England Supporters Club

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 :-

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 :-

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.