European Championship round of 16 beckons

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Austria can look forward to a place in the round of 16.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria's chances of reaching the round of 16 at the European Championship in Germany are excellent ahead of the last round of the group stage. A win in the final group game on Tuesday (6pm/live in the sportkrone.at ticker) against the Dutch would see the Austrians advance as one of the top two teams in Group D. 

In the event of a defeat, the chances are still very good, as the ÖFB team leads the ranking of the best third-placed teams in the group after two rounds.

Good omen
The four best of the six third-placed teams in the group make it through to the round of 16. Since the introduction of this mode at Euro 2016 in France, three points and a goal difference of -1 as third in the group have always been enough to progress.

Austria are on three points and +1 after a 1-0 draw against France and a 3-1 win over Poland and could therefore probably afford a narrow defeat against the "Oranje" to advance. Then, however, the big arithmetic could begin, especially as three groups will only be completed after that.

The ranking of the third-placed teams after two of the three rounds played in the European Championship group stage:

1. Austria (Group D) 3:2 +1 3

2. Slovakia (Group E) 2:2 0 3

3. Denmark (Group C) 2:2 0 2

4. Albania (Group B) 3:4 -1 1

5 Czech Republic (Group F) 2:3 -1 1

6. Scotland (Group A) 2:6 -4 1

The following criteria are used to determine the ranking of the best third-placed teams in the group:

- higher number of points

- better goal difference

- more goals scored

- higher number of wins

- lower number of points in the fair play ranking (three points each for red and yellow-red cards, one point for yellow cards without yellow-red)

- position in the UEFA rankings for the European Championship qualifiers