1956 European Nations' Cup qualifying

This article describes the qualifying procedure for the 1956 European Nations Cup, the inaugural edition of the European Nations Cup tournament.

Format
The qualification was a knockout tournament where the teams would play a two-legged tie on a home-and-away basis. If the aggregate scores were level at the end of the tie, a third leg was played at a neutral venue to decide the winners. It consisted of a preliminary round, a round of 16, and a quarter-final round. The four quarter-final winners would qualify for the tournament proper; one of those four countries would then be chosen to host it.

Twenty-one teams entered the competition with some noticeable absent teams being, and. The first ever qualifying match was between the and  which ended in a 3-0 win to the Irish.

Second Leg
Republic of Ireland won 5-0 on aggregate and advances to the second round

Czechoslovakia won 6-1 on aggregate and advances to the second round

Turkey won 4-3 on aggregate and advances to the second round

Portugal won 10-0 on aggregate and advances to the second round

Bulgaria won 3-2 on aggregate and advances to the second round

Second Leg
Hungary won 4-1 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Czechoslovakia won 5-0 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Romania won 4-1 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Bulgaria won 4-3 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

''Netherlands won 1-0 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Yugoslavia won 5-1 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

''France won 2-1 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Turkey won 2-0 on aggregate and advances to the quarter finals

Second Leg
Turkey won 5-4 on aggregate and advances to the final tournament

Yugoslavia won 4-2 on aggregate and advances to the final tournament

France won 2-0 on aggregate and advanced to the final tournament

Romania won 3-1 on aggregate and advanced to the final tournament