The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:
Qualifying round: Apart from Germany, which receive a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 44 teams are drawn into 11 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 11 group winners, the 11 runners-up, and the five third-placed teams 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.
Initially the elite round would consist of 24 teams, drawn into six groups of four teams, with the six group winners and the runner-up with the best record against the first and third-placed teams in their group qualifying for the final tournament. After the qualifying round draw was held, UEFA decided to expand the elite round from 24 to 28 teams, allowing four more third-placed teams to advance to the elite round. The schedule of each mini-tournament is as follows :
In the qualifying round and elite round, teams are ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings :
Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above ;
Disciplinary points ;
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.
To determine the five best third-placed teams from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied :
Points;
Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Disciplinary points;
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.
Qualifying round
Draw
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 11 November2016, 09:10 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:
2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
2016 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine would not be drawn in the same group.
;Notes
Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.
Groups
The qualifying round must be played between 1 August and 29 October2017. Times up to 28 October 2017 are CEST, thereafter times are CET.
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Group 5
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Group 6
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Group 7
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Group 8
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Group 9
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Group 10
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Group 11
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Ranking of third-placed teams
To determine the five best third-placed teams from the qualifying round which advance to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group are taken into account.
Elite round
Draw
The draw for the elite round was held on 24 November 2017, 11:45 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Germany, which received a bye to the elite round, were automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Winners and runners-up from the same qualifying round group could not be drawn in the same group, but the best third-placed teams could be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group.
Groups
The elite round must be played between 1 February and 1 April 2018. Times up to 24 March 2018 are CET, thereafter times are CEST.
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Group 5
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Group 6
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Group 7
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Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
