2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification


The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.
A total of 52 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition, with Gibraltar as the only absentee. Players born on or after 1 January 1994 are eligible to participate.

Format

The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:
The teams are ranked according to points. If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of a group, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings :
  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  5. If, after having applied criteria [|1] to [|4], teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
  6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches ;
  10. Position in the UEFA Under-21 national team coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.
To determine the four best runners-up from the qualifying group stage, the results against the teams in sixth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied :
  1. Higher number of points;
  2. Superior goal difference;
  3. Higher number of goals scored;
  4. Higher number of away goals scored;
  5. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received ;
  6. Position in the UEFA Under-21 national team coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.
In the play-offs, the team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualifies for the final tournament. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e., the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e., if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.

Schedule

The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA International Match Calendar.
StageFIFA International Dates
Qualifying group stage23–31 March 2015
Qualifying group stage8–16 June 2015
Qualifying group stage31 August – 8 September 2015
Qualifying group stage5–13 October 2015
Qualifying group stage9–17 November 2015
Qualifying group stage21–29 March 2016
Qualifying group stage29 August – 6 September 2016
Qualifying group stage3–11 October 2016
Play-offs7–15 November 2016

Qualifying group stage

Draw

The draw for the qualifying group stage was held on [|5] February 2015, 09:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:
Groups 1–7 each contained one team from each of Pots A–F, while Group 8–9 each contained one team from each of Pots A–E. For political reasons, Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as Russia and Ukraine, could not be drawn in the same group.
Team
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Team
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Groups

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Ranking of second-placed teams

Play-offs

Draw

The draw for the play-offs was held on 14 October 2016, 13:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Matches

The two play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.

Qualified teams

The following 12 teams qualify for the final tournament.
TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament1
only U-21 era
Group 1 winners
Group [|2] winners
Group [|3] winners
Group 4 winners
Group 5 winners
Group 6 winners
Group 7 winners
Group 8 winners
Group 9 winners
Play-off winners
Play-off winners

Top goalscorers

Players with six goals or more.
;10 goals
;9 goals
;8 goals
;7 goals
;6 goals