2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19 football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Georgia in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.^[1]

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying round: 4 October – 15 November 2016 Elite round: 22–28 March 2017
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	120
Goals scored	359 (2.99 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Lassi Lappalainen Birk Risa Nathan Broadhead (5 goals each)
← 2016 2018 →

A total of 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.^[2] Players born on or after 1 January 1998 are eligible to participate.

Format

The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:^[3]

Qualifying round: Apart from Spain, which receive a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 52 teams are drawn into 13 groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The 13 group winners, the 13 runners-up, and the third-placed team with the best record against the first and second-placed teams in their group advance to the elite round.
Elite round: The 28 teams are drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The seven group winners qualify for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):^[3]

Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings are determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.01):^[3]

Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 3 December 2015, 10:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[4]^[5]

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[6]

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contained two teams from Pot A and two teams from Pot B. For political reasons, Armenia and Azerbaijan (due to the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh), as well as Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine), could not be drawn in the same group.^[2]

Final tournament hosts
Team	Coeff	Rank
Georgia	7.833	—

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Spain	13.667	1

Teams entering qualifying round

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
Portugal	11.167	2
Serbia	10.667	3
Austria	9.833	4
Germany	9.500	5
Russia	9.000	6
Turkey	9.000	7
Ukraine	8.833	8
France	8.833	9
Netherlands	8.500	10
England	8.167	11
Denmark	7.000	12
Greece	6.667	13
Czech Republic	6.667	14
Belgium	6.333	15
Republic of Ireland	6.167	16
Norway	6.000	17
Sweden	6.000	18
Italy	5.833	19
Croatia	5.833	20
Slovakia	5.667	21
Scotland	5.500	22
Switzerland	5.500	23
Israel	5.500	24
Montenegro	5.333	25
Macedonia	4.333	26
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4.167	27

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Bulgaria	4.167	28
Poland	3.833	29
Cyprus	3.833	30
Wales	3.833	31
Hungary	3.667	32
Lithuania	3.333	33
Romania	3.167	34
Estonia	2.667	35
Northern Ireland	2.667	36
Iceland	2.500	37
Latvia	2.333	38
Armenia	2.333	39
Malta	2.333	40
Slovenia	2.333	41
Finland	2.000	42
Azerbaijan	1.833	43
Belarus	1.667	44
Albania	1.667	45
Moldova	1.333	46
Luxembourg	1.333	47
Kazakhstan	0.333	48
Andorra	0.000	49
San Marino	0.000	50
Faroe Islands	0.000	51
Gibraltar	0.000	52
Liechtenstein	0.000	53

Notes

Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.

Groups

The qualifying round must be played on the following FIFA International Match Calendar dates unless all four teams agree to play on another date:^[3]

29 August – 6 September 2016
3–11 October 2016
7–15 November 2016

Times up to 29 October 2016 are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times are CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium (H)	3	1	2	0	9	4	+5	5	Elite round
2	Finland	3	1	2	0	9	3	+6	5	Elite round
3	Russia	3	1	2	0	8	3	+5	5
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	0	16	−16	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host

6 October 2016