2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group G

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group G was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia, and Liechtenstein.

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, Spain, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Italy, 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	Spain	10	9	1	0	36	3	+33	28	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	3–0	3–0	4–1	4–0	8–0
2	Italy	10	7	2	1	21	8	+13	23	Advance to second round		1–1	—	2–0	1–0	1–1	5–0
3	Albania	10	4	1	5	10	13	−3	13			0–2	0–1	—	0–3	2–1	2–0
4	Israel	10	4	0	6	10	15	−5	12			0–1	1–3	0–3	—	0–1	2–1
5	Macedonia	10	3	2	5	15	15	0	11			1–2	2–3	1–1	1–2	—	4–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	1	39	−38	0			0–8	0–4	0–2	0–1	0–3	—

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]

5 September 2016 (2016-09-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Albania	2–1[note 2]	Macedonia
Sadiku 9' Balaj 89'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link] Report (MacedonianFootball)	Alioski 51'

Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër

Attendance: 14,667

Referee: Hüseyin Göçek (Turkey)

5 September 2016 (2016-09-05)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Israel	1–3	Italy
Ben Haim II 35'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Pellè 14' Candreva 31' (pen.) Immobile 83'

Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa

Attendance: 29,300

Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

5 September 2016 (2016-09-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Spain	8–0	Liechtenstein
Costa 10', 66' Roberto 55' Silva 59', 90+1' Vitolo 60' Morata 82', 83'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Estadio Reino de León, León

Attendance: 12,139

Referee: Simon Lee Evans (Wales)

---

6 October 2016 (2016-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Italy	1–1	Spain
De Rossi 82' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Vitolo 55'

Juventus Stadium, Turin

Attendance: 38,470

Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

6 October 2016 (2016-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Liechtenstein	0–2	Albania
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Jehle 12' (o.g.) Balaj 71'

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Attendance: 5,864

Referee: Tamás Bognar (Hungary)

6 October 2016 (2016-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Macedonia	1–2	Israel
Nestorovski 63'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link] Report (MacedonianFootball)	Hemed 25' Ben Haim II 43'

Philip II Arena, Skopje

Attendance: 6,500

Referee: Andre Marriner (England)

---

9 October 2016 (2016-10-09)

18:00
(19:00 UTC+3)

Israel	2–1	Liechtenstein
Hemed 4', 16'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Göppel 49'

Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Clayton Pisani (Malta)

9 October 2016 (2016-10-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Albania	0–2	Spain
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Costa 55' Nolito 63'

Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër

Attendance: 15,245

Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)

9 October 2016 (2016-10-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Macedonia	2–3	Italy
Nestorovski 57' Hasani 59'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Belotti 24' Immobile 75', 90+2'

Philip II Arena, Skopje

Attendance: 19,195

Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

---

12 November 2016 (2016-11-12)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Albania	0–3	Israel
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Zahavi 18' (pen.) Einbinder 66' Atar 83'

Elbasan Arena, Elbasan^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 7,600

Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

12 November 2016 (2016-11-12)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Liechtenstein	0–4	Italy
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Belotti 11', 44' Immobile 12' Candreva 32'

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Attendance: 5,864

Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

12 November 2016 (2016-11-12)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Spain	4–0	Macedonia
Velkovski 34' (o.g.) Vitolo 63' Monreal 84' Aduriz 85'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada

Attendance: 16,622

Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (Austria)

---

24 March 2017 (2017-03-24)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Italy	2–0	Albania
De Rossi 12' (pen.) Immobile 71'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo

Attendance: 33,136

Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)

24 March 2017 (2017-03-24)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Liechtenstein	0–3	Macedonia
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Nikolov 43' Nestorovski 68', 73'

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Attendance: 4,517

Referee: Jonathan Lardot (Belgium)

24 March 2017 (2017-03-24)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Spain	4–1	Israel
Silva 13' Vitolo 45+1' Costa 51' Isco 88'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Refaelov 76'

El Molinón, Gijón

Attendance: 20,321

Referee: Michael Oliver (England)

---

11 June 2017 (2017-06-11)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Israel	0–3	Albania
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Sadiku 22', 44' Memushaj 71'

Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa

Attendance: 15,150

Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

11 June 2017 (2017-06-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Italy	5–0	Liechtenstein
Insigne 35' Belotti 52' Éder 75' Bernardeschi 83' Gabbiadini 90+1'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stadio Friuli, Udine

Attendance: 20,514

Referee: Kevin Clancy (Scotland)

11 June 2017 (2017-06-11)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Macedonia	1–2	Spain
Ristovski 66'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Silva 15' Costa 27'

Philip II Arena, Skopje

Attendance: 20,675

Referee: Paweł Gil (Poland)

---

2 September 2017 (2017-09-02)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Albania	2–0	Liechtenstein
Roshi 54' Agolli 78'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Elbasan Arena, Elbasan

Attendance: 5,500

Referee: Sergey Lapochkin (Russia)

2 September 2017 (2017-09-02)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Israel	0–1	Macedonia
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Pandev 73'

Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa

Attendance: 11,350

Referee: Aleksei Eskov (Russia)

2 September 2017 (2017-09-02)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Spain	3–0	Italy
Isco 14', 40' Morata 77'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 73,628

Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

---

5 September 2017 (2017-09-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Italy	1–0	Israel
Immobile 53'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore, Reggio Emilia

Attendance: 15,507

Referee: Benoît Bastien (France)

5 September 2017 (2017-09-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Liechtenstein	0–8	Spain
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Ramos 3' Morata 15', 54' Isco 16' Silva 39' Aspas 51', 63' Göppel 89' (o.g.)

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Attendance: 5,864

Referee: Ivaylo Stoyanov (Bulgaria)

5 September 2017 (2017-09-05)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Macedonia	1–1	Albania
Trajkovski 78' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Roshi 53'

Stadion Mladost, Strumica

Attendance: 3,493

Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)

---

6 October 2017 (2017-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Italy	1–1	Macedonia
Chiellini 40'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Trajkovski 77'

Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin

Attendance: 22,603

Referee: Tiago Martins (Portugal)

6 October 2017 (2017-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Liechtenstein	0–1	Israel
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Tibi 22'

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

Attendance: 3,498

Referee: Arnold Hunter (Northern Ireland)

6 October 2017 (2017-10-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Spain	3–0	Albania
Rodrigo 16' Isco 24' Thiago 27'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Estadio José Rico Pérez, Alicante

Attendance: 25,397

Referee: Aleksei Eskov (Russia)

---

9 October 2017 (2017-10-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Albania	0–1	Italy
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Candreva 73'

Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër

Attendance: 14,718

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)

9 October 2017 (2017-10-09)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Israel	0–1	Spain
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Illarramendi 76'

Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem

Attendance: 28,700

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland)

9 October 2017 (2017-10-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Macedonia	4–0	Liechtenstein
Musliu 36' Trajkovski 38' Bardhi 67' Ademi 69'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stadion Mladost, Strumica

Attendance: 4,518

Referee: Laurent Kopriwa (Luxembourg)

Goalscorers

There were 93 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 3.1 goals per match.

6 goals

• Ciro Immobile

5 goals

• Diego Costa
• Isco
• Álvaro Morata
• David Silva

4 goals

• Andrea Belotti
• Ilija Nestorovski
• Vitolo

3 goals

• Armando Sadiku
• Tomer Hemed
• Antonio Candreva
• Aleksandar Trajkovski

2 goals

• Bekim Balaj
• Odise Roshi
• Tal Ben Haim II
• Daniele De Rossi
• Iago Aspas

1 goal

• Ansi Agolli
• Ledian Memushaj
• Eliran Atar
• Dan Einbinder
• Lior Refaelov
• Eytan Tibi
• Eran Zahavi
• Federico Bernardeschi
• Giorgio Chiellini
• Éder
• Manolo Gabbiadini
• Lorenzo Insigne
• Graziano Pellè
• Maximilian Göppel
• Arijan Ademi
• Ezgjan Alioski
• Enis Bardhi
• Ferhan Hasani
• Visar Musliu
• Boban Nikolov
• Goran Pandev
• Stefan Ristovski
• Aritz Aduriz
• Asier Illarramendi
• Nacho Monreal
• Nolito
• Sergio Ramos
• Sergi Roberto
• Rodrigo
• Thiago

