Six teams: Albania, Turkey, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Northern Ireland all made it to be selected as best losers for the knockout stage where ONLY four teams were needed. But it was Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Northern Ireland that took the four best third-place berths and round of 16 spots, with Turkey and Albania missing out.

The four best third-placed teams are determined according to the following criteria applied, in the order given, to the final tournament group matches:
a. higher number of points obtained;
b. superior goal difference;
c. higher number of goals scored;
d. disciplinary record in the final tournament (fewest points in the disciplinary points ranking);
e. position in the UEFA national team coefficient rankings.
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