The UEFA European Championship qualifying, branded as the European Qualifiers, is the process that UEFA-affiliated national football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship. In this article, the years represent the final tournaments of the European Championship, and are not meant to correspond to the actual dates when the qualification matches were played. Format evolution Resume The 1960 and 1964 qualifications were knock-out tournaments. The four quarter-final-winning teams qualified for the final stages, and one of them was chosen to host the competition. From 1968 onwards, a group stage began to be used as the main, or sole, component of qualification. In 1968, 1972 and 1976, the winners of the eight groups advanced to a quarter-final stage, which was still part of the qualifying. The four quarter-final winners progressed to the finals. Again, the host nation was selected among the four finalists. From 1980, the hosting rights would be assigned in advance, and the host teams would be guaranteed automatic qualification. The format of the finals was expanded to feature 8 teams. Winners of qualifying groups now proceeded to the finals directly. The 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 qualifications included seven groups, the winners of which would join the hosts in the finals, although in 1992 one winner was eventually banned from appearing and was replaced by the runner-up of its group. From 1996, a 16-team format was employed for the main tournament. Runners-up in qualifying groups now could also gain access to the finals. Play-off pairings were introduced as a second opportunity for teams that narrowly miss out direct qualification. The 1996 qualifying consisted of eight groups; the group winners as well as the six best runners-up qualified, and so did the winner of the play-off between the remaining two runners-up, joining the host country. In 2000, the first-placed teams in the nine qualifying groups as well as the best runner-up progressed directly to the finals, while another four spots were taken by winners of play-offs contested by the remaining runners-up. For the first time there were two host countries; they both received automatic berths in the finals. In 2004, along with the host team, the ten qualifying group winners advanced, as did the winners of the five play-off ties formed by the runners-up. In 2008, the top two teams from each of the seven qualifying groups joined the two host teams to bring