2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group A was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Luxembourg.

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, France, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Sweden, 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	France	10	7	2	1	18	6	+12	23	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	4–0	4–1	0–0	2–1
2	Sweden	10	6	1	3	26	9	+17	19	Advance to second round		2–1	—	1–1	3–0	8–0	4–0
3	Netherlands	10	6	1	3	21	12	+9	19			0–1	2–0	—	3–1	5–0	4–1
4	Bulgaria	10	4	1	5	14	19	−5	13			0–1	3–2	2–0	—	4–3	1–0
5	Luxembourg	10	1	3	6	8	26	−18	6			1–3	0–1	1–3	1–1	—	1–0
6	Belarus	10	1	2	7	6	21	−15	5			0–0	0–4	1–3	2–1	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]

6 September 2016 (2016-09-06)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Belarus	0–0	France
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 12,920

Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (Romania)

6 September 2016 (2016-09-06)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Bulgaria	4–3	Luxembourg
Rangelov 16' Marcelinho 65' I. Popov 79' Tonev 90+2'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Joachim 60', 62' Bohnert 90+1'

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 4,202

Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

6 September 2016 (2016-09-06)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Sweden	1–1	Netherlands
Berg 43'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Sneijder 67'

Friends Arena, Solna

Attendance: 36,128

Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)

---

7 October 2016 (2016-10-07)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

France	4–1	Bulgaria
Gameiro 23', 59' Payet 26' Griezmann 38'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	M. Aleksandrov 6' (pen.)

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Attendance: 65,475

Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)

7 October 2016 (2016-10-07)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Luxembourg	0–1	Sweden
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Lustig 58'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City

Attendance: 5,057

Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

7 October 2016 (2016-10-07)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Netherlands	4–1	Belarus
Promes 15', 31' Klaassen 56' Janssen 64'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Rios 47'

De Kuip, Rotterdam

Attendance: 41,200

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland)

---

10 October 2016 (2016-10-10)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Belarus	1–1	Luxembourg
Savitski 80'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Joachim 85'

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 9,011

Referee: Tobias Welz (Germany)

10 October 2016 (2016-10-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Netherlands	0–1	France
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Pogba 30'

Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam

Attendance: 50,220

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

10 October 2016 (2016-10-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Sweden	3–0	Bulgaria
Toivonen 39' Hiljemark 45' Lindelöf 58'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Friends Arena, Solna

Attendance: 21,777

Referee: Michael Oliver (England)

---

11 November 2016 (2016-11-11)^{[note 2]}

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

France	2–1	Sweden
Pogba 58' Payet 65'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Forsberg 55'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)

13 November 2016 (2016-11-13)

18:00
(19:00 UTC+2)

Bulgaria	1–0	Belarus
I. Popov 10'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 1,994

Referee: Stephan Klossner (Switzerland)

13 November 2016 (2016-11-13)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+1)

Luxembourg	1–3	Netherlands
Chanot 44' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Robben 36' Depay 58', 84'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

---

25 March 2017 (2017-03-25)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+1)

Sweden	4–0	Belarus
Forsberg 19' (pen.), 49' Berg 57' Kiese Thelin 78'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Friends Arena, Solna

Attendance: 31,243

Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)

25 March 2017 (2017-03-25)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+2)

Bulgaria	2–0	Netherlands
Delev 5', 20'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 10,900

Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

25 March 2017 (2017-03-25)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)

Luxembourg	1–3	France
Joachim 34' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Giroud 28', 77' Griezmann 37' (pen.)

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)

---

9 June 2017 (2017-06-09)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Belarus	2–1	Bulgaria
Sivakow 33' (pen.) Savitski 80'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Kostadinov 90+1'

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 6,150

Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

9 June 2017 (2017-06-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Netherlands	5–0	Luxembourg
Robben 21' Sneijder 34' Wijnaldum 62' Promes 70' Janssen 84' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

De Kuip, Rotterdam

Attendance: 41,300

Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (Poland)

9 June 2017 (2017-06-09)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Sweden	2–1	France
Durmaz 43' Toivonen 90+4'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Giroud 37'

Friends Arena, Solna

Attendance: 48,783

Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

---

31 August 2017 (2017-08-31)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Bulgaria	3–2	Sweden
Manolev 12' Kostadinov 33' Chochev 79'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Lustig 29' Berg 44'

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 12,121

Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

31 August 2017 (2017-08-31)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

France	4–0	Netherlands
Griezmann 14' Lemar 73', 88' Mbappé 90+1'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Attendance: 79,551

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

31 August 2017 (2017-08-31)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Luxembourg	1–0	Belarus
Da Mota 60'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City

Attendance: 2,752

Referee: Clayton Pisani (Malta)

---

3 September 2017 (2017-09-03)

18:00
(19:00 UTC+3)

Belarus	0–4	Sweden
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Forsberg 18' Nyman 24' Berg 37' Granqvist 84' (pen.)

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 6,431

Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany)

3 September 2017 (2017-09-03)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Netherlands	3–1	Bulgaria
Pröpper 7', 80' Robben 67'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Kostadinov 69'

Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam

Attendance: 47,079

Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece)

3 September 2017 (2017-09-03)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

France	0–0	Luxembourg
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Stade Municipal, Toulouse

Attendance: 31,177

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (Macedonia)

---

7 October 2017 (2017-10-07)

18:00
(18:00 UTC+2)

Sweden	8–0	Luxembourg
Granqvist 10' (pen.), 67' (pen.) Berg 18', 37', 54', 71' Lustig 60' Toivonen 76'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Friends Arena, Solna

Attendance: 50,022

Referee: Hüseyin Göçek (Turkey)

7 October 2017 (2017-10-07)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Belarus	1–3	Netherlands
Valadzko 55'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Pröpper 25' Robben 84' (pen.) Depay 90+3'

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 6,850

Referee: Michael Oliver (England)

7 October 2017 (2017-10-07)

20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)

Bulgaria	0–1	France
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Matuidi 3'

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 12,921

Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)

---

10 October 2017 (2017-10-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

France	2–1	Belarus
Griezmann 27' Giroud 33'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Saroka 44'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Attendance: 74,037

Referee: Halis Özkahya (Turkey)

10 October 2017 (2017-10-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Luxembourg	1–1	Bulgaria
O. Thill 3'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]	Chochev 68'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City

Attendance: 2,936

Referee: István Vad (Hungary)

10 October 2017 (2017-10-10)

20:45
(20:45 UTC+2)

Netherlands	2–0	Sweden
Robben 16', 40'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)[dead link]

Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam

Attendance: 41,244

Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

Goalscorers

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

8 goals

• Marcus Berg

6 goals

• Arjen Robben

4 goals

• Olivier Giroud
• Antoine Griezmann
• Aurélien Joachim
• Emil Forsberg

3 goals

• Georgi Kostadinov
• Memphis Depay
• Quincy Promes
• Davy Pröpper
• Andreas Granqvist
• Mikael Lustig
• Ola Toivonen

2 goals

• Pavel Savitski
• Ivaylo Chochev
• Spas Delev
• Ivelin Popov
• Kevin Gameiro
• Thomas Lemar
• Dimitri Payet
• Paul Pogba
• Vincent Janssen
• Wesley Sneijder

1 goal

• Alexei Rios
• Anton Saroka
• Mikhail Sivakow
• Maksim Valadzko
• Mihail Aleksandrov
• Stanislav Manolev
• Marcelinho
• Dimitar Rangelov
• Aleksandar Tonev
• Blaise Matuidi
• Kylian Mbappé
• Florian Bohnert
• Maxime Chanot
• Daniel da Mota
• Olivier Thill
• Davy Klaassen
• Georginio Wijnaldum
• Jimmy Durmaz
• Oscar Hiljemark
• Isaac Kiese Thelin
• Victor Lindelöf
• Christoffer Nyman

