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 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, Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia. Spain and Italy progressed to the quarter-finals, while Croatia and Republic of Ireland were eliminated from the tournament. Republic of Ireland equalled the worst performance by a team in the group stage of the European Championships, finishing with no points and a goal difference of −8. Both Spain and Italy made it through the quarter-finals and semi-finals to reach the final for a second meeting in the