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The UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-off ties were played over two legs, with the first legs on 11 November and the second legs on 15 November 2011. The four winners are found according to the standard rules for the knockout phase in European competitions, and the winners qualified for the Euro 2012 tournament. Qualifying play-offs was a second stage (round) of UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying.
Contents
Ranking of second-placed teams
The highest ranked second placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the playoffs. As some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the second-placed ranking table.
Tiebreakers
If two or more runners-up had an equal number of points from their eight matches contributing toward the ranking, then the following criteria were applied:
- Superior goal difference from these matches
- Higher number of goals scored in these matches
- Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
- Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system
- Fair play ranking in these matches
- Drawing of lots
Final standings
Seedings
The draw for the play-offs was held on 13 October 2011 in Kraków, Poland, to determine the four pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties.
After the controversy caused by the UEFA play-offs during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying – which was originally to be an unseeded draw, but was later altered by FIFA to a seeded one – UEFA stated from the outset that the draw for the play-offs would be seeded. The four runners-up with the best positions in the UEFA team coefficient ranking system were therefore seeded.
Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:
The seedings were as follows:
Croatia won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.
Czech Republic won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.
Republic of Ireland won 5–1 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.
Portugal won 6–2 on aggregate and qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.