The UEFA second round was contested by the best eight runners-up from the nine first-round groups from the UEFA segment of the qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in football. The winners – Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal – of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup in Brazil. The matches, which are often referred to as 'play-offs', were held on 15 and 19 November 2013.
The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 21 October,[1] with the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings used to decide which of the teams would be seeded.[1]
Qualified teams
The eight best runners-up from the UEFA first round qualified for the play-offs; with one group having one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in each First Round group did not count for this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of ranking the runners-up (below table).
Ranking of second-placed teams
The eight best runners-up were determined by the following parameters in this order:
- Highest number of points
- Goal difference
- Highest number of goals scored
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G |  Greece | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 19 | Advance to second round (play-offs) |
| 2 | I |  France | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 17 | |
| 3 | F |  Portugal | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 15 | |
| 4 | H |  Ukraine | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 15 | |
| 5 | C |  Sweden | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 14 | |
| 6 | E |  Iceland | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 14 | |
| 7 | D |  Romania | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 13 | |
| 8 | A |  Croatia | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 11 | |
| 9 | B |  Denmark | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 10 |
Seeding and draw
The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich on 21 October at 14:00 UTC+2, and was conducted by Gordon Savic, Head of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, with the assistance of former Switzerland international Alexander Frei.[3][4] October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams would be seeded (shown below in brackets).[1][5][6]
The following teams participated in the second round:[7][8]
|
|
Matches
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 4–2 | Sweden | 1–0 | 3–2 |
| Ukraine | 2–3 | France | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Greece | 4–2 | Romania | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Iceland | 0–2 | Croatia | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Sweden | 2–3 | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
Ibrahimović  68', 72' | Report | Ronaldo 50', 77', 79' |
Portugal won 4–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
France won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Greece won 4–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Croatia won 2–0 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Discipline
| Pos | Player | Country |  |  | Suspended for match(es) | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DF | Birkir Már Sævarsson | Iceland | 2 | 0 | vs Croatia (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| MF | Ognjen Vukojević | Croatia | 2 | 0 | vs Iceland (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| FW | Panagiotis Kone | Greece | 2 | 0 | vs Romania (15 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches |
| MF | Ólafur Ingi Skúlason | Iceland | 0 | 1 | vs Croatia (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| FW | Mario Mandžukić | Croatia | 0 | 1 | vs Brazil (12 June 2014) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| MF | Costin Lazăr | Romania | 2 | 1 | vs Greece (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Laurent Koscielny | France | 0 | 1 | vs Ukraine (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Artem Fedetskyi | Ukraine | 2 | 0 | vs France (19 November 2013) | Booked in two 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
| DF | Oleksandr Kucher | Ukraine | 2 | 1 | vs France (19 November 2013) | Sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match |
Goalscorers
There were 19 goals scored in 8 matches, for an average of 2.38 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
Vasilis Torosidis (against Romania)