What Are The UEFA Euro Qualifiers Explained

The UEFA Euro Qualifiers are the competition national teams in Europe must go through to earn a spot in the UEFA European Championship (the Euros). In simple terms: these are the matches, groups, rules, and playoffs that decide which European teams make it into the final tournament.

In this article, BraeckBall will walk you through what the UEFA Euro Qualifiers involve today — who takes part, how the format works, what’s changed recently (especially for Euro 2028), and why these qualifiers matter so much for fans and players.

What is the purpose of the UEFA Euro Qualifiers

The qualifiers serve several key roles:

They decide which national teams will compete in the final tournament (the Euros), beyond any automatically qualified hosts.
They create competitive matchups across Europe, giving smaller nations chances to upset big ones, and offering consistent football over two years.
They link with other competitions (notably the UEFA Nations League) to add alternative routes for qualification and to reward teams for consistent performances.

How the format works now (for Euro 2024 & Euro 2028)

Euro 2024 qualification (recent example)

A total of 24 teams competed in the final tournament (including the host nation).
Germany, as host, gained automatic qualification.
The rest: teams were divided into 10 qualifying groups. The top two from each group (20 teams) qualified directly.
Then there were playoffs for remaining spots, and those play-offs were linked with the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League: teams that didn’t qualify directly but had good Nations League records got a second chance.

What’s new for Euro 2028

Euro 2028 introduces some changes that fans need to know, because hosts will behave differently than in past tournaments. Here’s how the qualifying format for Euro 2028 is set up:

Hosts: Co-hosts are England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Unlike many past tournaments, no host is guaranteed automatic qualification for Euro 2028. All four will take part in the qualifiers.
Group stage: National teams (up to 55 UEFA members) are divided into 12 groups, each with either 4 or 5 teams, playing home-and-away round-robin matches.
Direct qualification: The 12 group winners qualify automatically. Also, the 8 best runners-up across all groups will also qualify directly. That makes 20 teams directly in.
Hosts’ safety net: Two spots are reserved for co-host nations — but only if they fail to qualify either by winning their group or by being among the 8 best runners-up. So if any hosts are outside those slots, the best of them gets in.
Playoffs: The remaining spots (between 2 to 4) are decided through playoffs. The participants in playoffs will be:
Runners-up who didn’t qualify directly, and
Best-ranked non-qualified group winners from the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League.

The structure of the playoffs depends on how many of the host nations require reserved spots:

If both reserved host spots are used, eight teams compete in two playoff paths.
If only one reserved slot is used, there are three paths.
If no host slots are needed (i.e. all hosts qualify the normal way), playoffs might use home-and-away ties among eight teams.

Key rules & special cases

Here are some of the finer points — they often decide the drama.

Hosts drawn into separate groups: To ensure fairness, the co-hosts for Euro 2028 will not be placed in the same qualifying group.
Ranking of runners-up: To pick the 8 best runners-up, performance is compared across different groups. Because groups might have different numbers of teams (4 vs 5), sometimes matches against lowest-ranked teams are excluded for fairness.
Link with the Nations League: If teams do well in the Nations League but miss out in standard qualification, they can still get into playoffs.
Changes over time: UEFA has adjusted the format multiple times — how many groups, how big they are, who qualifies directly, how many playoff spots, etc. This keeps evolving. Euro 2028 rules are among the more recent.

Why the UEFA Euro Qualifiers matter so much

For national pride: Representing your country at the European Championship is a huge deal. Qualification can define eras for teams (e.g. breakout performances, reaching first major tournament, ousting heavyweights).
For players: Consistent exposure on the international stage builds reputation, leads to big club moves, and offers moments that define careers.
For smaller nations: The qualifiers are sometimes their best chance for upsets or building momentum. It levels the playing field through format tweaks and playoffs.
For fans: Drama, tension, heartbreak. A bad match can ruin qualification hopes. A sudden playoff victory can make history.

Comparison: What has changed from older formats

To understand the evolution:

In earlier tournaments, hosts often got automatic entry. For Euro 2028, that is mostly gone: hosts must earn their place through qualifiers, though with reserved safety nets.
The influence of the Nations League is more significant now. It’s no longer just friendlies; it gives teams alternative routes.
The number of groups and teams per group has varied over time; Euro 2028 uses 12 groups of 4-5 teams.
The number of playoff spots and the structure of playoffs are now carefully tied to how hosts perform, which adds uncertainty and tactical implications.

Related terms you should know

Group stage / Round-robin: Teams in a group play each other both home and away.
Runner-up: The team finishing 2nd in a group. Best runners-up are compared across groups.
Playoff (Play-offs / Play-offs paths): A mini-tournament or knockout tie(s) after group stages, giving teams a last chance to qualify.
Nations League: A separate UEFA competition, but performance here can affect qualification via play-offs.
Host / Co-host: Countries hosting tournament games; rules around automatic qualification vary.

What to expect for Euro 2028

Looking ahead, some points to watch:

Which of the four co-host nations might fail to qualify directly? Because two safety spots are reserved, that affects how many playoff spots are needed.
How competitive the “best runners-up” race becomes — teams in strong groups vs weaker groups have different challenges.
How the interplay with the Nations League shifts strategies: might teams prioritize Nations League matches more because of playoff routes.
How fans react to hosts not being automatically qualified — it adds tension and pressure.

Conclusion

What are the UEFA Euro Qualifiers? They are the structured competition through which European national teams earn their place in the European Championship., it’s the road every team must walk.

BraeckBall hopes you now understand how Euro Qualifiers work, especially the new rules for Euro 2028, what’s changing, and why it adds more drama than ever before. If you’re hungry for more, stay tuned for team-by-team analysis, latest qualification tables, and match-by-match breakdowns — because the qualifiers are not just stepping stones, they’re some of the richest stories in world football.