UEFA Euro 2012 not improve; however, in the end, UEFA affirmed their selection. The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying competition took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010. Fifty-one teams entered to compete for the fourteen remaining places in the finals, alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine. The teams were divided into nine groups, with the draw using the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings. As defending champions, Spain was automatically top seeded. The qualifying process began in August 2010 and concluded in November 2011. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage
UEFA Euro 2012 Group C tournament. In their final match, the Republic of Ireland wore black armbands to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Loughinisland massacre. This was criticised by some unionists and members of the UVF. However, the victims' families fully supported the gesture. In the quarter-finals, <section begin=c1 /><section end=c1 /> <section begin=c2 /><section end=c2 /> <section begin=c3 /><section end=c3 /> <section begin=c4 /><section end=c4 /> <section begin=c5 /><section end=c5 /> <section begin=c6 /><section end=c6 /> UEFA Euro 2012 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2012 began on 10 June 2012 and ended on 18 June 2012. The pool consisted of Spain,