Viewing Thread:
"Euro 2008 Seedings"

Pot 1
Greece
Netherlands
Portugal
England
Czech Republic
France
Sweden

Pot 2
Germany
Croatia
Italy
Turkey
Poland
Spain
Romania

Pot 3
Serbia & Montenegro
Russia
Denmark
Norway
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Slovakia

Pot 4
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Republic of Ireland
Belgium
Latvia
Israel
Scotland
Slovenia

Pot 5
Hungary
Finland
Estonia
Wales
Lithuania
Albania
Iceland

Pot 6
Georgia
FYR Macedonia
Belarus
Armenia
Northern Ireland
Cyprus
Moldova

Pot 7
Liechtenstein
Azerbaijan
Andorra
Malta
Faroe Islands
Kazakhstan
Luxembourg
San Marino


Six groups of 7 and one group of 8, with the team in Pot 7 left over after the draw then put into a group as the 8th seed.


Some interesting stuff in there, with Republic of Ireland as low down as 4th seed, which is equal to Scotland.

Greece are also a first seed due to Euro 2004, completely ignoring the fact that they bombed it in the World Cup 2006 qualifiers and finished 4th in their group.

Possibly some really difficult groups as well, but if someone like Scotland can get Greece and Poland/Turkey as the first two seeds, we could do pretty well. The easiest possible option for England would probably involve them drawing Poland again.

Or a knock-out stage at 32 teams (unseeded), then at 16 go into groups.

Though once KO starts, you don't really want to go back into groups.

just make it the same as the world cup so you have a extra round before the 1/4 final.

How much bigger?

If it was made bigger, it would probably need a completely different format, like something daft like the UEFA cup group stages.

Right, so there are 16 places? (TWO wasted on the hosts which seems unfair.

Does anyone else feel the teams in Europe are getting TOO good, Scotland won't stand a chance getting in first/second and then if you get there you'll be in a group of three top teams. Maybe they should make the comp slightly bigger now.

I'd like to get England as top seed actually. Then Poland and Norway again.

Italy are still a class act. Lippi just needs to stop playing Vieri who is clearly past it now. I'd like Toni and Gilardino to be playing up front regulary with Totti feeding them.

Hmm, not sure about top 10 in the world, but definitely top 10 in Europe.

You've got to remember the FIFA rankings are just daft, and they make far more sense if you split them into confederations.

like Europe top 10 would be
Netherlands
Czech Republic
France
Spain
Portugal
Sweden
England
Turkey
Italy
Denmark

Okay, ten years ago they were 35th. Obviously 10 years was further away that I thought. ;o)

And they've been out of the top ten a few times.

They were 4th by September 96.
14th Sep 97
6th Sep 98
2nd Sep 99
4th Sep 2000
14th Sep 01
17th Sep 02
9th Sep 03
5th Sep 04
4th Sep 05

Czech Republic have also been riding high in the FIFA rankings for years, and were unfortunate not to qualify for the 2002 World Cup losing out in the playoffs to Belgium, much to the shock of all. Made the final of Euro 96, sucked in 98 qualifying, Euro 2000 they got to, but ended up in a group with Holland and France as well as Denmark.

I don't know what the lowest ranking position they've held in the last 10 years is, but I'd be surprised if they'd spent long outside the top 10.

Blank wrote:
> By getting two draws?

Yes. To me that's comfortably dealing with one of the biggest names in European football. Maybe a win at home would have given me more right to say this, but I still think that any team in the world would take a draw away to Spain.

The fact of the matter is, they won the group, undefeated, conceeding only one goal throughout the campaign, yet Spain are still ranked higher than them, despite being decidedly average for the majority of the campaign. A 90th minute equaliser to rescue a result at home to Bosnia is not good. Especially for Spain.

AfroJoe wrote:
> Czech Republic and Sweden are definitely better than Italy or Spain.
> Even if they're not on paper (which I actually think the Czechs are),
> they've got more chance of ever doing anything at the World Cup

--

You've got a case for Sweden, but the Czechs are just so clearly better than Italy or Spain no-one should really be arguing with you. People will obviously point to Nedved's retirement as why the Czechs are doomed!!!!but when you've got Rosicky ready-made to fill the gap I wouldn't really worry. Strikers like Jun, Koller and Milan are awesome and playing Baros off Koller/Jun seems to work well. They've got a quality defensive midfielder in Galasek, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Serie A proven defenders like Ujfalusi and Jankulovski, and an experienced leader in Karel Poborsky. I don't see anyone but maybe two teams being able to outplay them.