The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 February 2010 in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, with matches set to take place between August 2010 and November 2011.

The pot allocations for the qualifying group stage draw were based on the UEFA national team coefficient rankings as of the end of 2009.

The sole exception was the automatic placement of Spain, as reigning European champions, as the top-ranked team (their coefficient ranking would have also placed them in this position anyway).

[1][2][3] Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:[4] The 51 entrants were divided into the following six pots for the drawing of nine qualifying groups on 7 February 2010 in Warsaw, Poland:[5] Notes Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan (due to the dispute concerning territory of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Georgia would not be drawn against Russia (due to the dispute regarding the territory of South Ossetia).

[9][10][11] The highest ranked second placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs.