Qualifying will be hard fought as every team will be desperate to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2012 Finals. There are nine groups in total. The nine group winners will qualify for the tournament along with the best runner-up. The remaining 8 runners-up will be drawn into two-legged play-offs.Â
One of the main groups of interest in Group G which contains England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. As the seeded team, England will be favourites to finish top of the group. That said, they failed to qualify for the last tournament.Â
The main competition will come from Switzerland and Bulgaria. Switzerland have appeared in three of the last four finals but failed to reach the knock out stages. Along with Austria, they were co-hosts of the last tournament. There is nothing special about them but they are a solid team. Â
Bulgaria have only qualified for the tournament twice, the last of which was in 2004. They have never made it to the knock out rounds. They used to be a regular at the World Cup attending every one from 1962 to 1974 and then in 1986 and 1994 where it finished fourth. It hasn’t been back since 1998.Â
Its big name players are Stiliyan Petrov who plays for Aston Villa and Dimitar Berbatov who plays for Manchester United. Â
Wales only previous experience with this tournament was in 1976 and that was when it using a completely different format. The eight group winners of which Wales was one were drawn into two-legged playoffs and those winners went through to the finals which were in Yugoslavia. That was who beat Wales in the playoffs. This was the last time Wales appeared in the finals of a major tournament.Â
Montenegro is only three years old. It used to be part of Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro. They will struggle to do well in the Euro 2012 Group G.
