2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group E

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group E was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, and Kazakhstan.

The draw for the first round (group stage) was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.^[1][2]

The group winners, Poland, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Denmark, advanced to the play-offs as one of the best eight runners-up.

Standings

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers

In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[3] Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss) Overall goal difference Overall goals scored Points in matches between tied teams Goal difference in matches between tied teams Goals scored in matches between tied teams Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format) Fair play points first yellow card: minus 1 point indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points direct red card: minus 4 points yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland	10	8	1	1	28	14	+14	25	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	3–2	4–2	3–1	2–1	3–0
2	Denmark	10	6	2	2	20	8	+12	20	Advance to second round		4–0	—	0–1	1–1	1–0	4–1
3	Montenegro	10	5	1	4	20	12	+8	16			1–2	0–1	—	1–0	4–1	5–0
4	Romania	10	3	4	3	12	10	+2	13			0–3	0–0	1–1	—	1–0	3–1
5	Armenia	10	2	1	7	10	26	−16	7			1–6	1–4	3–2	0–5	—	2–0
6	Kazakhstan	10	0	3	7	6	26	−20	3			2–2	1–3	0–3	0–0	1–1	—

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Matches

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day following the draw.^[1][4] Times are CET/CEST,^{[note 1]} as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).^[5]

Denmark	1–0	Armenia
Eriksen 17'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

4 September 2016 (2016-09-04)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Attendance: 21,745

Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)

Kazakhstan	2–2	Poland
Khizhnichenko 51', 58'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Kapustka 9' Lewandowski 35' (pen.)

4 September 2016 (2016-09-04)

18:00
(22:00 UTC+6)

Astana Arena, Astana

Attendance: 19,905

Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands)

Romania	1–1	Montenegro
Popa 85'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Jovetić 87'

4 September 2016 (2016-09-04)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Cluj Arena, Cluj-Napoca

Attendance: 25,468

Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

---

Armenia	0–5	Romania
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Stancu 4' (pen.) Popa 10' Marin 12' Stanciu 29' Chipciu 60'

8 October 2016 (2016-10-08)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan

Attendance: 5,500

Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (Russia)

Montenegro	5–0	Kazakhstan
Tomašević 24' Vukčević 59' Jovetić 64' Bećiraj 73' Savić 78'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

8 October 2016 (2016-10-08)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

City Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 8,517

Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (Austria)

Poland	3–2	Denmark
Lewandowski 20', 36' (pen.), 48'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Glik 49' (o.g.) Poulsen 69'

8 October 2016 (2016-10-08)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 56,811

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

---

Kazakhstan	0–0	Romania
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

11 October 2016 (2016-10-11)

18:00
(22:00 UTC+6)

Astana Arena, Astana

Attendance: 12,346

Referee: Jorge Sousa (Portugal)

Denmark	0–1	Montenegro
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Bećiraj 32'

11 October 2016 (2016-10-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Attendance: 20,852

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)

Poland	2–1	Armenia
Mkoyan 48' (o.g.) Lewandowski 90+5'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Pizzelli 50'

11 October 2016 (2016-10-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 44,786

Referee: Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia)

---

Armenia	3–2	Montenegro
A. Grigoryan 50' Haroyan 74' Ghazaryan 90+3'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Kojašević 36' Jovetić 38'

11 November 2016 (2016-11-11)

18:00
(21:00 UTC+4)

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan

Attendance: 3,500

Referee: Pavel Královec (Czech Republic)

Denmark	4–1	Kazakhstan
Cornelius 15' Eriksen 36' (pen.), 90+2' Ankersen 78'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Suyumbayev 17'

11 November 2016 (2016-11-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Attendance: 18,901

Referee: Alon Yefet (Israel)

Romania	0–3	Poland
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Grosicki 11' Lewandowski 83', 90+1' (pen.)

11 November 2016 (2016-11-11)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+2)

Arena Națională, Bucharest

Attendance: 48,531

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

---

Armenia	2–0	Kazakhstan
Mkhitaryan 73' Özbiliz 75'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

26 March 2017 (2017-03-26)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan

Attendance: 11,500

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (Macedonia)

Montenegro	1–2	Poland
Mugoša 63'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Lewandowski 40' Piszczek 82'

26 March 2017 (2017-03-26)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

City Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 10,439

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Romania	0–0	Denmark
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

26 March 2017 (2017-03-26)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Cluj Arena, Cluj-Napoca^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 26,895

Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

---

Kazakhstan	1–3	Denmark
Kuat 76'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	N. Jørgensen 27' Eriksen 51' (pen.) Dolberg 81'

