UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying

Tournament details
Dates	1 May 1982 – 22 December 1983
Teams	32
Tournament statistics
Matches played	116
Goals scored	341 (2.94 per match)
Top scorer	👁 West Germany Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (7 goals)
← 1980 1988 →

The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at various times between May 1982 and December 1983, with some groups concluding earlier than others.^[1]

👁 Euro 1984 qualifiers

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[A]
👁 Image  France	Host	10 December 1981	1 (1960)
👁 Image  Belgium	Group 1 winner	12 October 1983	2 (1972, 1980)
👁 Image  Portugal	Group 2 winner	1 November 1983	0 (debut)
👁 Image  Denmark	Group 3 winner	16 November 1983	1 (1964)
👁 Image  West Germany	Group 6 winner	20 November 1983	3 (1972, 1976, 1980)
👁 Image  Romania	Group 5 winner	30 November 1983	0 (debut)
👁 Image  Yugoslavia	Group 4 winner	21 December 1983	3 (1960, 1968, 1976)
👁 Image  Spain	Group 7 winner	21 December 1983	2 (1964, 1980)

The draw took place on 8 January 1982 in Paris, France. 32 teams were drawn from the five pots into the seven groups. France qualified automatically as hosts.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
👁 Image  West Germany (title holder) 👁 Image  Spain 👁 Image  Italy 👁 Image  Poland 👁 Image  Yugoslavia 👁 Image  England 👁 Image  Belgium	👁 Image  Czechoslovakia 👁 Image  Austria 👁 Image  Netherlands 👁 Image  Soviet Union 👁 Image  East Germany 👁 Image  Hungary 👁 Image  Wales	👁 Image  Scotland 👁 Image  Northern Ireland 👁 Image  Republic of Ireland 👁 Image  Romania 👁 Image  Greece 👁 Image  Portugal 👁 Image  Bulgaria	👁 Image  Sweden 👁 Image  Denmark 👁 Image   Switzerland 👁 Image  Finland 👁 Image  Turkey 👁 Image  Norway 👁 Image  Iceland	👁 Image  Albania 👁 Image  Malta 👁 Image  Cyprus 👁 Image  Luxembourg

There were a number of extremely close finishes in some of the qualifying groups. In Group 2, Portugal edged out the Soviet Union by beating them narrowly 1–0 on a penalty by Rui Jordão in Lisbon on the final day. Meanwhile, in Group 5, again on the final day, Romania managed to hold on for a tense 1–1 draw in Bratislava and qualify at the expense of Czechoslovakia. A major surprise in this group was the poor performance of then-World Cup holders Italy, who were rebuilding after the retirement of many of their 1982 heroes and quickly dropped out of contention.

Another surprise was the qualification of Denmark in Group 3 at the expense of England. Having conceded a 2–2 draw at home against England, the hitherto unknown Danes performed well in their other qualifiers and capped their impressive campaign with a 1–0 win at Wembley, while England dropped a point at home against Greece that ultimately cost them the qualifying berth.

There was also heartbreak for Northern Ireland in Group 6. After managing to beat hot favourites West Germany both home and away earlier in the campaign, they came within 11 minutes of making it to France, but could only look on as Gerd Strack scored a crucial late winning goal for the West Germans in their own final fixture at home to Albania.

In Group 7, The Netherlands thought they had done enough to qualify, given that their closest rivals Spain went into the final match needing to beat Malta by eleven goals in order to qualify. And when Spain went in at half-time in Seville leading the Maltese minnows by a margin of only 3–1, the Dutch could have been forgiven for assuming they were home and dry. Spain, incredibly, then proceeded to score nine more goals in the second half, the last of them coming in the 83rd minute from Juan Señor, to book an unlikely passage to the finals. UEFA has since changed its rules: all teams now play their final game at exactly the same time and date, so that none of the teams has an advantage. Also, overall goal difference is now de-emphasised in the tie-breakers in favour of head-to-head results.

Things were tightest of all in Group 4, where Wales, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all in contention until the final few seconds of the last match in the group, between the latter two teams in Split. A draw would have put the onlooking Welsh through to the finals, but just moments after Bulgaria had squandered a glorious chance to score the winning goal and seal their own qualification, Yugoslavian defender Ljubomir Radanović wrote himself into Balkan footballing history with the 90th-minute header that sent him and his teammates to France.

