The qualifiers for the Euro 2012 officially kicked off yesterday. This will be the 14th time the UEFA European Football Championship will be held. Sixteen national teams will play 31 games for them to be crowned European champions.

But before the finals, each country's national team has to get through the qualifying rounds first. As explained by UEFA:

The 51 entrants were drawn into nine groups, six of six teams and three of five. Matches are played on a home-and-away basis between 3 September 2010 and 11 October 2011. The nine winners and the runner-up with the best record against the top five sides in their pool qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up enter the play-offs.

That being said, many teams have made a promising start, and in the same vein, some have a long way to go.

Germany was off to a great beginning with a victory over Belgium, thanks to the lone goal by veteran striker Miroslav Klose. The other group A match, saw Turkey's 3-0 victory against Kazakhstan.

In group B, Ireland beat Armenia, 1-0. Russia edges over Andorra with 2-0 and Slovakia beat Macedonia, also with a 1-0 victory.

Group C saw Estonia's early lead over Italy. However, Antonio Cassano and Leonardo Bonucci scored a goal each in the second half to hand Italy a 2-1 win over Estonia. Serbia also trashed the Faroe Islands, 3-0, while Northern Ireland slipped past Slovenia, 1-0.

Romania and Albania drew 1-1 on their opening group D match. Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg. France, perhaps still haunted by their dismal World Cup performance, suffered a 1-0 shock defeat by Belarus.

Group E finds Sweden with a 2-0 win over Hungary. Moldova won 2-0 over Finland. World Cup runners-up, the Netherlands began their Euro 2010 campaign with a 5-0 win over San Marino, thanks to a successful penalty kick from Dirk Kuyt, a hat trick from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and a late goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy who recently returned from retirement.

Greece and Georgia end their first match with a 1-1 draw, while Latvia suffers a 3-0 defeat from Croatia.

England seem eager to redeem themselves from their poor World Cup campaign with a 4-0 win over Bulgaria, courtesy of a hat trick from Jermain Defoe and goal from Adam Johnson. Their neighbors, Wales, lost their match 1-0 to Montenegro.

A Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo drew 4-4 in their qualifying group H match against Cyprus, while Norway is victorious over Iceland, 2-1.

Finally, group I sees the match between Lithuania and Scotland end in a goalless draw. On the other hand, fresh from their World Cup victory, Spain breeze over Liechtenstein 4-0, with a double from Fernando Torres, and a goal each from David Villa and David Silva.

The next batch of qualifying matches is scheduled for September 7.

Source:

UEFA.com