UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group F

The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group F was one of the nine groups to decide which teams would qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 finals tournament.[1] Group F consisted of six teams: Greece, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Northern Ireland, and Faroe Islands,[2] where they played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[3]

The top two teams, Northern Ireland and Romania, qualified directly for the finals. As third-placed Hungary were not the highest-ranked among all third-placed teams, they advanced to the play-offs, where they won against Norway and thus qualified as well.

Group's qualified team Romania conceded the least goals from all the teams that played in the qualifications: only two goals were scored in Romania's net, both at home and on Arena Națională in Bucharest, against neighbours Hungary on October 11, 2014, and again against Finland one year later, on October 8, 2015. Greece, Euro 2004 winners, quarter-finalists at Euro 2012, and a team who played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup only three months before the group started, reaching the Round of 16, shockingly finished at the bottom of the group, scoring only 7 goals and conceding 14, losing twice against the Faroe Islands and having a single victory, a hard-obtained 4-3 victory over Hungary in Athens.

Standings

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Northern Ireland 10 6 3 1 16 8 +8 21 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 3–1
2   Romania 10 5 5 0 11 2 +9 20 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0
3   Hungary 10 4 4 2 11 9 +2 16 Advance to play-offs 1–2 0–0 1–0 2–1 0–0
4   Finland 10 3 3 4 9 10 −1 12 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–1
5   Faroe Islands 10 2 0 8 6 17 −11 6[a] 1–3 0–3 0–1 1–3 2–1
6   Greece 10 1 3 6 7 14 −7 6[a] 0–2 0–1 4–3 0–1 0–1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Faroe Islands 6, Greece 0.

Matches

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The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 23 February 2014 in Nice.[4] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).

Hungary  1–2  Northern Ireland
  • Priskin   75'
Report
Attendance: 20,672
Faroe Islands  1–3  Finland
Report
Attendance: 3,300
Referee: Simon Lee Evans (Wales)
Greece  0–1  Romania
Report

Romania  1–1  Hungary
Report
Finland  1–1  Greece
Report
Northern Ireland  2–0  Faroe Islands
Report
Attendance: 10,049[7]
Referee: Alon Yefet (Israel)

Faroe Islands  0–1  Hungary
Report
Attendance: 2,000
Finland  0–2  Romania
Report
Attendance: 19,408
Greece  0–2  Northern Ireland
Report

Greece  0–1  Faroe Islands
Report
Attendance: 16,821
Hungary  1–0  Finland
Report
Attendance: 19,600[9]
Romania  2–0  Northern Ireland
Report
Attendance: 28,892

Northern Ireland  2–1  Finland
Report
Attendance: 10,264
Romania  1–0  Faroe Islands
Report
Hungary  0–0  Greece
Report
Attendance: 22,000

Finland  0–1  Hungary
Report
Attendance: 20,434
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Faroe Islands  2–1  Greece
Report
Northern Ireland  0–0  Romania
Report
Attendance: 10,000

Faroe Islands  1–3  Northern Ireland
Report
Attendance: 4,513
Greece  0–1  Finland
Report
Hungary  0–0  Romania
Report
Attendance: 22,060[12]
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

Finland  1–0  Faroe Islands
Report
Attendance: 9,477[13]
Northern Ireland  1–1  Hungary
Report
Attendance: 10,200[14]
Romania  0–0  Greece
Report

Hungary  2–1  Faroe Islands
Report
Northern Ireland  3–1  Greece
Report
Attendance: 11,700[17]
Romania  1–1  Finland
Report

Faroe Islands  0–3  Romania
Report
Finland  1–1  Northern Ireland
Report
Attendance: 14,550[20]
Greece  4–3  Hungary
Report

Goalscorers

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Northern Ireland's Kyle Lafferty was the group's leading goalscorer with seven goals

There were 60 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

7 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Discipline

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A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[3]