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:^[6]

• 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)
Kevin Malget	Luxembourg	vs Sweden (7 October 2016)	vs Belarus (10 October 2016)
Dirk Carlson		vs Belarus (10 October 2016)	vs Netherlands (13 November 2016)
Kevin Strootman	Netherlands	vs Sweden (6 September 2016) vs France (10 October 2016)	vs Luxembourg (13 November 2016)
Paul Pogba	France	vs Netherlands (10 October 2016) vs Sweden (11 November 2016)	vs Luxembourg (25 March 2017)
Alexander Hleb	Belarus	vs Bulgaria (13 November 2016)	vs Sweden (25 March 2017)
Aleksandar Aleksandrov	Bulgaria	vs Sweden (10 October 2016) vs Belarus (13 November 2016)	vs Netherlands (25 March 2017)
Alyaksandr Martynovich	Belarus	vs Luxembourg (10 October 2016) vs Sweden (25 March 2017)	vs Bulgaria (9 June 2017)
Aurélien Joachim	Luxembourg	vs Belarus (10 October 2016) vs France (25 March 2017)	vs Netherlands (9 June 2017)
Daniel da Mota		vs Sweden (7 October 2016) vs France (25 March 2017)
Chris Philipps
Svetoslav Dyakov	Bulgaria	vs Belarus (13 November 2016) vs Belarus (9 June 2017)	vs Sweden (31 August 2017)
Kevin Malget	Luxembourg	vs Sweden (7 October 2016) vs Netherlands (9 June 2017)	vs Belarus (31 August 2017)
Christopher Martins		vs Bulgaria (6 September 2016) vs Netherlands (9 June 2017)
Bozhidar Chorbadzhiyski	Bulgaria	vs Belarus (9 June 2017) vs Sweden (31 August 2017)	vs Netherlands (3 September 2017)
Kevin Strootman	Netherlands	vs France (31 August 2017)	vs Bulgaria (3 September 2017)
Ola Toivonen	Sweden	vs Luxembourg (7 October 2016) vs Bulgaria (31 August 2017)	vs Belarus (3 September 2017)
Egor Filipenko	Belarus	vs Bulgaria (9 June 2017) vs Sweden (3 September 2017)	vs Netherlands (7 October 2017)
Nikita Korzun		vs Luxembourg (10 October 2016) vs Sweden (3 September 2017)
Ivaylo Chochev	Bulgaria	vs Sweden (31 August 2017) vs Netherlands (3 September 2017)	vs France (7 October 2017)
Ivelin Popov		vs Luxembourg (6 September 2016) vs Netherlands (3 September 2017)
Christoffer Nyman	Sweden	vs Netherlands (6 September 2016) vs Belarus (3 September 2017)	vs Luxembourg (7 October 2017)
Paul Pogba	France	vs Sweden (9 June 2017) vs Luxembourg (3 September 2017)	vs Bulgaria (7 October 2017)
Laurent Jans	Luxembourg	vs Netherlands (9 June 2017) vs France (3 September 2017)	vs Sweden (7 October 2017)
Syarhey Balanovich	Belarus	vs Luxembourg (31 August 2017) vs Netherlands (7 October 2017)	vs France (10 October 2017)
Alexei Rios		vs Netherlands (7 October 2016) vs Netherlands (7 October 2017)
Mikalay Signevich		vs Luxembourg (10 October 2016) vs Netherlands (7 October 2017)
Georgi Kostadinov	Bulgaria	vs Sweden (31 August 2017) vs France (7 October 2017)	vs Luxembourg (10 October 2017)

Notes

1. CET (UTC+1) for matches on 11 and 13 November 2016 and 25 March 2017, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
2. The France v Sweden match was moved from the original scheduled date of 13 November 2016 as it fell on the anniversary of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.