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UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates	7 October 1970 – 17 May 1972
Teams	32
Tournament statistics
Matches played	105
Goals scored	282 (2.69 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gerd Müller (7 goals)
	← 1968 1976 →

The qualifying round for the 1972 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through, to the final tournament.^[1]

Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^[A]
Belgium (host)	Quarter-final winner	13 May 1972	0 (debut)
Soviet Union	Quarter-final winner	13 May 1972	3 (1960, 1964, 1968)
West Germany	Quarter-final winner	13 May 1972	0 (debut)
Hungary	Quarter-final winner	17 May 1972	1 (1964)

^ Bold indicates champion for that year.

Summary

Group winners advanced to the quarter-finals (second round)

Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
Romania	Hungary	England	Soviet Union	Belgium	Italy	Yugoslavia	West Germany
Czechoslovakia Wales Finland	Bulgaria France Norway	Switzerland Greece Malta	Spain Northern Ireland Cyprus	Portugal Scotland Denmark	Austria Sweden Republic of Ireland	Netherlands East Germany Luxembourg	Poland Turkey Albania

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

Greater number of points in all group matches
Goal difference in all group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Drawing of lots

Groups

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	6	4	1	1	11	2	+9	9	Advance to quarter-finals	—	2–1	2–0	3–0
2	Czechoslovakia	6	4	1	1	11	4	+7	9		1–0	—	1–0	1–1
3	Wales	6	2	1	3	5	6	−1	5		0–0	1–3	—	3–0
4	Finland	6	0	1	5	1	16	−15	1		0–4	0–4	0–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary	6	4	1	1	12	5	+7	9	Advance to quarter-finals	—	2–0	1–1	4–0
2	Bulgaria	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	7		3–0	—	2–1	1–1
3	France	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	7		0–2	2–1	—	3–1
4	Norway	6	0	1	5	5	18	−13	1		1–3	1–4	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	6	5	1	0	15	3	+12	11	Advance to quarter-finals	—	1–1	3–0	5–0
2	Switzerland	6	4	1	1	12	5	+7	9		2–3	—	1–0	5–0
3	Greece	6	1	1	4	3	8	−5	3		0–2	0–1	—	2–0
4	Malta	6	0	1	5	2	16	−14	1		0–1	1–2	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	6	4	2	0	13	4	+9	10	Advance to quarter-finals	—	2–1	1–0	6–1
2	Spain	6	3	2	1	14	3	+11	8		0–0	—	3–0	7–0
3	Northern Ireland	6	2	2	2	10	6	+4	6		1–1	1–1	—	5–0
4	Cyprus	6	0	0	6	2	26	−24	0		1–3	0–2	0–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	6	4	1	1	11	3	+8	9	Advance to quarter-finals	—	3–0	3–0	2–0
2	Portugal	6	3	1	2	10	6	+4	7		1–1	—	2–0	5–0
3	Scotland	6	3	0	3	4	7	−3	6		1–0	2–1	—	1–0
4	Denmark	6	1	0	5	2	11	−9	2		1–2	0–1	1–0	—

Source: UEFA

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	6	4	2	0	12	4	+8	10	Advance to quarter-finals	—	2–2	3–0	3–0
2	Austria	6	3	1	2	14	6	+8	7		1–2	—	1–0	6–0
3	Sweden	6	2	2	2	3	5	−2	6		0–0	1–0	—	1–0
4	Republic of Ireland	6	0	1	5	3	17	−14	1		1–2	1–4	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Yugoslavia	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	9	Advance to quarter-finals	—	2–0	0–0	0–0
2	Netherlands	6	3	1	2	18	6	+12	7		1–1	—	3–2	6–0
3	East Germany	6	3	1	2	11	6	+5	7		1–2	1–0	—	2–1
4	Luxembourg	6	0	1	5	1	23	−22	1		0–2	0–8	0–5	—

Source: UEFA

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	West Germany	6	4	2	0	10	2	+8	10	Advance to quarter-finals	—	0–0	1–1	2–0
2	Poland	6	2	2	2	10	6	+4	6		1–3	—	5–1	3–0
3	Turkey	6	2	1	3	5	13	−8	5		0–3	1–0	—	2–1
4	Albania	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	3		0–1	1–1	3–0	—