The final part of the 2012 European Football Championship will be held in Ukraine and Poland. It was these countries that in 2007 received the right to host the most prestigious European football tournament. The teams participating in the championship were divided into groups by drawing lots.
Instructions
Step 1
Teams from 51 countries competed for the right to participate in the group stage of the final of Euro 2012. They played 14 tickets, two more out of competition were received by the host countries of the tournament, Poland and Ukraine.
Step 2
The draw for the qualifying tournament had its own characteristics. The teams were divided into six baskets. Five of them included 9 teams, one - six. At the same time, some countries, between which there were tense political relations, were deliberately divorced into different baskets. Therefore, at the qualifying stage, for example, the national teams of Georgia and Russia could not meet.
Step 3
16 teams reached the final part: England, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, France, Croatia, Czech Republic and Sweden. All teams were divided into 4 groups: A, B, C and D. The draw took place on December 2, 2011 in Kiev, at the National Palace of Arts "Ukraine".
Step 4
The draw procedure had its own peculiarities. Before it was held, sixteen teams were divided into four baskets as follows: the first were teams from Ukraine, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands. In the second, the teams of Germany, Italy, England, Russia. In the third are the teams of Croatia, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. And in the fourth - the teams of Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Ireland. Teams in the same basket are already guaranteed not to meet each other in the group stage.
Step 5
Before the draw, Poland and Ukraine, as host countries, automatically received first places in groups A and D. The first stage of the draw, starting with group A, was intended to fill the first places in groups B and C. These teams were the Netherlands and Spain. After that, the teams from the fourth basket were assigned to all four groups. The first was the Czech Republic, the second was Denmark, the third was Ireland and the fourth was France. Then the teams from the third basket and from the second were distributed in the same way. The position of the team in the group was also determined by drawing lots, except for the teams of Poland and Ukraine, which automatically took the first places.
Step 6
As a result, the teams were divided into groups as follows:
Group A: teams of Poland, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic.
Group B: national teams of the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Denmark.
Group C: national teams of Spain, Italy, Croatia, Ireland.
Group D: national teams of Ukraine, England, Sweden, France.
