The European zone of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places in the finals in Brazil. The draw for the qualification groups was held during the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011.

The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations.

The qualification process started on 7 September 2012, over two months after the end of UEFA Euro 2012, and ended on 19 November 2013. Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first round by winning their groups. Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal qualified via the second round play-offs.

Format All 53 UEFA national teams entered qualification, aiming to secure one of the 13 European Zone slots for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The draw for the qualification groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations.

Seeding The July 2011 FIFA World Rankings were used to seed the teams. In consideration of the delicate political situations of the relationships between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as relations between Russia and Georgia, UEFA requested that FIFA maintain the current UEFA policy not to draw these teams into the same qualification groups – although as Armenia and Azerbaijan were in the same pot they could not be drawn together anyway. The mechanism for keeping Russia and Georgia apart was confirmed by the FIFA Organising Committee on 29 July 2011.

+ Pot A Team 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 12 13+ Pot B Team 16 17 18 19 21 22 24 27 29+ Pot C Team 30 32 33 37 38 41 42 45 47+ Pot D Team 48 53 57 58 59 61 62 66 69+ Pot E Team 70 75 79 80 84 85 96 111 112+ Pot F Team 112 118 121 126 128 173 203 203

First round

The matches were played between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013. An initial schedule that includes matches before this date was not ratified by FIFA. A win was awarded 3 points, a draw was awarded 1 point, and a loss 0. The team with the most points in each group secured direct qualification for the final tournament of the World Cup.

Summary

Group AGroup BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup FGroup GGroup HGroup I

Groups Tie-breaking criteria If two teams had the same number of points the criteria below were used.

Tie-breaking criteria for group playThe ranking in each group is determined as follows: a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches; b) goal difference in all group matches; c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows: d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned; e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned; f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned; g) greater number of goals scored away from home between the teams concerned (if the tie is only between two teams)

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Second round

Group runners-up The eight best group runners-up contested the second round, where they were paired into four two-legged (home-and-away) fixtures. The four winners qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Because one group had one team fewer than the others, matches against the last-placed team in each of the six-team groups were not included in this ranking. Teams were ranked by the following parameters in order: Highest number of points Goal difference Highest number of goals scored

Matches The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich on 21 October 2013. The October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams would be seeded (shown below in brackets).

+ Pot 1 (seeded) Team 14 15 18 20 + Pot 2 (unseeded) Team 21 25 29 46

One team from pot 1 was paired with one from pot 2 as shown below. The matches were played on 15 and 19 November 2013. Winners: Portugal, France, Greece and Croatia as shown in bold.

Qualified teams The following 13 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1 11 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002) 17 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) 17 (1934, 1938, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19663, 19703, 19743, 19783, 19823, 19863, 19903, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) 9 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010) 9 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006, 2010) 9 (19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 2002) 0 (debut) 13 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) 13 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) 2 (1994, 2010) 3 (1998, 2002, 2006) 5 (1966, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2010) 13 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year. 2 Competed as Soviet Union. 3 Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.

Discipline In the qualification tournament, a player would be suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g., for violent conduct). Single yellow card cautions would be erased prior to the play-off portion, and would not carry over. Single yellow cards and suspensions for yellow card accumulations do not carry over to the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament matches. The following players were suspended during the final tournament – for one or more games – as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulations:

PlayerOffencesSuspensions Keith Andrews UEFA Euro 2012 v ItalyGroup C v Kazakhstan Roman Berezovsky UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying v Republic of IrelandGroup B v Malta James Collins v BelgiumGroup A v Serbia Marc Vales v HungaryGroup D v Romania Tranquillo Barnetta v SloveniaGroup E v Albania Viktor Pečovský v LithuaniaGroup G v Liechtenstein Tadas Labukas v SlovakiaGroup G v Greece Savo Pavićević v PolandGroup H v San Marino Ludovic Obraniak v MontenegroGroup H v Moldova Svetoslav Dyakov v ArmeniaGroup B v Denmark Gevorg Ghazaryan v BulgariaGroup B v Italy Marcos Pizzelli v BulgariaGroup B v Italy Enar Jääger v TurkeyGroup D v Hungary Sölvi Ottesen v CyprusGroup E v Albania Steven Gerrard v UkraineGroup H v San Marino Alexei Eremenko v GeorgiaGroup I v Spain Ivan Bandalovski v DenmarkGroup B v Czech Republic Boštjan Cesar v CyprusGroup E v Albania Daniel Kaufmann v LatviaGroup G v Latvia Nenad Tomović v MacedoniaGroup A v Croatia Pablo Osvaldo v DenmarkGroup B v Malta Andi Lila v NorwayGroup E v Norway Gerard Piqué 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup v BrazilGroup I v Finland Savo Pavicevic v UkraineGroup H v Poland Vladimir Volkov v UkraineGroup H v Poland Roman Zozulya v MontenegroGroup H v San Marino Mario Balotelli v Czech RepublicGroup B v Bulgaria Andreas Granqvist v Faroe IslandsGroup C v Republic of Ireland Josip Šimunić v SerbiaGroup A v BelgiumGroup A v Scotland

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for all groups and the play-off rounds:

Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H Group I Play-offs

References

External links Results and schedule (FIFA.com version) Results and schedule (UEFA.com version)