group G | |||||||||
| 1 | Russia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Montenegro | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Austria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Sweden | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Liechtenstein | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 1 |
| 6 | Moldova | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| Group H | |||||||||
| 1 | Italy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Croatia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Norway | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Bulgaria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Azerbaijan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 0 |
| 6 | Malta | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
| Group I | |||||||||
| 1 | Denmark | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Albania | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Serbia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Armenia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| 5 | Portugal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
Note: The top two teams and best third-place team will advance to the tournament. The remaining eight third-place teams will enter a playoff to determine the final four countries to qualify. You can see the full standings at UEFA.com.
