Euro 2012 - Poland & Ukraine

The fourteenth edition of the European Championships will be held at eight venues across Poland and Ukraine. The format remains unchanged for the fifth successive finals tournament and it is the third time UEFA have used joint hosts. The eight host cities are Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan in Poland and Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk in the Ukraine. The opening game will be in Warsaw and the final in Kyiv.

The draw for the qualifying tournament takes place in Warsaw on the 7th February 2010. Poland and Ukraine qualiy automatically as joint hosts. The other 51 UEFA member nations will be drawn in to nine groups (6 with 6 teams and 3 with 5 teams) to play each other twice on a home and away basis. The nine group winners and the group runner up with the best record will qualify directly for the finals. The other eight runners up will face two-legged play offs for the remaining four finals places. The seedings for the qualifying draw are as follows:

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia

Pot 2: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania

Pot 3: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia

Pot 4: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, Macedonia, Cyprus

Pot 5: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein

Pot 6: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino

Further information and previews will be added to our Euro 2012 guide as the event approaches.