1 own goal

• Maximilian Göppel (against Spain)
• Peter Jehle (against Albania)
• Darko Velkovski (against Spain)

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:^[9]

• 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)
Giorgio Chiellini	Italy	vs Israel (5 September 2016)	vs Spain (6 October 2016)
Eytan Tibi	Israel	vs Macedonia (6 October 2016)	vs Liechtenstein (9 October 2016)
Marco Parolo	Italy	vs Spain (6 October 2016) vs Macedonia (9 October 2016)	vs Liechtenstein (12 November 2016)
Nicolas Hasler	Liechtenstein	vs Spain (5 September 2016) vs Israel (9 October 2016)	vs Italy (12 November 2016)
Etrit Berisha	Albania	vs Israel (12 November 2016)	vs Italy (24 March 2017) vs Israel (11 June 2017)
Berat Djimsiti			vs Italy (24 March 2017)
David Goresh	Israel	vs Macedonia (6 October 2016) vs Albania (12 November 2016)	vs Spain (24 March 2017)
Daniel Kaufmann	Liechtenstein	vs Spain (5 September 2016) vs Italy (12 November 2016)	vs Macedonia (24 March 2017)
Yves Oehri		vs Albania (6 October 2016) vs Italy (12 November 2016)
Ezgjan Alioski	Macedonia	vs Italy (9 October 2016) vs Spain (12 November 2016)	vs Liechtenstein (24 March 2017)
Ansi Agolli	Albania	vs Spain (9 October 2016) vs Italy (24 March 2017)	vs Israel (11 June 2017)
Michele Polverino	Liechtenstein	vs Spain (5 September 2016) vs Italy (11 June 2017)	vs Albania (2 September 2017)
Leonardo Bonucci	Italy	vs Spain (6 October 2016) vs Spain (2 September 2017)	vs Israel (5 September 2017)
Eljif Elmas	Macedonia	vs Spain (11 June 2017) vs Israel (2 September 2017)	vs Albania (5 September 2017)
Burim Kukeli	Albania	vs Italy (24 March 2017) vs Macedonia (5 September 2017)	vs Spain (6 October 2017)
Mërgim Mavraj		vs Spain (9 October 2016) vs Macedonia (5 September 2017)
Odise Roshi		vs Italy (24 March 2017) vs Macedonia (5 September 2017)
Almog Cohen	Israel	vs Macedonia (6 October 2016) vs Italy (5 September 2017)	vs Liechtenstein (6 October 2017)
Kire Ristevski	Macedonia	vs Spain (11 June 2017) vs Albania (5 September 2017)	vs Italy (6 October 2017)
Sergio Busquets	Spain	vs Italy (6 October 2016) vs Liechtenstein (5 September 2017)	vs Albania (6 October 2017)
Azdren Llullaku	Albania	vs Israel (12 November 2016) vs Spain (6 October 2017)	vs Italy (9 October 2017)
Taulant Xhaka
Marcel Büchel	Liechtenstein	vs Israel (9 October 2016) vs Israel (6 October 2017)	vs Macedonia (9 October 2017)
Franz Burgmeier		vs Albania (6 October 2016) vs Israel (6 October 2017)
Nicolas Hasler		vs Macedonia (24 March 2017) vs Israel (6 October 2017)
Stefan Spirovski	Macedonia	vs Italy (9 October 2016) vs Italy (6 October 2017)	vs Liechtenstein (9 October 2017)
Gerard Piqué	Spain	vs Italy (6 October 2016) vs Albania (6 October 2017)	vs Israel (9 October 2017)
David Silva		vs Macedonia (11 June 2017) vs Albania (6 October 2017)

Notes

1. CET (UTC+1) for matches on 12 November 2016 and 24 March 2017, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
2. The Albania v Macedonia match was suspended after 76 minutes due to adverse weather conditions, with the score 1–1 at the time. The match was resumed on 6 September 2016, 14:00 UTC+2.^[6]
3. The venue of the Albania v Israel match was moved from Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër to Elbasan Arena, Elbasan due to a planned terrorist attack.^[7][8]