UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying

UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying

The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. France qualified automatically as hosts of the competition. Each group winner progressed to the finals. The qualifying round was played during 1982 and 1983.

There were a number of extremely close finishes in some of the qualifying groups. In Group 2, Portugal edged out the USSR by beating them narrowly 1-0 with a penalty by Rui Jordão in Lisbon on the final day. Meanwhile, in Group 5, again on the final day, Romania managed to hold on for a tense 1-1 draw in Bratislava and qualify at the expense of Czechoslovakia. A major surprise in this group was the poor performance of then-World Cup holders Italy, who were rebuilding after the retirement of many of their 1982 heroes and quickly dropped out of contention.

Another surprise was the qualification of Denmark in Group 3 at the expense of England. Having conceded a 2-2 draw at home against the "Three Lions", the hitherto unknown Danes performed well in their other qualifiers and capped their impressive campaign with a 1-0 win at Wembley, while England dropped a point at home against Greece that ultimately cost them the qualifying berth.

There was also heartbreak for Northern Ireland in Group 6. After managing to beat hot favourites West Germany both home and away earlier in the campaign, they came within 11 minutes of making it to France, but could only look on as Gerd Strack scored a crucial late winning goal for the West Germans in their own final fixture at home to Albania.

In Group 7, The Netherlands thought they had done enough to qualify, given that their closest rivals Spain went into the very last match needing to beat Malta by eleven goals in order to qualify. And when Spain went in at half-time in Seville leading the Maltese minnows by a margin of only 3-1, the Dutch could have been forgiven for assuming they were home and dry. Spain, incredibly, then proceeded to score nine more goals in the second half, the last of them coming in the 86th minute from Juan Señor, to book an unlikely passage to the finals. UEFA has since changed its rules: all teams now play their final game at the exact same time and date, so that none of the teams has an advantage. Also, overall goal difference is now de-emphasized in the tie-breakers in favour of head-to-head results.

Things were tightest of all in Group 4, where Wales, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all in contention until the final few seconds of the last match in the group, between the latter two teams in Split. A draw would have put the onlooking Welsh through to the finals, but just moments after Bulgaria had squandered a glorious chance to score the winning goal and seal their own qualification, Yugoslavian defender Ljubomir Radanović wrote himself into Balkan footballing history with the 90th-minute header that sent him and his team-mates to France.

Group 1

Group matches

Group 4

Group matches

Group 7

Group matches

External links

* [http://www.thefa.com/Euro2004/History/Postings/2003/01/36713.htm Euro 84 Qualifying matches] at thefa.com
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/84e.html Tables] and [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/84e-qual.html results] at RSSSF.com


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • UEFA Euro 1984 — Infobox International Football Competition tourney name = UEFA European Football Championship year = 1984 other titles = UEFA Championnat Européen de Football France 1984 size = 120px caption = UEFA Euro 1984 official logo country = France dates …   Wikipedia

  • UEFA Euro 2008 — Infobox International Football Competition tourney name = UEFA Euro 2008 year = other titles = Fußball Europameisterschaft 2008 de icon Championnat d Europe de football 2008 fr icon Campionato europeo di calcio 2008 it icon Campiunadi d Europa da …   Wikipedia

  • Croatia at UEFA Euro 2008 — Croatia participate din the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, held from 7 to 29 June 2008. It was Croatia s third appearance in the tournament since its independence in 1991 …   Wikipedia

  • UEFA European Football Championship — Infobox football tournament current = founded = 1960 number of teams = 52 (Qualifiers) 16 (Finals) region = Europe (UEFA) current champions = fb|Spain (2nd title) most successful team = fb|Germany (3 titles)The UEFA European Football Championship …   Wikipedia

  • 2006–07 UEFA Champions League — UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 redirects here. For the official video game of the competition, see UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 (video game). 2006–07 UEFA Champions League Tournament details Dates 13 September 2006 – 23 May 2007 Teams… …   Wikipedia

  • UEFA Champions League 2006–07 — Infobox International Football Competition year = 2006 07 dates = September 12 2006 May 23 2007 num teams = 32 confederations = UEFA champion other = flagicon|ITA A.C. Milan count = 7 second other = flagicon|ENG Liverpool F.C. matches = 125 goals …   Wikipedia

  • 2010–11 UEFA Champions League — Tournament details Dates 14 September 2010 – 28 May 2011 (competition proper) 29 June – 25 August 2010 (qualifying) Teams 32 (group stage) 76 (total) (from 52 associations) Final positions Champions …   Wikipedia

  • Éliminatoires du championnat d'Europe de football 1984 — Les éliminatoires du championnat d Europe de football 1984 sont disputés en 1982 et 1983 par 32 équipes nationales, réparties en trois groupes de quatre et quatre groupes de cinq équipes. Les vainqueurs de chaque groupe se qualifient pour le… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cyprus national football team — Cyprus Association Cyprus Football Association Confederation UEFA (Europe) Head coach Nikos Nioplias …   Wikipedia

  • 2005 UEFA Champions League Final — Event 2004–05 UEFA Champions League …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”