Euro 2012 Guide

The 13th Uefa European Championship will be jointly hosted for the second time in history by Poland and Ukraine. It kicks off on June 8th –June. Ukraine plays host to the opening ceremony with the finals in Warsaw, Poland on June. Belgium and the Netherland were the first joint hosts in 2000.

Duration

Euro 2012 will be held over a 24-day period from the opening match to the finals. There will be five match-free days in-between, meaning, there will be 19 match days. For the most part, there will be two matches daily on those days. All matches will be televised live on SuperSport 3 and live streaming on SuperSport.com. See our broadcast schedule for details.

Teams and Groups:

Sixteen countries will be taking part in the tournament, with Poland and the Ukraine qualifying as hosts. They are joined by 14 countries from the qualifying rounds that have not produced any surprises.

Missing in Action

The traditional powerhouses of the tournament are all present so this promises to be the most keenly contested of all. However, we will be missing Belgium, Turkey, and Serbia who as Yugoslavia was a major force in the early years of the tournament. Croatia, also part of Yugolavia will be there.

Slovakia, one half of 1976 champions Czechoslovakia will also be missing as will perennial under-achievers, Scotland.

Sweet Sixteen

The 16 teams have been grouped into four groups; two in the Polish cities of Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw and two in the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv.

Group A: – Czech Republic, Greece, Poland,Russia
Group B: – Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal
Group C: - Croatia, Italy,Republic of Ireland, Spain
Group D: – England, France, Sweden, Ukraine

Format and Regulations

The 16 teams have been drawn into four groups of four each and will play a round-robin with mini-league groups. The top two teams from each group will progress to the quarterfinals. There will be six matches in each group and 24 in total during the group stage.

Equality of points after the group matches

Here’s an extract from the Uefa rules and regulations (full copy available)

8.07 If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied, in the order given; to determine the rankings:
a) higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question;
b) superior goal difference in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);
c) higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);
d) superior goal difference in all the group matches;
e) higher number of goals scored in all the group matches;
f) position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system (see Annex I, paragraph 1.2.2);
g) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);
h) drawing of lots.
8.08 If two teams which have the same number of points, the same number of goals scored and conceded play their last group match against each other and are still equal at the end of that match, the ranking of the two teams in question is determined by kicks from the penalty mark (Article 16), provided no other teams within the group have the same number of points on completion of all group matches. Should more than two teams have the same number of points, the criteria listed under paragraph 8.07 apply.

Quarterfinals

8.09 The winners and runners-up in each group play the quarter-finals over one match, as follows:

Match 1 Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B
Match 2 Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A
Match 3 Winner Group C vs Runner-up Group D
Match 4 Winner Group D vs Runner-up Group C Knockout stage

This will be a straight elimination series with games played out for 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of extra-time and, ultimately, if no winner emerges after full-time and extra-time, they will go straight to penalty shootouts (five kicks each) and thereafter, sudden death penalty kicks until a winner emerges.

Semifinals

8.10 The four winners of the quarter-finals play the semi-finals over one match, as follows:

Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 3
Winner Match 2 vs Winner Match 4

Final

8.11 The winners of the semifinals play in the final. Same number of goals in a quarterfinal, semifinal or the final

8.12 If the result stands as a draw at the end of normal playing time, extra time of two periods of 15 minutes is played. If the two teams are still equal after extra time, the winners are determined by kicks from the penalty mark (Article 16).