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
  • Receiving three yellow cards in three different matches, as well as after fifth and any subsequent yellow card (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Team Player Offence(s) Suspended for match(es)
  Faroe Islands Hallur Hansson   vs Finland (7 September 2014)
  vs Hungary (14 October 2014)
  vs Greece (14 November 2014)
vs Romania (29 March 2015)
  vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2015)
  vs Finland (7 September 2015)
vs Hungary (8 October 2015)
Atli Gregersen   vs Hungary (14 October 2014)
  vs Greece (14 November 2014)
  vs Greece (13 June 2015)
vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2015)
    vs Hungary (8 October 2015) vs Romania (11 October 2015)
Jóan Símun Edmundsson     vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2015) vs Finland (7 September 2015)
Fróði Benjaminsen   vs Hungary (14 October 2014)
  vs Greece (13 June 2015)
  vs Finland (7 September 2015)
vs Hungary (8 October 2015)
Brandur Olsen   vs Greece (14 November 2014)
  vs Greece (13 June 2015)
  vs Finland (7 September 2015)
vs Hungary (8 October 2015)
  Finland Alexander Ring     vs Romania (14 October 2014) vs Hungary (14 November 2014)
Tim Sparv   vs Greece (11 October 2014)
  vs Hungary (13 June 2015)
  vs Faroe Islands (7 September 2015)
vs Romania (8 October 2015)
Markus Halsti   vs Hungary (13 June 2015)
  vs Faroe Islands (7 September 2015)
  vs Romania (8 October 2015)
vs Northern Ireland (11 October 2015)
Përparim Hetemaj   vs Faroe Islands (7 September 2014)
  vs Greece (11 October 2014)
  vs Romania (8 October 2015)
vs Northern Ireland (11 October 2015)
  Greece Vasilis Torosidis   vs Romania (7 September 2014)
  vs Finland (11 October 2014)
  vs Faroe Islands (13 June 2015)
vs Finland (4 September 2015)
Kostas Manolas   vs Romania (7 September 2014)
  vs Faroe Islands (14 November 2014)
  vs Romania (7 September 2015)
vs Northern Ireland (8 October 2015)
  Hungary Ákos Elek   vs Romania (11 October 2014)
  vs Finland (14 November 2014)
  vs Greece (29 March 2015)
vs Finland (13 June 2015)
Zoltán Gera   vs Romania (11 October 2014)
  vs Faroe Islands (14 October 2014)
  vs Finland (13 June 2015)
vs Romania (4 September 2015)
Dániel Tőzsér   vs Romania (11 October 2014)
  vs Finland (14 November 2014)
  vs Romania (4 September 2015)
vs Northern Ireland (7 September 2015)
Leandro   vs Greece (29 March 2015)
  vs Romania (4 September 2015)
  vs Northern Ireland (7 September 2015)
vs Faroe Islands (8 October 2015)
  Northern Ireland Jonny Evans   vs Azerbaijan (11 October 2013)[note 3] vs Hungary (7 September 2014)
Chris Baird     vs Hungary (7 September 2015) vs Greece (8 October 2015)
Kyle Lafferty   vs Greece (14 October 2014)
  vs Romania (14 November 2014)
  vs Hungary (7 September 2015)
vs Greece (8 October 2015)
Conor McLaughlin   vs Romania (14 November 2014)
  vs Faroe Islands (4 September 2015)
  vs Hungary (7 September 2015)
vs Greece (8 October 2015)
  Romania Ciprian Marica     vs Greece (7 September 2014) vs Hungary (11 October 2014)
Mihai Pintilii   vs Greece (7 September 2014)
  vs Northern Ireland (14 November 2014)
  vs Northern Ireland (13 June 2015)
vs Hungary (4 September 2015)
Alexandru Chipciu   vs Hungary (11 October 2014)
  vs Northern Ireland (14 November 2014)
  vs Hungary (4 September 2015)
vs Greece (7 September 2015)

Notes

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  1. ^ CET (UTC+1) for matches on 14 November 2014, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
  2. ^ Greece played their home match against Romania behind closed doors as they were punished for previous crowd disturbances.[5]
  3. ^ The suspension was carried over from the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.

References

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  1. ^ "UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifying Draw Procedure" (PDF). UEFA. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Spain face Ukraine return in EURO 2016 qualifying". UEFA.com. 23 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2014-16" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  4. ^ "Qualifying fixtures" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  5. ^ "Ranieri suffers defeat behind closed doors for Greece". Reuters. 7 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Romania-Hungary". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Northern Ireland-Faroe Islands". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Greece-Northern Ireland". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  9. ^ "Hungary-Finland". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  10. ^ "Faroe Islands-Greece". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Greece-Finland". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Hungary-Romania". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Finald-Faroe Islands". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Northern Ireland-Hungary". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Romania-Greece". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Hungary vs. Faroe Islands - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Northern Ireland vs. Greece - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Romania vs. Finland - 8 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Faroe Islands vs. Romania - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Finland vs. Northern Ireland - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Greece vs. Hungary - 11 October 2015 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
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