2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The European zone of qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places at the finals in South Africa. The qualification process started on 20 August 2008, nearly two months after the end of UEFA Euro 2008, and ended on 18 November 2009. The qualification process saw the first competitive matches of Montenegro.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	20 August 2008 – 18 November 2009
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	268
Goals scored	725 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	6,050,105 (22,575 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Theofanis Gekas (10 goals)
← 2006 2014 →

Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first round by winning their groups. France, Greece, Portugal, and Slovenia qualified via the second round play-offs.

Format

Teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The nine group winners qualified directly, while the best eight second-placed teams contested home and away play off matches for the remaining four places. In determining the best eight second placed teams, the results against teams finishing last in the six team groups were not counted for consistency between the five and six team groups.^[1]

Seeding

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).^[2]

The November 2007 FIFA World Ranking the most recent at the time of the preliminary draw and used to determine the groups. Initially scheduled for 21 November, FIFA moved the release date of the ranking to 23 November to include the final match days of Euro 2008 qualification.^[3]

Pot A Team Rank  Italy 3  Spain 4  Germany 5  Czech Republic 6  France 7  Portugal 8  Netherlands 9  Croatia 10  Greece 11	Pot B Team Rank  England 12  Romania 13  Scotland 14  Turkey 16  Bulgaria 18  Russia 22  Poland 23  Sweden 24  Israel 26	Pot C Team Rank  Norway 28  Ukraine 29  Serbia 30  Denmark 31  Northern Ireland 32  Republic of Ireland 35  Finland 36   Switzerland 44  Belgium 49
Pot D Team Rank  Slovakia 50  Bosnia and Herzegovina 51  Hungary 52  Moldova 53  Wales 58  Macedonia 59  Belarus 60  Lithuania 61  Cyprus 65	Pot E Team Rank  Georgia 77  Albania 82  Slovenia 83  Latvia 88  Iceland 89  Armenia 90  Austria 91  Kazakhstan 110  Liechtenstein 122	Pot F Team Rank  Azerbaijan 125  Estonia 128  Malta 139  Luxembourg 152  Montenegro 172  Andorra 174  Faroe Islands 195  San Marino 197

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007.^[4] During the draw, teams were drawn from the six pots A to F (see above) into the nine 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.^[5]

Summary

Table – top row: group winners, second row: group runners-up, third row: others. The winner of each group qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup together with the winners of the play-off. The play-offs took place between the eight best runners-up among all nine groups while the worst group runner-up did not qualify.

  Group winners qualified directly for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

  Eight best runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs)

  Worst runner-up and all other teams were eliminated after the first round

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8	Group 9
Denmark	Switzerland	Slovakia	Germany	Spain	England	Serbia	Italy	Netherlands
Portugal	Greece	Slovenia	Russia	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Ukraine	France	Republic of Ireland	Norway
Sweden Hungary Albania Malta	Latvia Israel Luxembourg Moldova	Czech Republic Northern Ireland Poland San Marino	Finland Wales Azerbaijan Liechtenstein	Turkey Belgium Estonia Armenia	Croatia Belarus Kazakhstan Andorra	Austria Lithuania Romania Faroe Islands	Bulgaria Cyprus Montenegro Georgia	Scotland Macedonia Iceland

First round

Group 1

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	10	6	3	1	16	5	+11	21	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–0	3–0
2	Portugal	10	5	4	1	17	5	+12	19	Advance to second round		2–3	—	0–0	3–0	0–0	4–0
3	Sweden	10	5	3	2	13	5	+8	18			0–1	0–0	—	2–1	4–1	4–0
4	Hungary	10	5	1	4	10	8	+2	16			0–0	0–1	1–2	—	2–0	3–0
5	Albania	10	1	4	5	6	13	−7	7			1–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	—	3–0
6	Malta	10	0	1	9	0	26	−26	1			0–3	0–4	0–1	0–1	0–0	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 2

