Qualification
Qualification for the tournament took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups and each played the others in their group, on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified automatically for the final tournament. The eight other runners-up played an additional set of playoff matches to determine the last four qualifiers. Belgium and the Netherlands automatically qualified for the tournament as co-hosts.
Read more about this topic: UEFA Euro 2000