UEFA drop seedings for Euro 2004 play-offs

UEFA today decided there will be no seeding for the play-offs to qualify for the Euro 2004 finals.

UEFA today decided there will be no seeding for the play-offs to qualify for the Euro 2004 finals.

England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland could all be involved in the play-offs, depending on results, but if so it will be an open draw.

UEFA communications director Mike Lee said: "The UEFA executive committee decided unanimously to maintain the system of no seeding for the play-off draw procedure.

"The committee took the view that this procedure is the simplest and fairest for the play-offs."

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The decision was taken at a meeting of UEFA's executive committee in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The play-off draw will take place in Frankfurt on October 13th and the 10th qualifying group runners-up will be drawn from the same pot for the five play-off matches to take place in November.

The five winners of the play-offs, which will be played over two legs, will go through to the finals in Portugal next summer.

There was no seeding when England and Scotland were drawn against each other to qualify for the Euro 2000 finals and that policy has been maintained.

The UEFA executive committee, which includes Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson, will tomorrow decide on the draw procedure for the finals tournament itself.

Scottish Football Association chief executive David Taylor praised UEFA's decision.

The Scots will take part in the play-offs if they beat Lithuania at Hampden next month and Iceland fail to win in Germany.

"This is the right decision by UEFA, and shows that they have been guided by the principles of fair play," he said.

"Our own efforts, and the support of those who backed our stance in favour of an open draw, have paid off."