The UEFA second round was contested by the best eight runners-up from the nine first-round groups from the UEFA segment of the qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in football. The winners – Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal – of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup in Brazil. The matches, which are often referred to as 'play-offs', were held on 15 and 19 November 2013.
The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 21 October, with the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings used to decide which of the teams would be seeded.
Qualified teams
The eight best runners-up from the UEFA first round qualified for the play-offs; with one group having one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in each First Round group did not count for this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of ranking the runners-up (below table).
Ranking of second-placed teams
The eight best runners-up were determined by the following parameters in this order:
- Highest number of points
- Goal difference
- Highest number of goals scored
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G |  Greece
|
8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 19 | Advance to second round (play-offs) |
| 2 | I |  France
|
8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 17 | |
| 3 | F |  Portugal
|
8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 15 | |
| 4 | H |  Ukraine
|
8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 15 | |
| 5 | C |  Sweden
|
8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 14 | |
| 6 | E |  Iceland
|
8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 14 | |
| 7 | D |  Romania
|
8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 13 | |
| 8 | A |  Croatia
|
8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 11 | |
| 9 | B |  Denmark
|
8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 10 |
Seeding and draw
The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich on 21 October at 14:00 UTC+2, and was conducted by Gordon Savic, Head of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, with the assistance of former Switzerland international Alexander Frei. October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams would be seeded (shown below in brackets).
The following teams participated in the second round:
|
|
Matches
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal
|
4–2 | Sweden
|
1–0 | 3–2 |
| Ukraine
|
2–3 | France
|
2–0 | 0–3 |
| Greece
|
4–2 | Romania
|
3–1 | 1–1 |
| Iceland
|
0–2 | Croatia
|
0–0 | 0–2 |
| Portugal | 1–0 | Sweden |
|---|---|---|
Ronaldo  82' |
Report |
| Sweden | 2–3 | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Ibrahimović 68', 72' |
Report | Ronaldo 50', 77', 79' |
Portugal won 4–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
| Ukraine | 2–0 | France |
|---|---|---|
| Zozulya 62' Yarmolenko 82' (pen.) |
Report |
| France | 3–0 | Ukraine |
|---|---|---|
| Sakho 22', 72' Benzema 34' |
Report |
France won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
| Greece | 3–1 | Romania |
|---|---|---|
| Mitroglou 14', 67' Salpingidis 21' |
Report | Stancu 19' |
| Romania | 1–1 | Greece |
|---|---|---|
| Torosidis 55' (o.g.) |
Report | Mitroglou 23' |
Greece won 4–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
| Iceland | 0–0 | Croatia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Croatia | 2–0 | Iceland |
|---|---|---|
| Mandžukić 27' Srna 47' |
Report |
Croatia won 2–0 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Discipline
| Pos | Player | Country | 
|
|
Suspended for match(es) | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DF | Birkir Már Sævarsson | Iceland |
2 | 0 | vs Croatia (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| MF | Ognjen Vukojević | Croatia |
2 | 0 | vs Iceland (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| FW | Panagiotis Kone | Greece |
2 | 0 | vs Romania (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| MF | Ólafur Ingi Skúlason | Iceland |
0 | 1 | vs Croatia (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| FW | Mario Mandžukić | Croatia |
0 | 1 | vs Brazil (12 June 2014) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| MF | Costin Lazăr | Romania |
2 | 1 | vs Greece (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Laurent Koscielny | France |
0 | 1 | vs Ukraine (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Artem Fedetskyi | Ukraine |
2 | 0 | vs France (19 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Oleksandr Kucher | Ukraine |
2 | 1 | vs France (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
Goalscorers
There were 19 goals scored in 8 matches, for an average of 2.38 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
- Mario Mandžukić
- Darijo Srna
- Karim Benzema
- Dimitris Salpingidis
- Bogdan Stancu
- Andriy Yarmolenko
- Roman Zozulya
1 own goal
- Vasilis Torosidis (against Romania)
References
- ^ "Dates set for African and European qualifying draws". FIFA. 2013-06-15. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013.
- "FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 2014, football - table and standings". soccer365.me. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- "Watch the European play-off draw on FIFA.com". uefa.com. 18 October 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil – Preliminary Competition Format and Draw Procedures – European Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 21, 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
- "European hopefuls learn play-off fate". FIFA.com. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013.
- "World Cup 2014 play-offs draw – live!". Guardian UK. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- "World Cup play-off seeds confirmed". uefa.com. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- "European play-off draw procedures explained". FIFA.com. 17 October 2013. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013.
External links
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