| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7 October 1970 – 17 May 1972 |
| Teams | 32 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 105 |
| Goals scored | 282 (2.69 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Gerd Müller (7 goals) |
← 1968 1976 → | |
| UEFA European Qualifiers |
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The qualifying round for the 1972 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through, to the final tournament.[1]
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament[A] |
|---|---|---|---|
 Belgium (host) |
Quarter-final winner | 13 May 1972 | 0 (debut) |
 Soviet Union |
Quarter-final winner | 13 May 1972 | 3 (1960, 1964, 1968) |
| West Germany |
Quarter-final winner | 13 May 1972 | 0 (debut) |
 Hungary |
Quarter-final winner | 17 May 1972 | 1 (1964) |
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:
| Pos | Team
|
Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 9 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 9 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | Wales
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6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 5 | 0–0 | 1–3 | — | 3–0 | ||
| 4 | Finland
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6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 16 | −15 | 1 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 0–1 | — |
| Pos | Team
|
Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hungary
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 9 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Bulgaria
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 7 | 3–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | France
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 7 | 0–2 | 2–1 | — | 3–1 | ||
| 4 | Norway
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6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 18 | −13 | 1 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–3 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England
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6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 11 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 1–1 | 3–0 | 5–0 | |
| 2 | Switzerland
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 9 | 2–3 | — | 1–0 | 5–0 | ||
| 3 | Greece
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6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Malta
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6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 16 | −14 | 1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union
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6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 10 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 6–1 | |
| 2 | Spain
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6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 8 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 7–0 | ||
| 3 | Northern Ireland
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6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 6 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 5–0 | ||
| 4 | Cyprus
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6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 26 | −24 | 0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–3 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium
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6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Portugal
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 7 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 5–0 | ||
| 3 | Scotland
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6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 6 | 1–0 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Denmark
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6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy
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6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 10 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 2–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Austria
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 7 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 6–0 | ||
| 3 | Sweden
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6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 6 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Republic of Ireland
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6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
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| 1 | Yugoslavia
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6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| 2 | Netherlands
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 7 | 1–1 | — | 3–2 | 6–0 | ||
| 3 | East Germany
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6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 7 | 1–2 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Luxembourg
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6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 23 | −22 | 1 | 0–2 | 0–8 | 0–5 | — |
| Pos | Team
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Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Germany
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6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 10 | Advance to quarter-finals | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Poland
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6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 6 | 1–3 | — | 5–1 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Turkey
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6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 5 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Albania
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6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | — |
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Replay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy
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1–2 | Belgium
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0–0 | 1–2 | |
| Hungary
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5–4 | Romania
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1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| England
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1–3 | West Germany
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1–3 | 0–0 | |
| Yugoslavia
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0–3 | Soviet Union
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0–0 | 0–3 |
There were 282 goals scored in 105 matches, for an average of 2.69 goals per match.
7 goals
5 goals
Martin Chivers Johan Cruyff Piet Keizer4 goals
Johan Devrindt Ján Čapkovič Ferenc Bene George Best Włodzimierz Lubański Viktor Kolotov Pirri3 goals
Raoul Lambert Paul Van Himst Hristo Bonev Eberhard Vogel Geoff Hurst Francis Lee Lajos Kocsis Roberto Boninsegna Giancarlo De Sisti Pierino Prati Luigi Riva Jimmy Nicholson Robert Gadocha John O'Hare Gennady Yevryuzhikhin Fritz Künzli Dragan Džajić2 goals
Petar Zhekov František Karkó Bernard Blanchet Georges Lech Charly Loubet István Szőke Barry Hulshoff Rinus Israël Derek Dougan Odd Iversen Vítor Baptista Eusébio Rui Rodrigues Emerich Dembrovschi Nicolae Dobrin Florea Dumitrache Mircea Lucescu Nicolae Lupescu Alexandru Neagu Anatoliy Banishevskiy Vladimir Fedotov Vitaly Shevchenko Quino Carles Rexach José Francisco Rojo Kurt Müller Karl Odermatt René-Pierre Quentin Cemil Turan John Toshack Jürgen Grabowski Günter Netzer Josip Bukal1 goal
Medin Zhega Astrit Ziu Karl Kodat Hans Pirkner Robert Sara Hans Schmidradner August Starek Josef Stering André De Nul Wilfried Van Moer Tsvetan Atanasov Bozhil Kolev Atanas Mihaylov Petko Petkov Mladen Vasilev Stefan Velichkov Nikos Charalambous Stefanis Michael Milan Albrecht Ladislav Kuna Jaroslav Pollák Vladimír Táborský František Veselý Kresten Bjerre Finn Laudrup Peter Ducke Henning Frenzel Wolfram Löwe Allan Clarke Chris Lawler Martin Peters Mike Summerbee Matti Paatelainen Louis Floch Michel Mézy Hervé Revelli Jacques Vergnes Kostas Aidiniou Kostas Davourlis Michalis Kritikopoulos László Branikovits Antal Dunai Péter Juhász László Nagy Lajos Szűcs Csaba Vidáts Sandro Mazzola Gilbert Dussier Eddie Theobald Willie Vassallo Oeki Hoekema Willi Lippens Theo Pahlplatz Wim Suurbier [[Sammy Morgan (footballer)|]] Ola Dybwad-Olsen Tor Fuglset Olav Nilsen Jan Banaś Bronisław Bula Zygfryd Szołtysik Jacinto João Fernando Peres Tommy Carroll Jimmy Conway Eamonn Rogers Anghel Iordănescu Radu Nunweiller Lajos Sătmăreanu Archie Gemmill Anatoliy Byshovets Eduard Kozynkevych Vladimir Muntyan Francisco Aguilar Luis Aragonés Enrique Lora José Luis Violeta Dan Brzokoupil Jan Olsson Tom Turesson Rolf Blättler Roland Citherlet Daniel Jeandupeux Metin Kurt Kamuran Yavuz Nihat Yayöz Ron Davies Alan Durban Gil Reece Uli Hoeneß Horst Köppel Zoran Filipović Jurica Jerković1 own goal
Erik Sandvad (against Portugal) Jacky Novi (against Hungary) Geir Karlsen (against Hungary) Tony Dunne (against Austria) Ronnie McKinnon (against Belgium) Pat Stanton (against Portugal) Anton Weibel (against England)
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