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	10	6	3	1	18	8	+10	21	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–2	2–0
2	Greece	10	6	2	2	20	10	+10	20	Advance to second round		1–2	—	5–2	2–1	2–1	3–0
3	Latvia	10	5	2	3	18	15	+3	17			2–2	0–2	—	1–1	2–0	3–2
4	Israel	10	4	4	2	20	10	+10	16			2–2	1–1	0–1	—	7–0	3–1
5	Luxembourg	10	1	2	7	4	25	−21	5			0–3	0–3	0–4	1–3	—	0–0
6	Moldova	10	0	3	7	6	18	−12	3			0–2	1–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 3

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovakia	10	7	1	2	22	10	+12	22	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	0–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	7–0
2	Slovenia	10	6	2	2	18	4	+14	20	Advance to second round		2–1	—	0–0	2–0	3–0	5–0
3	Czech Republic	10	4	4	2	17	6	+11	16			1–2	1–0	—	0–0	2–0	7–0
4	Northern Ireland	10	4	3	3	13	9	+4	15			0–2	1–0	0–0	—	3–2	4–0
5	Poland	10	3	2	5	19	14	+5	11			0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	—	10–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	1	47	−46	0			1–3	0–3	0–3	0–3	0–2	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 4

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	8	2	0	26	5	+21	26	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	4–0
2	Russia	10	7	1	2	19	6	+13	22	Advance to second round		0–1	—	3–0	2–1	2–0	3–0
3	Finland	10	5	3	2	14	14	0	18			3–3	0–3	—	2–1	1–0	2–1
4	Wales	10	4	0	6	9	12	−3	12			0–2	1–3	0–2	—	1–0	2–0
5	Azerbaijan	10	1	2	7	4	14	−10	5			0–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	—	0–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	2	8	2	23	−21	2			0–6	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 5

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	10	0	0	28	5	+23	30	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	1–0	5–0	3–0	4–0
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	6	1	3	25	13	+12	19	Advance to second round		2–5	—	1–1	2–1	7–0	4–1
3	Turkey	10	4	3	3	13	10	+3	15			1–2	2–1	—	1–1	4–2	2–0
4	Belgium	10	3	1	6	13	20	−7	10			1–2	2–4	2–0	—	3–2	2–0
5	Estonia	10	2	2	6	9	24	−15	8			0–3	0–2	0–0	2–0	—	1–0
6	Armenia	10	1	1	8	6	22	−16	4			1–2	0–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 6

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	9	0	1	34	6	+28	27	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	5–1	3–0	5–1	6–0
2	Ukraine	10	6	3	1	21	6	+15	21	Advance to second round		1–0	—	0–0	1–0	2–1	5–0
3	Croatia	10	6	2	2	19	13	+6	20			1–4	2–2	—	1–0	3–0	4–0
4	Belarus	10	4	1	5	19	14	+5	13			1–3	0–0	1–3	—	4–0	5–1
5	Kazakhstan	10	2	0	8	11	29	−18	6			0–4	1–3	1–2	1–5	—	3–0
6	Andorra	10	0	0	10	3	39	−36	0			0–2	0–6	0–2	1–3	1–3	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 7

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	10	7	1	2	22	8	+14	22	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	1–0	3–0	5–0	2–0
2	France	10	6	3	1	18	9	+9	21	Advance to second round		2–1	—	3–1	1–0	1–1	5–0
3	Austria	10	4	2	4	14	15	−1	14			1–3	3–1	—	2–1	2–1	3–1
4	Lithuania	10	4	0	6	10	11	−1	12			2–1	0–1	2–0	—	0–1	1–0
5	Romania	10	3	3	4	12	18	−6	12			2–3	2–2	1–1	0–3	—	3–1
6	Faroe Islands	10	1	1	8	5	20	−15	4			0–2	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 8

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	10	7	3	0	18	7	+11	24	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	2–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	4	6	0	12	8	+4	18	Advance to second round		2–2	—	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1
3	Bulgaria	10	3	5	2	17	13	+4	14			0–0	1–1	—	2–0	4–1	6–2
4	Cyprus	10	2	3	5	14	16	−2	9			1–2	1–2	4–1	—	2–2	2–1
5	Montenegro	10	1	6	3	9	14	−5	9			0–2	0–0	2–2	1–1	—	2–1
6	Georgia	10	0	3	7	7	19	−12	3			0–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	—

