EURO 2016 qualifying draw: Armenia in Pot 4
Seedings are confirmed for the 23 February qualifying draw in Nice, with holders Spain in Pot 1 and Gibraltar involved for the first time as 53 teams eye 23 places in France, according to UEFA’s official website.
The sides aiming to join hosts France in the finals, including debutants Gibraltar, have been divided into seeding pots based on their UEFA national team coefficients (taking into account results from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2010–12 UEFA European Football Championship and 2014 World Cup qualifying). Five pots contain nine teams and the sixth comprises the eight bottom-ranked nations.
There are no restrictions on the draw other than seeding, though for political reasons the UEFA Executive Committee has ruled that Armenia cannot meet Azerbaijan, and Spain cannot play Gibraltar.
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the finals in France along with the third-placed side with the best record against the nations first, second, fourth and fifth in their pool. The remaining eight third-placed teams will play off in November 2015 for the remaining four berths.
Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pot 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland
Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus
Pot 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus
Pot 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar
The European Qualifiers will run from September 2014 to October 2015;