Matches played 254 | Goals scored 713 (2.81 per match) | |
Dates 26 March 2015 – 15 November 2016 Teams 52 (from 1 confederation) Top scorer(s) Patrik Schick (10 goals) | ||
The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition is a men's under-21 football competition that will determine the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.
Contents
- Format
- Tiebreakers
- Schedule
- Draw
- Ranking of second placed teams
- Matches
- Qualified teams
- Top goalscorers
- References
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:
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 group, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 14.01):
- Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
- 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;
- Superior goal difference in all group matches;
- Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
- Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
- Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
- 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 (Regulations Article 14.02):
- Higher number of points;
- Superior goal difference;
- Higher number of goals scored;
- Higher number of away 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);
- 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 (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02).
Schedule
The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA International Match Calendar.
Draw
The draw for the qualifying group stage was held on 5 February 2015, 09:00 CET (UTC+1), 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 (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.
Ranking of second-placed teams
To determine the four best second-placed teams from the qualifying group stage which advance to the play-offs, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams in their group are taken into account, while results against the sixth-placed team (for groups with six teams) are not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team will count for the purposes of determining the ranking.
Draw
The draw for the play-offs was held on 14 October 2016, 13:00 CEST (UTC+2), 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.
Top goalscorers
Players with six goals or more.