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UEFA has confirmed and announced the system and regulations of the qualifications for the 2016 European Football Championship (EURO 2016).
EURO 2016 will be the first European Championship with 24 teams participating in the final stage. France will host one of them, while the other 23 spots will be contested by the national teams of 53 countries, including representatives from Gibraltar for the first time.
On February 23rd, the teams will be drawn into 9 groups for the qualification tournament. Eight groups will consist of 6 teams each, and one group will have 5 teams. The draw pots will be announced at the end of January after a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee.
Two first-place teams from each group and the best third-place team will advance directly to the final stage of the UEFA EURO 2016. The remaining 8 third-place teams will compete in play-off matches.
This is not the only change in the qualification matches for the UEFA EURO 2016 championship. According to the "Football Weeks" concept, matches will be played from Thursday to Tuesday at fixed times. If national teams play two matches in a week, they will take place on Thursday/Sunday, Friday/Monday, or Saturday/Tuesday.
Dates of the 2016 European Championship qualification matches:
Matchday 1: September 7-9, 2014
Matchday 2: October 9-11, 2014
Matchday 3: October 12-14, 2014
Matchday 4: November 14-16, 2014
Matchday 5: March 27-29, 2015
Matchday 6: June 12-14, 2015
Matchday 7: September 3-5, 2015
Matchday 8: September 6-8, 2015
Matchday 9: October 8-10, 2015
Matchday 10: October 11-13, 2015
Play-off matches:
First leg: November 12-14, 2015
Second leg: November 15-17, 2015
