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Euro 2020 play-off draw and main draw

Now that the Euro 2020 qualifiers have been completed, we know the 20 qualified teams and the 16 teams in the play-offs. The draw for the play-offs and the main draw will not be straightforward. There will be decisions which may make you scratch your head and wonder why they did that. This note is intended to explain how the draws will work.

The Play-offs

The teams in the play-offs, listed in order of their Nations League rankings, are :-

League A

League B

League C

League D

Nations League Group Winners

Bosnia & H

Scotland

Norway

Serbia

Georgia

North Macedonia

Kosovo

Belarus

Not Group Winners

Iceland

Slovakia

Rep Ireland

N. Ireland

Bulgaria

Israel

Hungary

Romania

The countries shown in red are Euro 2020 host countries.

The play-offs are drawn in reverse order : D, C, B, A. The rules are :-

a. A group winner cannot form a path with a team from a higher-ranked league in the overall UEFA Nations League rankings.

b. If four or more teams from a league enter the play-offs, a path with four teams from the league in question must be formed.

c. Additional conditions may be applied, subject to approval by the UEFA Executive Committee, including seeding principles and the possibility of final tournament host associations having to be drawn into different paths.

Once the 4 teams in each play-off are determined, the semi-final pairings are 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 based on their positions in the Nations League rankings. These are single-legged ties hosted by the first named team. For each play-off path, there will be a random draw to see which semi-final will provide the hosts for the final, which is also a single-legged tie.

Play-off D

As there are exactly 4 teams qualified for the play-offs, there is no need for a draw. The pairings are

Georgia v Belarus
North Macedonia v Kosovo

Play-off C

The 3 Nations League group winners must be in this play-off – Rule (a).

UEFA would also like to keep all host countries apart in the play-offs – Rule (c). But, with 4 host countries in the play-offs, this is not possible. I am expecting that UEFA will leave 2 host countries in the League C play-offs : Scotland plus either Hungary or Romania. The other host country would be moved to a higher League. This is not definite : UEFA could move both Hungary and Romania to a higher League. If UEFA only move one of them then the play-offs will be

Scotland v Hungary or Romania
Norway v Serbia

Play-off B

As there are exactly 4 teams qualified for the play-offs, a pathway must be formed from League B teams – Rule (b).

Bosnia & Herzegovina v N. Ireland
Slovakia v Rep Ireland

Play-off A

There is no draw as there are only 4 remaining teams. The pairings are

Iceland v Hungary or Romania
Bulgaria v Israel

The Main Euro 2020 Draw

Regarding the main draw, the draw pots are :-

Pot 1

Pot 2

Pot 3

Pot 4

Belgium

Italy

England

Germany

Spain

Ukraine

France

Poland

Switzerland

Croatia

Netherlands

Russia

Portugal

Turkey

Denmark

Austria

Sweden

Czech Rep

Wales

Finland

Play-off A

Play-off B

Play-off C

Play-off D

The countries shown in red are the teams which could be drawn into Group D, England's group.

Some of the teams must be placed into certain groups. These are indicated below. Teams which are not placed in groups will be drawn into groups at random.

Pot 1

A - must be Italy as a host country

D - must be England as a host country

E - must be Spain as a host country

F - must be Germany as a host country

C - must be Ukraine as they cannot be placed in Group B with Russia (prohibited clash/venue)

B - must be Belgium as they're the only country left

Pot 2

B - must be Russia as a host country

C - must be Netherlands as a host country

Pot 3

B - must be Denmark as a host country

Pot 4

I am assuming in these notes that the League C play-offs will have 2 host countries.

F or C - will include the play-off A place marker, depending on whether Hungary or Romania are in the League A play-off.

E - will include the play-off B place marker because Rep Ireland are in the League B play-off.

The play-off C place marker will be in either Group D (because Scotland are in the League C play-off) or F/C, depending on whether Hungary or Romania are also in this play-off. Whichever group doesn't get the play-off C place marker will get the play-off D place marker instead : this is so that they can be swapped next April if the “wrong” team wins the Nations League C play-off.

48 Replies

  • Robert Draper
    Call me old fashioned but I prefer it when they just pull numbers out a velvet bag.
  • Ian Costain

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Thank you, David, for yet more insightful analysis. We are not worthy!