Source: ^[6]

Group 9

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	8	8	0	0	17	2	+15	24	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	3–0	4–0	2–0
2	Norway	8	2	4	2	9	7	+2	10			0–1	—	4–0	2–1	2–2
3	Scotland	8	3	1	4	6	11	−5	10			0–1	0–0	—	2–0	2–1
4	Macedonia	8	2	1	5	5	11	−6	7			1–2	0–0	1–0	—	2–0
5	Iceland	8	1	2	5	7	13	−6	5			1–2	1–1	1–2	1–0	—

Source: ^[6]

Ranking of second placed teams

Because one group had one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second placed table.

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	4	Russia	8	5	1	2	15	6	+9	16	Advance to second round (play-offs)
2	2	Greece	8	5	1	2	16	9	+7	16
3	6	Ukraine	8	4	3	1	10	6	+4	15
4	7	France	8	4	3	1	12	9	+3	15
5	3	Slovenia	8	4	2	2	10	4	+6	14
6	5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	4	1	3	19	12	+7	13
7	1	Portugal	8	3	4	1	9	5	+4	13
8	8	Republic of Ireland	8	2	6	0	8	6	+2	12
9	9	Norway	8	2	4	2	9	7	+2	10

Source: ^[6]

Second round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round

The UEFA second round (often referred to as the play off stage) was contested by the best eight runners up from the nine first round groups. The winners of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup finals in South Africa. Norway, with 10 points, was ranked 9th so failed to qualify for the second round.

Seeding and draw

The eight teams were seeded according to the FIFA World Rankings released on 16 October (shown in parentheses in the table below). The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 19 October, with the top four teams seeded into one pot and the bottom four teams seeded into a second. A separate draw decided the host of the first leg.^[7]

Pot 1 (seeded) Team Pos  France 9  Portugal 10  Russia 12  Greece 16

Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Pos  Ukraine 22  Republic of Ireland 34  Bosnia and Herzegovina 42  Slovenia 49

Matches

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Republic of Ireland	1–2	France	0–1	1–1 (aet)
Portugal	2–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–0	1–0
Greece	1–0	Ukraine	0–0	1–0
Russia	2–2 (a)	Slovenia	2–1	0–1

Qualified teams

The following 13 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Denmark	Group 1 winners	10 October 2009	3 (1986, 1998, 2002)
Switzerland	Group 2 winners	14 October 2009	8 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006)
Slovakia	Group 3 winners	14 October 2009	0 (debut)
Germany	Group 4 winners	10 October 2009	16 (1934, 1938, 19542, 19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19742, 19782, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Spain	Group 5 winners	9 September 2009	12 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
England	Group 6 winners	9 September 2009	12 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Serbia	Group 7 winners	10 October 2009	10 (19303, 19503, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19743, 19823, 19903, 19983, 20063)
Italy	Group 8 winners	10 October 2009	16 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)
Netherlands	Group 9 winners	6 June 2009	8 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006)
Greece	Second round (play-off) winners	18 November 2009	1 (1994)
Slovenia	Second round (play-off) winners	18 November 2009	1 (2002)
Portugal	Second round (play-off) winners	18 November 2009	4 (1966, 1986, 2002, 2006)
France	Second round (play-off) winners	18 November 2009	12 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

² Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.

³ From 1930 to 1998, Serbia competed together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia as part of Yugoslavia, while in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro together with Montenegro.

⁴ From 1934 to 1990, Slovakia competed as Czechoslovakia.

Top goalscorers

There were 725 goals scored in 268 matches, for an average of 2.71 goals per match.

10 goals

• Theofanis Gekas

9 goals

• Edin Džeko
• Wayne Rooney

7 goals

• Miroslav Klose
• David Villa

6 goals

• Marc Janko
• Wesley Sonck
• Lukas Podolski
• Robbie Keane
• Elyaniv Barda
• Ebi Smolarek
• Stanislav Šesták
• Andriy Shevchenko

Below are full goalscorer lists for all groups and the play-off rounds:

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4
• Group 5
• Group 6
• Group 7
• Group 8
• Group 9
• Play-offs