Football tournament qualifying stage
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 .
^ a b Head-to-head points: Faroe Islands 6, Greece 0.
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).
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
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)
^ CET (UTC+1 ) for matches on 14 November 2014, and CEST (UTC+2 ) for all other matches.
^ Greece played their home match against Romania behind closed doors as they were punished for previous crowd disturbances.[ 5]
^ The suspension was carried over from the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification .