With hosts Austria and Switzerland already occupying two of the berths at the finals of UEFA EURO 2008™, 14 places were up for grabs in the qualifying competition.

Simple plan
With the teams divided into seven groups, there was no need for play-offs, the top two in each section going straight into the finals. However, while the qualifying system was simple enough, very few sides were to find it plain sailing. Even European champions Greece, who amassed the highest points' total of 31, endured one of the most humiliating defeats in their history on their path to the Alpine nations.

Humiliating defeat
Having failed to make the FIFA World Cup in his native Germany, Otto Rehhagel was determined to make amends in the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers, but his side were left ashen-faced after a 4-1 home loss against Turkey in a memorable Group C game. "Although we got an early goal, we couldn't keep up with Turkey's tempo and they got better by the minute," said Rehhagel. "In the end, they earned a fair victory here."

England's shame
However, that was to be the only slip-up of Greece's campaign and it was Turkey who ended up facing a slightly desperate struggle for the runners-up slot in the section. They managed to get to the finals in the end, though, which is more than can be said for England, who managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after a battling performance from Israel gave them an unexpected last chance to snatch a qualifying place in Group E.

Russia revived
England looked to have recovered from early setbacks in the campaign – when they followed a 0-0 draw at home against F.Y.R. Macedonia with a 2-0 defeat in Croatia – as they trounced Russia 3-0 at Wembley. However, two second-half Roman Pavlyuchenko goals saw Russia avenge that defeat 2-1 in Moscow and left them needing only to win their remaining games against eliminated Israel and Andorra to progress.

Hiddink shocked
However, a late Omer Golan goal saw Israel beat Russia 2-1 in Tel-Aviv, handing the initiative back to Steve McClaren's England as they faced group winners Croatia in their final tie. A draw at Wembley would have been good enough for qualification, but in the event, they lost 3-2 in an error-strewn game, allowing Russia to march on with a nervy 1-0 win against Andorra. "I didn't believe it would end like that," said Russia coach Guus Hiddink, echoing the feelings of fans everywhere.

What a hoot
Other notable matches included the Denmark-Sweden tie which was abandoned with the scores level at 3-3 when a pitch invader attacked referee Herbert Fandel for dismissing a Denmark player and awarding the away side a penalty. Lars Lagerbäck's men were eventually awarded a 3-0 win. Meanwhile, an owl saw Finland's game against Belgium held up for several minutes as it swooped down into the Olympiastadion in Helsinki, briefly roosting on top of the crossbar before flying away.