2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The European Zone of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification will see 53 teams competing for 13 places. The qualification process started on 20 August 2008, after UEFA Euro 2008. The qualification process also marks the first official competition for Montenegro.

eeding

After initially proposing to use a similar system to recent World Cup and European Championship qualification (based on results across the previous two European qualification cycles), the UEFA Executive Committee decided on 27 September, 2007 at its meeting in Istanbul that seeding for the qualifiers would be based on FIFA World Rankings, in accordance with the FIFA World Cup regulations (which note that where teams are ranked on "performance" criteria, the FIFA World Rankings must be used). [ [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/news/kind=1/newsid=594082.html All clear for December EURO draw] ]

The FIFA World Ranking used for seeding was the most recent at the time of the preliminary draw, namely the November 2007 edition. Initially scheduled for 21 November, the release date was moved to 23 November to include the final match days of Euro 2008 qualification. [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/releases/newsid=636252.html Next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking on Friday 23 November 2007] ]

Format

Eight groups of six teams and one group of five will contest the European qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The nine group-winners will qualify directly, while the highest ranked eight of the nine second-placed teams will contest home and away play-off matches for the remaining four places. In determining the rank of second-placed teams, the results against teams finishing last in the six-team groups will not be counted for consistency between the five- and six-team groups. [ [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=554858.html EXCO unveils World Cup programme] ]

Tiebreakers

Groups

The draw for the group stage took place in Durban, South Africa on November 25 2007 (17:00 local time). [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminarydraw/index.html Preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup] ] During the draw, teams were drawn from the 6 pots A-F (see above) into the 9 groups below, starting with pot F, which filled position 6 in the groups, then continued with pot E filling position 5, pot D in position 4 and so on. [ [http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/preldraw/2010%5ffwc%5fpreliminary%5fdraw%5finformation%5feurope%5fe%5f28419.pdf Preliminary Draw Information] ]

Group 1

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 1
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
tiebreakers =

Group 2

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 2
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 3

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 3
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 4

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 4
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 5

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 5
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 6

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 6
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 7

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 7
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
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Group 8

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 8
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
tiebreakers =

Group 9

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 9
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
tiebreakers =

Ranking of second-placed teams

The play-offs will be contested by the best placed runners up. With one group having one less side than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in the group are not included in this ranking.

Matches against the sixth-placed team in the group are not included in this ranking.

Key to notes
*a - Team is not guaranteed second place in their group
*b - Sixth-placed team in group may change (so ranking of second-placed team may improve or worsen even if they do not play)

Ranking rules
#Points obtained
#Goal difference
#Total goals scored
#Goals scored in away matches

All of these are based on matches against the teams finishing first to fifth in the group. In the event that the division of teams into a top-eight and bottom-one cannot be achieved using the above tiebreakers, a play-off will be held between affected teams.

Goalscorers

As of 11 October 2008.;4 goals
*flagicon|BEL Wesley Sonck
*flagicon|ESP David Villa ;3 goals
*flagicon|BIH Edin Džeko
*flagicon|BIH Zvjezdan Misimović
*flagicon|ENG Wayne Rooney
*flagicon|ENG Theo Walcott
*flagicon|GER Miroslav Klose
*flagicon|GER Lukas Podolski
*flagicon|GRE Angelos Charisteas
*flagicon|GRE Theofanis Gekas
*flagicon|KAZ Sergei Ostapenko
*flagicon|SVN Milivoje Novakovič
*flagicon|SUI Blaise Kufo;2 goals
*flagicon|DEN Søren Larsen
*flagicon|ENG Joe Cole
*flagicon|ISL Eidur Gudjohnsen
*flagicon|ISR Yossi Benayoun
*flagicon|ISR Omer Golan
*flagicon|ITA Daniele De Rossi
*flagicon|ITA Antonio Di Natale
*flagicon|LTU Tomas Danilevičius
*flagicon|NOR Steffen Iversen
*flagicon|POR Nani
*flagicon|SRB Branislav Ivanović
*flagicon|SRB Nikola Žigić
*flagicon|UKR Serhiy Nazarenko
*flagicon|UKR Andriy Shevchenko;1 goal
*flagicon|ALB Erjon Bogdani
*flagicon|ALB Armend Dallku
*flagicon|ALB Klodian Duro
*flagicon|AND Marc Pujol
*flagicon|AUT René Aufhauser
*flagicon|AUT Andreas Ivanschitz
*flagicon|AUT Marc Janko
*flagicon|AUT Martin Stranzl
*flagicon|BLR Vyacheslav Hleb
*flagicon|BLR Vitali Rodionov
*flagicon|BLR Dmitry Verkhovtsov
*flagicon|BEL Steven Defour
*flagicon|BEL Marouane Fellaini
*flagicon|BIH Senijad Ibričić
*flagicon|BIH Zlatan Muslimović
*flagicon|BUL Stiliyan Petrov
*flagicon|BUL Blagoy Georgiev
*flagicon|CRO Niko Kovač
*flagicon|CRO Mario Mandžukić
*flagicon|CRO Luka Modrić
*flagicon|CRO Mladen Petrić
*flagicon|CYP Efstathios Aloneftis