    I'd be interested to know how they'll figure out who joins us from Pot 4. For the sake of argument let's assume that Kosovo wins Play-off D. If Scotland wins Play-off C then obviously they'll be in our group. If a host country other than Scotland wins Play-off C then obviously Kosovo will be in our group. But what if, say, Norway wins Play-off C. Will the choice between Norway and Kosovo for our group be decided in the draw at the end of November? Or not until the playoffs are decided next March?
  • Doug Fenner

    In reply to Ian Costain:

    I'd assume that if a non host country wins Play-Off C they'd go into our group as that's the easiest thing for UEFA to do.
  • David Lilley

    In reply to Ian Costain:

    Update

    The play-off draw has just been completed.

    League C

    Scotland v Israel
    Norway v Serbia

    League A

    Iceland v Romania
    Bulgaria v Hungary

    As Scotland is the only host country in the League C play-off, and Glasgow is a group D host city, this means that, in the main draw on 30th November, the League C play-off winner will be placed in group D along with England. We will be facing the winner of the League C play-offs next June at Wembley, no matter whether the play-off is won by Scotland, Norway, Serbia or Israel.

    It is the League A play-off which has 2 host countries: Romania (Bucharest is a host city for group C) and Hungary (Budapest is a host city for group F). So, in the main draw on 30th November, the League A place marker will be placed in either group C or group F, whilst the League D place marker will go in the other one. Then, if the "wrong" team wins the League A play-off next March, they will be swapped.

    If Scotland win their semi-final against Israel (likely) then they will be away to Norway or Serbia in the final. I would not fancy their chances against either of them away from home.

  • Ian Costain

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Thanks David.

    Your original post suggested that we could get either Play-off C or Play-off D in terms of Pot 4. If Scotland fail to win Play-off C (looking more likely now!) could we still get the winner of Play-off D? Or is that completely ruled out now?
  • David Lilley

    In reply to Ian Costain:

    Getting the League D play-off winner is completely ruled out. It would have been a possibility only if Scotland had been drawn against another host country : Hungary or Romania. But Scotland were actually drawn against Israel.
  • Ian Costain

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Okay, got it. Thank you, David, for the explanation.
  • Adrian Gunner

    The draw is on BBC2 at 5pm until 6.30pm on Saturday... Pub it is then lol.

    Kick off times shouldn't take too long to confirm afterwards.... 

  • David Lilley

    I've just looked at Oddschecker to see who the bookies think will win the Nations League C play-off and be England's pot 4 team next June.

    5/4 Serbia
    15/8 Norway
    7/2 Scotland
    11/2 Israel

    So the bookies think that we're going to get Serbia.

  • David Lilley

    Update

    The winner of the League A play-offs will be placed in Group F and the winner of the League D play-offs will be in Group C. If and only if Romania wins the League A play-offs, they will be swapped so that Romania will be in Group C and the winner of the League D play-offs will be in Group F.

    There will be no supplementary draw in April, following the play-offs.

    In Group B, where both Russia and Denmark qualified directly, the draw to see who would host the head-to-head match was won by Denmark.

  • Ian Costain

    In reply to David Lilley:

    That's really helpful to know, thanks David.

    I guess another 'known' at this stage is that Belgium will be in Group B with Russia and Denmark. Belgium are in Pot 1 - with four of the others in Pot 1 being host countries. The other country in Pot 1 is Ukraine, and presumably there is a restriction which prevents them from being drawn in the same group as Russia.
  • Clarke Buckeridge

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Norway are where the value is there. Haaland cannot stop scoring home and away in the Champions League. Serbia will have home advantage but they have been pretty poor in the qualifiers.
  • David Lilley

    In reply to Clarke Buckeridge:

    I agree with you that Norway look a better bet. And it is Norway who have the home advantage in the semi-final against Serbia, whilst the winner will be at home for the final against Scotland / Israel.

  • Peter salnicki

    In reply to David Lilley:

    To see the best 2 teams at Wembley, Id love us to first play Portugal and then France. Having got 2 wins, we then go on to knock Scotland out. We can all dream right now !
  • Peter salnicki

    In reply to Peter salnicki:

    Just a heads up about the draw. England are in Group D , and will then be allocated a number in that group , as will the other 3 teams in our group ...eg D3 .
    The dates for the actual matches are :
    Sunday D1 V D2 D3 V D4
    Friday D1 V D3 D2 V D4
    Tuesday D1 V D4 D2 V D3

    Kick off times to be arranged after ... making sure England are on peak TV I guess.

      Though on the Sunday there is a game in Rumania , which is 2 hours ahead of England, so they will probably be the 3pm game .  (unfortunately ) 

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