Italy and France face the unprecedented prospect of a penalty shoot-out to determine who finishes third in Group C if the two sides crash out tonight.
World champions Italy and France face each other in the final Group C match with both almost certainly needing a win if they are to make the last eight.
But if Romania beat the Netherlands, ending the pair's progress hopes, a draw would not separate the teams in the standings. Therefore, a shoot-out would be played even though both sides would be out.
It would be the first time in tournament history two teams who have been eliminated from a competition would have to play out a penalty shoot-out for the purposes of determining future co-efficient points.
The co-efficient can affect a team's seeding for future international tournaments.
However, it is just one potential scenario in a whole host of permutations from the final round of matches in Group C...
> The Netherlands have won Group C and will play the Group D runners-up in the third quarter-final on Saturday. The runners-up from Group C will play in Sunday's final quarter-final tie against Spain.
ROMANIA QUALIFY IF...
> they beat the Netherlands.
> they draw against the Netherlands AND the France-Italy game ends in a draw too.
> they are defeated by 2 goals or less (1-0 or 2-0) AND the France-Italy game ends 0-0. Romania would have a superior goal difference in all group matches.
> they are defeated by a 3-goal margin from a score of 4-1 and above (4-1, 5-2, 6-3 etc) AND the France-Italy game ends 0-0. Romania would have a superior goals for record in all group matches.
ITALY QUALIFY IF...
> they beat France AND Romania fail to win against the Netherlands.
> they score draw against France (1-1, 2-2, 3-3 etc) AND Romania lose against the Netherlands. Italy would have a superior goals for record in matches against France and Romania.
> they draw 0-0 against France AND Netherlands beat Romania 3-0 or higher (3-0, 4-0, 5-0 etc) or by a 4-goal margin (5-1, 6-2, 7-3 etc). Italy would have a superior FIFA/UEFA coefficient points record from qualifying matches for World Cup 2006 and Euro 2008.
FRANCE QUALIFY IF...
> they beat Italy AND Romania fail to win against the Netherlands.
IF ROMANIA QUALIFY & FRANCE-ITALY ENDS IN A DRAW...
> France and Italy will have identical records in the stadnings and an unprecedented penalty shoot-out will be needed to decide who finishes third and fourth for future seedings.
[Euro 2008 Group C] - [Fra v Ita] - [Ned v Rom] - [Permutations]
Source: BBC
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