;1 goal, cont.
*flagicon|CYP Michalis Konstantinou
*flagicon|CZE Martin Fenin
*flagicon|DEN Daniel Agger
*flagicon|DEN Nicklas Bendtner
*flagicon|DEN Daniel Jensen
*flagicon|DEN Christian Poulsen
*flagicon|ENG Jermaine Defoe
*flagicon|ENG Rio Ferdinand
*flagicon|EST Andres Oper
*flagicon|EST Sergei Zenjov
*flagicon|FRO Bogi Løkin
*flagicon|FIN Mikael Forssell
*flagicon|FIN Jonatan Johansson
*flagicon|FIN Daniel Sjölund
*flagicon|FIN Mika Väyrynen
*flagicon|FRA Nicolas Anelka
*flagicon|FRA Yoann Gourcuff
*flagicon|FRA Sidney Govou
*flagicon|FRA Thierry Henry
*flagicon|FRA Franck Ribéry
*flagicon|GEO Levan Kenia
*flagicon|GEO Levan Kobiashvili
*flagicon|GER Michael Ballack
*flagicon|GER Thomas Hitzlsperger
*flagicon|GER Simon Rolfes
*flagicon|GER Bastian Schweinsteiger
*flagicon|GER Heiko Westermann
*flagicon|GRE Kostas Katsouranis
*flagicon|GRE Vasilis Torosidis
*flagicon|HUN Roland Juhász
*flagicon|HUN Gergely Rudolf
*flagicon|HUN Sándor Torghelle
*flagicon|ISL Heiðar Helguson
*flagicon|IRL Kevin Doyle
*flagicon|IRL Glenn Whelan
*flagicon|ISR Klemi Saban
*flagicon|ISR Ben Sahar
*flagicon|ISR Salim Tuama
*flagicon|KAZ Zhambyl Kukeev
*flagicon|KAZ Roman Uzdenov
*flagicon|LVA Vitālijs Astafjevs
*flagicon|LVA Deniss Ivanovs
*flagicon|LVA Ģirts Karlsons
*flagicon|LTU Mindaugas Kalonas
*flagicon|LTU Saulius Mikoliūnas
*flagicon|LTU Marius Stankevičius
*flagicon|LUX Alphonse Leweck
*flagicon|LUX René Peters
*flagicon|LUX Jeff Strasser
*flagicon|MKD Ilčo Naumoski
*flagicon|MKD Goran Pandev
*flagicon|MDA Serghei Alexeev
*flagicon|MDA Igor Picusceac
*flagicon|MNE Stevan Jovetić
*flagicon|MNE Mirko Vučinić

;1 goal, cont.
*flagicon|NED John Heitinga
*flagicon|NED Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
*flagicon|NED Joris Mathijsen
*flagicon|NED Rafael van der Vaart
*flagicon|POL Jakub Błaszczykowski
*flagicon|POL Paweł Brożek
*flagicon|POL Robert Lewandowski
*flagicon|POL Euzebiusz Smolarek
*flagicon|POL Michał Żewłakow
*flagicon|POR Hugo Almeida
*flagicon|POR Deco
*flagicon|POR Simão Sabrosa
*flagicon|ROM Răzvan Cociş
*flagicon|ROM Dorin Goian
*flagicon|ROM Florentin Petre
*flagicon|RUS Andrei Arshavin
*flagicon|RUS Roman Pavlyuchenko
*flagicon|RUS Pavel Pogrebnyak
*flagicon|SMR Andy Selva
*flagicon|SCO Kirk Broadfoot
*flagicon|SCO Barry Robson
*flagicon|SRB Miloš Krasić
*flagicon|SVK Marek Hamšík
*flagicon|SVK Martin Jakubko
*flagicon|SVK Miroslav Karhan
*flagicon|SVK Ján Kozák
*flagicon|SVK Stanislav Šesták
*flagicon|SVK Martin Škrtel
*flagicon|SVN Zlatko Dedič
*flagicon|SVN Zlatan Ljubijankič
*flagicon|ESP Joan Capdevila
*flagicon|ESP Juanito
*flagicon|ESP Carles Puyol
*flagicon|ESP Marcos Senna
*flagicon|SWE Samuel Holmén
*flagicon|SWE Kim Källström
*flagicon|SUI Alexander Frei
*flagicon|SUI Hakan Yakin
*flagicon|TUR Emre Belözoğlu
*flagicon|TUR Mevlüt Erdinç
*flagicon|TUR Tuncay Şanlı
*flagicon|TUR Semih Şentürk
*flagicon|TUR Arda Turan
*flagicon|WAL David Edwards
*flagicon|WAL Ched Evans
*flagicon|WAL Joe Ledley
*flagicon|WAL Sam Vokes;Own goals
*flagicon|FRO Jón Rói Jacobsen (for Serbia)
*flagicon|KAZ Roman Uzdenov (for England)
*flagicon|MLT Brian Said (for Portugal)
*flagicon|SVK Ján Ďurica (for Northern Ireland)

References

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/europe/matches/index.html European Zone] at FIFA.com