10 June 2017 (2017-06-10)

18:00
(22:00 UTC+6)

Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty

Attendance: 19,065

Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (Russia)

Montenegro	4–1	Armenia
Bećiraj 2' Jovetić 28', 54', 82'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Koryan 89'

10 June 2017 (2017-06-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

City Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 6,861

Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)

Poland	3–1	Romania
Lewandowski 29' (pen.), 57', 62' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Stancu 77'

10 June 2017 (2017-06-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 57,128

Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France)

---

Kazakhstan	0–3	Montenegro
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Vešović 31' Bećiraj 53' Simić 63'

1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)

18:00
(22:00 UTC+6)

Astana Arena, Astana

Attendance: 16,511

Referee: Sébastien Delferière (Belgium)

Denmark	4–0	Poland
Delaney 15' Cornelius 42' Jørgensen 59' Eriksen 80'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Attendance: 34,505

Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)

Romania	1–0	Armenia
Maxim 90+1'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Arena Națională, Bucharest

Attendance: 27,178

Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

---

Armenia	1–4	Denmark
Koryan 6'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Delaney 16', 81', 90+3' Eriksen 29'

4 September 2017 (2017-09-04)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan

Attendance: 6,800

Referee: Bobby Madden (Scotland)

Montenegro	1–0	Romania
Jovetić 75'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

4 September 2017 (2017-09-04)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

City Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 9,452

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland)

Poland	3–0	Kazakhstan
Milik 11' Glik 74' Lewandowski 86' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

4 September 2017 (2017-09-04)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 56,963

Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)

---

Armenia	1–6	Poland
Hambardzumyan 39'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Grosicki 2' Lewandowski 18', 25', 64' Błaszczykowski 58' Wolski 89'

5 October 2017 (2017-10-05)

18:00
(20:00 UTC+4)

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan

Attendance: 5,478

Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

Montenegro	0–1	Denmark
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Eriksen 16'

5 October 2017 (2017-10-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

City Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 10,779

Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

Romania	3–1	Kazakhstan
Budescu 33', 38' (pen.) Keșerü 73'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Turysbek 82'

5 October 2017 (2017-10-05)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Ilie Oană Stadium, Ploiești^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 10,123

Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)

---

Denmark	1–1	Romania
Eriksen 59' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Deac 88'

8 October 2017 (2017-10-08)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

Attendance: 36,084

Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

Kazakhstan	1–1	Armenia
Turysbek 62'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Mkhitaryan 26'

8 October 2017 (2017-10-08)

18:00
(22:00 UTC+6)

Astana Arena, Astana

Attendance: 12,158

Referee: Alexandru Tean (Moldova)

Poland	4–2	Montenegro
Mączyński 6' Grosicki 16' Lewandowski 86' Stojković 89' (o.g.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Mugoša 78' Tomašević 83'

8 October 2017 (2017-10-08)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw

Attendance: 57,538

Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)

Goalscorers

There were 96 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 3.2 goals per match.

16 goals

• Robert Lewandowski

8 goals

• Christian Eriksen

7 goals

• Stevan Jovetić

4 goals

• Thomas Delaney
• Fatos Bećiraj

3 goals

• Kamil Grosicki

2 goals

• Ruslan Koryan
• Henrikh Mkhitaryan
• Andreas Cornelius
• Nicolai Jørgensen
• Sergei Khizhnichenko
• Bauyrzhan Turysbek
• Stefan Mugoša
• Žarko Tomašević
• Constantin Budescu
• Adrian Popa
• Bogdan Stancu

1 goal

• Gevorg Ghazaryan
• Artak Grigoryan
• Hovhannes Hambardzumyan
• Varazdat Haroyan
• Aras Özbiliz
• Marcos Pizzelli
• Peter Ankersen
• Kasper Dolberg
• Yussuf Poulsen
• Islambek Kuat
• Gafurzhan Suyumbayev
• Damir Kojašević
• Stefan Savić
• Marko Simić
• Marko Vešović
• Nikola Vukčević
• Jakub Błaszczykowski
• Kamil Glik
• Bartosz Kapustka
• Krzysztof Mączyński
• Arkadiusz Milik
• Łukasz Piszczek
• Rafał Wolski
• Alexandru Chipciu
• Ciprian Deac
• Claudiu Keșerü
• Răzvan Marin
• Alexandru Maxim
• Nicolae Stanciu

1 own goal

• Hrayr Mkoyan (against Poland)
• Filip Stojković (against Poland)
• Kamil Glik (against Denmark)

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:^[8]

• Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
• Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Player	Team	Offence(s)	Suspended for match(es)
Gor Malakyan	Armenia	vs Romania (8 October 2016)	vs Poland (11 October 2016)
Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Kazakhstan	vs Poland (4 September 2016) vs Montenegro (8 October 2016)	vs Romania (11 October 2016)
Gaël Andonian	Armenia	vs Poland (11 October 2016)	vs Montenegro (11 November 2016)
Islambek Kuat	Kazakhstan	vs Poland (4 September 2016) vs Romania (11 October 2016)	vs Denmark (11 November 2016)
Thiago Cionek	Poland	vs Denmark (8 October 2016) vs Armenia (11 October 2016)	vs Romania (11 November 2016)
Yeldos Akhmetov	Kazakhstan	vs Poland (4 September 2016) vs Denmark (11 November 2016)	vs Armenia (26 March 2017)
Florin Andone	Romania	vs Montenegro (4 September 2016) vs Poland (11 November 2016)	vs Denmark (26 March 2017)
Varazdat Haroyan	Armenia	vs Montenegro (11 November 2016) vs Kazakhstan (26 March 2017)	vs Montenegro (10 June 2017)
Andreas Cornelius	Denmark	vs Kazakhstan (11 November 2016) vs Romania (26 March 2017)	vs Kazakhstan (10 June 2017)
Serhiy Malyi	Kazakhstan	vs Armenia (26 March 2017)	vs Denmark (10 June 2017)
Marko Vešović	Montenegro	vs Denmark (11 October 2016) vs Poland (26 March 2017)	vs Armenia (10 June 2017)
Kamil Glik	Poland	vs Kazakhstan (4 September 2016) vs Montenegro (26 March 2017)	vs Romania (10 June 2017)
Artak Grigoryan	Armenia	vs Romania (8 October 2016) vs Montenegro (10 June 2017)	vs Romania (1 September 2017)
Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Kazakhstan	vs Denmark (10 June 2017)	vs Montenegro (1 September 2017) vs Poland (4 September 2017) vs Romania (5 October 2017)
Cristian Săpunaru	Romania	vs Poland (11 November 2016) vs Poland (10 June 2017)	vs Armenia (1 September 2017)
Taron Voskanyan	Armenia	vs Romania (1 September 2017)	vs Denmark (4 September 2017)
Marko Simić	Montenegro	vs Romania (4 September 2016) vs Kazakhstan (1 September 2017)	vs Romania (4 September 2017)
Mihai Pintilii	Romania	vs Denmark (26 March 2017) vs Armenia (1 September 2017)	vs Montenegro (4 September 2017)
Gaël Andonian	Armenia	vs Poland (11 October 2016) vs Denmark (4 September 2017)	vs Poland (5 October 2017)
Varazdat Haroyan		vs Romania (1 September 2017) vs Denmark (4 September 2017)
Yuriy Logvinenko	Kazakhstan	vs Denmark (10 June 2017) vs Poland (4 September 2017)	vs Romania (5 October 2017)
Fatos Bećiraj	Montenegro	vs Kazakhstan (8 October 2016) vs Romania (4 September 2017)	vs Denmark (5 October 2017)
Cosmin Moți	Romania	vs Montenegro (4 September 2016) vs Montenegro (4 September 2017)	vs Kazakhstan (5 October 2017)
Islambek Kuat	Kazakhstan	vs Poland (4 September 2017) vs Romania (5 October 2017)	vs Armenia (8 October 2017)
Serhiy Malyi		vs Armenia (26 March 2017) vs Romania (5 October 2017)
Gafurzhan Suyumbayev		vs Poland (4 September 2017) vs Romania (5 October 2017)
Stefan Savić	Montenegro	vs Poland (26 March 2017) vs Denmark (5 October 2017)	vs Poland (8 October 2017)
Marko Vešović		vs Romania (4 September 2017) vs Denmark (5 October 2017)
Romario Benzar	Romania	vs Poland (11 November 2016) vs Kazakhstan (5 October 2017)	vs Denmark (8 October 2017)
Alexandru Chipciu		vs Montenegro (4 September 2017) vs Kazakhstan (5 October 2017)

Notes

1. CET (UTC+1) for matches on 11 November 2016, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
2. Romania were sanctioned by FIFA to play one home match (against Denmark on 26 March 2017) away from Arena Națională, Bucharest due to a series of incidents during their home match against Poland, with a possible ban on a second match subject to a probation period of two years.^[6]
3. Romania were sanctioned by FIFA to play one home match (against Kazakhstan on 5 October 2017) away from Arena Națională, Bucharest due to a series of incidents during their home match against Armenia.^[7]