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

1. Greater number of points in all group matches
2. Goal difference in all group matches
3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
4. Drawing of lots

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7
👁 Image Belgium	👁 Image Portugal	👁 Image Denmark	👁 Image Yugoslavia	👁 Image Romania	👁 Image West Germany	👁 Image Spain
👁 Image Switzerland 👁 Image East Germany 👁 Image Scotland	👁 Image Soviet Union 👁 Image Poland 👁 Image Finland	👁 Image England 👁 Image Greece 👁 Image Hungary 👁 Image Luxembourg	👁 Image Wales 👁 Image Bulgaria 👁 Image Norway	👁 Image Sweden 👁 Image Czechoslovakia 👁 Image Italy 👁 Image Cyprus	👁 Image Northern Ireland 👁 Image Austria 👁 Image Turkey 👁 Image Albania	👁 Image Netherlands 👁 Image Republic of Ireland 👁 Image Iceland 👁 Image Malta

Four groups of five teams and three groups of four teams competed for qualification for UEFA Euro 1984. The teams played home and away matches against the other teams nations in their group. The seven teams that acquired the most points to win their respective group qualified for the main tournament, joining the host nation France.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Belgium	👁 Switzerland	👁 East Germany	👁 Scotland
1	👁 Image  Belgium	6	4	1	1	12	8	+4	9	Qualify for final tournament	—	3–0	2–1	3–2
2	👁 Image   Switzerland	6	2	2	2	7	9	−2	6	3–1	—	0–0	2–0
3	👁 Image  East Germany	6	2	1	3	7	7	0	5	1–2	3–0	—	2–1
4	👁 Image  Scotland	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	4	1–1	2–2	2–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Portugal	👁 Soviet Union	👁 Poland	👁 Finland
1	👁 Image  Portugal	6	5	0	1	11	6	+5	10	Qualify for final tournament	—	1–0	2–1	5–0
2	👁 Image  Soviet Union	6	4	1	1	11	2	+9	9	5–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	👁 Image  Poland	6	1	2	3	6	9	−3	4	0–1	1–1	—	1–1
4	👁 Image  Finland	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	1	0–2	0–1	2–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Denmark	👁 England	👁 Greece	👁 Hungary	👁 Luxembourg
1	👁 Image  Denmark	8	6	1	1	17	5	+12	13	Qualify for final tournament	—	2–2	1–0	3–1	6–0
2	👁 Image  England	8	5	2	1	23	3	+20	12	0–1	—	0–0	2–0	9–0
3	👁 Image  Greece	8	3	2	3	8	10	−2	8	0–2	0–3	—	2–2	1–0
4	👁 Image  Hungary	8	3	1	4	18	17	+1	7	1–0	0–3	2–3	—	6–2
5	👁 Image  Luxembourg	8	0	0	8	5	36	−31	0	1–2	0–4	0–2	2–6	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	👁 Wales	👁 Bulgaria	👁 Norway
1	👁 Image  Yugoslavia	6	3	2	1	12	11	+1	8	Qualify for final tournament	—	4–4	3–2	2–1
2	👁 Image  Wales	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	7	1–1	—	1–0	1–0
3	👁 Image  Bulgaria	6	2	1	3	7	8	−1	5	0–1	1–0	—	2–2
4	👁 Image  Norway	6	1	2	3	7	8	−1	4	3–1	0–0	1–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Romania	👁 Sweden	👁 Czechoslovakia	👁 Italy	👁 Cyprus
1	👁 Image  Romania	8	5	2	1	9	3	+6	12	Qualify for final tournament	—	2–0	0–1	1–0	3–1
2	👁 Image  Sweden	8	5	1	2	14	5	+9	11	0–1	—	1–0	2–0	5–0
3	👁 Image  Czechoslovakia	8	3	4	1	15	7	+8	10	1–1	2–2	—	2–0	6–0
4	👁 Image  Italy	8	1	3	4	6	12	−6	5	0–0	0–3	2–2	—	3–1
5	👁 Image  Cyprus	8	0	2	6	4	21	−17	2	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 West Germany	👁 Northern Ireland	👁 Austria	👁 Turkey	👁 Albania
1	👁 Image  West Germany	8	5	1	2	15	5	+10	11	Qualify for final tournament	—	0–1	3–0	5–1	2–1
2	👁 Image  Northern Ireland	8	5	1	2	8	5	+3	11	1–0	—	3–1	2–1	1–0
3	👁 Image  Austria	8	4	1	3	15	10	+5	9	0–0	2–0	—	4–0	5–0
4	👁 Image  Turkey	8	3	1	4	8	16	−8	7	0–3	1–0	3–1	—	1–0
5	👁 Image  Albania	8	0	2	6	4	14	−10	2	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		👁 Spain	👁 Netherlands	👁 Republic of Ireland	👁 Iceland	👁 Malta
1	👁 Image  Spain	8	6	1	1	24	8	+16	13	Qualify for final tournament	—	1–0	2–0	1–0	12–1
2	👁 Image  Netherlands	8	6	1	1	22	6	+16	13	2–1	—	2–1	3–0	5–0
3	👁 Image  Republic of Ireland	8	4	1	3	20	10	+10	9	3–3	2–3	—	2–0	8–0
4	👁 Image  Iceland	8	1	1	6	3	13	−10	3	0–1	1–1	0–3	—	1–0
5	👁 Image  Malta	8	1	0	7	5	37	−32	2	2–3	0–6	0–1	2–1	—

There were 342 goals scored in 116 matches, for an average of 2.95 goals per match.

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• UEFA Euro 1984 at UEFA.com

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