UEFA Euro 2012 Group D

Group D of UEFA Euro 2012 began on 11 June 2012 and ended on 19 June 2012. The pool was made up of Ukraine, Sweden, France and England. The top two teams, England and France, progressed to the quarter-finals to play Italy and Spain respectively, while Ukraine and Sweden were eliminated from the tournament.

On the second matchday, on 15 June, the match between Ukraine and France that began at 19:00 local time was interrupted by heavy rainfall and a thunderstorm. The conditions forced the referee to suspend the game during the fifth minute, and play was only resumed 58 minutes later.[1] UEFA therefore delayed the match between Sweden and England to kick off 15 minutes later than originally scheduled, instead beginning at 22:00 local time, to avoid the matches overlapping.[2]

On the final matchday, on 19 June, the match between England and Ukraine featured a ghost goal by Marko Dević. In the second half, with Ukraine losing 1–0 to a Wayne Rooney goal, Dević's shot was hooked clear from behind the England goal-line by John Terry under the eyes of the additional assistant referee standing beside the goal (as confirmed by video replays). The incident reopened football's goal-line technology debate.[3][4] Although in the build-up to the incident, Dević's teammate Artem Milevskyi was in an offside position when the ball was played to him, which also went unnoticed by the match officials.[5][unreliable source?][6] UEFA and its chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina admitted on the following day that an error had been made and that Ukraine had been denied a legitimate goal.[7][8]

  1. ^ Burke, Chris (15 June 2012). "France find their stride to pick off Ukraine". Union of European Football Associations.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "5 Famous Soccer Goal-Line Controversies". The Washington Post. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  4. ^ "England, France through to Euro 2012 quarters". Herald Sun. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  5. ^ Tidey, Will (19 June 2012). "Ukraine vs. England: Marko Devic Enters Goal-Line Technology Hall of Shame". The Bleacher Report. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Rooney seizes his chance to lift England's expectations". The Independent. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  7. ^ "Euro 2012: Uefa admits Ukraine were deprived of a goal against England". The Guardian. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Euro 2012: Ukraine goal crossed the line and should have been given says Uefa referee chief Pierluigi Collina". The Daily Telegraph. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.