Scotland have been confirmed as among the third seeds for the draw for the 2012 European Championship qualifiers. The managerless Scots have slipped down the Fifa rankings after a dismal 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and are now ranked as the 26th best side in Europe.
When the seedings for the European qualifying section for the 2010 World Cup were announced, Scotland were ranked as the 12th best side in Europe and occupied 14th spot in the Fifa world rankings. Their slide means that making it to the 2012 tournament – to be hosted jointly by Ukraine and Poland – will be all the more difficult.
There will be nine groups in the qualifying stage for the tournament, with the top team from each group going through automatically. Six groups will contain six teams, whilst the remaining three groups will consist of just five.
Of the runners-up in each group, the team with the best record of all nine will also gain an automatic spot. The eight other second placed nations will contest a two legged play-off. Poland and Ukraine have already qualified on account of hosting the competition.
Euro 2004 winners Greece are only in a pot two full of formidable opponents for the new Scotland manager to fear. Also in Scotland’s third pot are Norway – who inflicted a 4-0 defeat on George Burley’s team in the 2010 qualifiers – Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The draw for the qualifying round will be made on February 7 2010. Matches are scheduled to begin on the weekend of September 3 2010.
Pot One: Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia.
Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania.
Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus.
Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.
Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino.
