How We Stack Up

[Marky]

Call me a sad man but it was pishing down at lunchtime today and I needed something to do.

All this chat since the weekend about qualification (or lack of) and how we stack up against other teams in Europe got me thinking.

I wanted to look a qualification records basically since there was a tournament every 2 years. That means we can go back to 1966. Quite convenient really as I suppose 1966 onwards is what could perhaps be described as the modern era of football.

Things to remember:-

These figures include when teams have “qualified” as host or holders.

From 1968 to 1976 inclusive the Euros only consisted of 4 teams and between 1980-1992 only 8 teams.

There have been 26 tournaments in this time, but not all countries have participated in all of them. The figures in brackets after the percentages reflect the number of successful qualifications out of the number of attempts.

(West) Germany – 96.15% (25/26)

Italy – 84.62% (22/26)

Croatia – 81.82% (9/11)

Spain – 76.92% (20/26)

USSR/Russia – 73.08% (19/26)

England – 73.08% (19/26)

Holland – 65.38% (17/26)

France – 61.54% (16/26)

Czech Rep – 54.55% (6/11)

Portugal – 53.85% (14/26)

Belguim – 50.00% (13/26)

Sweden – 50.00% (13/26)

Yugoslavia – 44.44% (8/18)

Denmark – 42.31% (11/26)

Switzerland – 34.62% (9/26)

Romania – 34.62% (9/26)

Poland – 34.62% (9/26)

Czechoslovakia – 33.33% (5/15)

Scotland – 30.77% (8/26)

Bulgaria – 30.77% (8/26)

Greece – 26.92% (7/26)

Slovenia – 25% (3/12)

Serbia – 25% (2/8)

Austria – 23.08% (6/26)

Hungary – 19.23% (5/26)

Rep. of Ire – 19.23% (5/26)

Slovakia – 18.18% (2/11)

Ukraine – 16.67% (2/12)

Turkey – 15.38% (4/26)

Norn. Irn. – 11.54% (3/26)

Norway – 11.54% (3/26)

Latvia – 8.33% (1/12)

Iceland – 3.85% (1/26)

Wales – 3.85% (1/26)

Albania – 3.85% (1/26)

By my reckoning (unless I’m forgetting anyone) this means that the only countries with any significant political history, who have participated in the events for the durantion, never to have qualified are Finland, Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

[Marky]

Sorry should also have said that for 2016 I have only included the teams that have definitely qualified so far.

[Jacques Hunt]

If you want to be made even sadder, we have only ever won a total of 4 games in WC finals tournaments. Zaire, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden. I think it is two in EURO finals but cannot be bothered googling it. No doubt someone will let me know. CIS and Switzerland I think.

Onward and upward - in Gord we trust.

[sjd1972]

Israel became part of UEFA in the early 90's and haven't qualified for anything yet.

[Jacques Hunt]

Israel became part of UEFA in the early 90's and haven't qualified for anything yet.

Good

[dandydunn]

If you want to be made even sadder, we have only ever won a total of 4 games in WC finals tournaments. Zaire, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden. I think it is two in EURO finals but cannot be bothered googling it. No doubt someone will let me know. CIS and Switzerland I think.

Onward and upward - in Gord we trust.

We beat the Netherlands in 1978 wc.

[Jacques Hunt]

We beat the Netherlands in 1978 wc.

They must have changed their name from Holland to The Netherlands by then, eh?

[radian_13]

We beat the Netherlands in 1978 wc.

Haha what a numpty?!!!

[Bennyal]

That's really scary, only 4 wins in the history of the World Cup, that's madness

[GHfaeGTA]

Call me a sad man but it was pishing down at lunchtime today and I needed something to do.

All this chat since the weekend about qualification (or lack of) and how we stack up against other teams in Europe got me thinking.

I wanted to look a qualification records basically since there was a tournament every 2 years. That means we can go back to 1966. Quite convenient really as I suppose 1966 onwards is what could perhaps be described as the modern era of football.

Things to remember:-

These figures include when teams have qualified as host or holders.

From 1968 to 1976 inclusive the Euros only consisted of 4 teams and between 1980-1992 only 8 teams.

There have been 26 tournaments in this time, but not all countries have participated in all of them. The figures in brackets after the percentages reflect the number of successful qualifications out of the number of attempts.

(West) Germany 96.15% (25/26)

Italy 84.62% (22/26)

Croatia 81.82% (9/11)

Spain 76.92% (20/26)

USSR/Russia 73.08% (19/26)

England 73.08% (19/26)

Holland 65.38% (17/26)

France 61.54% (16/26)

Czech Rep 54.55% (6/11)

Portugal 53.85% (14/26)

Belguim 50.00% (13/26)

Sweden 50.00% (13/26)

Yugoslavia 44.44% (8/18)

Denmark 42.31% (11/26)

Switzerland 34.62% (9/26)

Romania 34.62% (9/26)

Poland 34.62% (9/26)

Czechoslovakia 33.33% (5/15)

Scotland 30.77% (8/26)

Bulgaria 30.77% (8/26)

Greece 26.92% (7/26)

Slovenia 25% (3/12)

Serbia 25% (2/8)

Austria 23.08% (6/26)

Hungary 19.23% (5/26)

Rep. of Ire 19.23% (5/26)

Slovakia 18.18% (2/11)

Ukraine 16.67% (2/12)

Turkey 15.38% (4/26)

Norn. Irn. 11.54% (3/26)

Norway 11.54% (3/26)

Latvia 8.33% (1/12)

Iceland 3.85% (1/26)

Wales 3.85% (1/26)

Albania 3.85% (1/26)

By my reckoning (unless Im forgetting anyone) this means that the only countries with any significant political history, who have participated in the events for the durantion, never to have qualified are Finland, Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

Good effort Marky It must have been pishing down for ages which I guess is standard for Jersey. If you were looking for something better to do, you should have come to Guernsey where the sun was beating down as always ?

[dandydunn]

They must have changed their name from Holland to The Netherlands by then, eh?

9 minutes eh.

Nae bad at all

[Haggis_trap]

Interesting read.

We are probably on a par with Greece or Bulgaria.
The depressing thing about that list is that many of teams around us have had a moment of glory at a major tournament

Greece, Bulgaria, Czechs, CH, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey <etc>

All been in the second round or later stages of a Euros or World Cup.

[Marky]

If you want to be made even sadder, we have only ever won a total of 4 games in WC finals tournaments. Zaire, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden. I think it is two in EURO finals but cannot be bothered googling it. No doubt someone will let me know. CIS and Switzerland I think.

Onward and upward - in Gord we trust.

Depends how you look at these these things. You could also say that out of all 8 tournaments the only time we failed to register a win that could be called unacceptable was France 98. the only other tournament we failed to register a win was Mexico 86 when we were in the so called group of death. We lost by the odd goal to both West Germany and that fantastic Danish team. We should have beaten Uruguay when they only had 10 men but just couldn't score. Every other tournament managed a win.

In true Scotland style, the wins didn't always come against the teams we thought they would.

I'd say 1978 is the only tournament out of all 8 where id say we seriously underperformed.

[Marky]

Good effort Marky It must have been pishing down for ages which I guess is standard for Jersey. If you were looking for something better to do, you should have come to Guernsey where the sun was beating down as always ?[/quote

Couldn't arrange the injections at such short notice Grant.

[Jagtag]

Israel became part of UEFA in the early 90's and haven't qualified for anything yet.

We played them in the 82 qualifiers.