UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group and the six best runners-up qualified automatically, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off at a neutral venue. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.

This was the first European Championship qualifying phase in which three points were awarded for each win, as opposed to the two points that had been awarded previously.

Seedings
The draw was made on 22 January 1994 in Manchester. Denmark were seeded first as title holders, while the remaining 46 teams were divided into six pots. Yugoslavia did not enter qualifying as they were suspended due to United Nations Security Council Resolution 757.

New teams that joined UEFA's qualification games after the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA): This was also the first UEFA Euro qualifying appearance for Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Lithuania.
 * New entrants
 * From the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
 * From the former Czechoslovakia: Czech Republic and Slovakia
 * From the former Yugoslavia: Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia
 * Liechtenstein

Initially Czech Republic were in Pool 2 and Wales in Pool 3. Slovakia were initially in Pool 4, before being replaced by Macedonia and put into Pool 5 in place of Luxembourg who were moved down to Pool 6.

Summary
{{legend|#BBF3BB|Group winners and the six best ranked runners-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 1996}} {{legend|#BBF3FF|The two worst runners-up advanced to the play-off}} {{legend||Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage}}

Tiebreakers
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tiebreakers were used to determine the final ranking:
 * 1) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
 * 2) Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
 * 3) Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
 * 4) Superior goal difference in all group matches;
 * 5) Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
 * 6) Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
 * 7) Fair play conduct in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).

Ranking of second-placed teams
The runners-up of each of the eight groups were ranked in a table to decide which seven of them would qualify. The best six runners-up would qualify automatically, while the two worst would compete in a play-off at a neutral venue to determine the final qualifier. As one group had five teams and the others had six, results against fifth and sixth placed teams were not factored in (despite the fact that discarding results against sixth placed teams would’ve been sufficient enough).

Play-off
The bottom two runners-up, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, took part in a play-off on a neutral ground, Anfield, to determine the last team to qualify for the final tournament.