2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification

2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	22 September – 31 October 2015 (qualifying round) Spring 2016 (elite round)
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)

The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition is an under-17 football competition scheduled to be played in 2015 and 2016 to determine the 15 teams to join Azerbaijan, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.^[1] A total of 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.^[2]

Format

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

Qualifying round: Apart from Germany, 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 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 32 teams are drawn into eight 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 eight group winners and the seven runners-up with the best record against the first and third-placed teams in their group qualify for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

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:^[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 ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out (this criteria is not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if the rankings of the two teams are not relevant for which team qualifies 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);
Drawing of lots.

To determine the five best third-placed teams from the qualifying round and the seven best runners-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied:^[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);
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 3 December 2014 at 09:00 CET (UTC+1).^[4]^[5]

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[6]^[7]

2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2014 UEFA European Under-17 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.^[2] For political reasons, Spain and Gibraltar (due to the disputed status of Gibraltar), as well as Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine), could not be drawn in the same group.

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Germany	11.333	1

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
England	10.000	2
Netherlands	10.000	3
Portugal	9.167	4
Poland	9.167	5
France	8.833	6
Serbia	8.667	7
Russia	8.000	8
Switzerland	7.833	9
Italy	7.833	10
Spain	7.500	11
Czech Republic	7.500	12
Scotland	7.333	13
Georgia	7.000	14
Sweden	7.000	15
Hungary	6.667	16
Ukraine	6.500	17
Belgium	6.500	18
Iceland	6.000	19
Austria	5.833	20
Turkey	5.667	21
Croatia	5.667	22
Denmark	5.500	23
Republic of Ireland	5.167	24
Norway	4.833	25
Belarus	4.633	26
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4.167	27

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Greece	4.167	28
Bulgaria	4.000	29
Israel	4.000	30
Slovakia	4.000	31
Albania	3.833	32
Slovenia	3.667	33
Northern Ireland	3.500	34
Romania	2.833	35
Latvia	2.667	36
Macedonia	2.667	37
Estonia	2.500	38
Finland	2.333	39
Wales	2.000	40
Lithuania	2.000	41
Armenia	2.000	42
Luxembourg	1.667	43
Cyprus	1.667	44
Faroe Islands	1.667	45
Moldova	1.333	46
Montenegro	1.333	47
Kazakhstan	1.333	48
Malta	0.333	49
Andorra	0.333	50
San Marino	0.333	51
Liechtenstein	0.000	52
Gibraltar	0.000	53

Notes

Azerbaijan (Coeff: 1.667) qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts.

Groups

Times up to 24 October 2015 are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times are CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Switzerland	Elite round
2	Netherlands	Elite round
3	Albania	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Wales (H)

First match(es) will be played on 22 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 22–27 October 2015

Group 2

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Belarus (H)	Elite round
2	Russia	Elite round
3	Montenegro	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Cyprus

First match(es) will be played on 30 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 30 September–5 October 2015

Group 3

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Sweden	Elite round
2	Republic of Ireland	Elite round
3	Malta	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Finland (H)

First match(es) will be played on 24 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 24–29 September 2015

Group 4

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Hungary (H)	Elite round
2	Georgia	Elite round
3	Romania	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Slovakia

First match(es) will be played on 24 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 24–29 October 2015

Group 5

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Serbia	Elite round
2	Austria	Elite round
3	Luxembourg (H)	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Lithuania

First match(es) will be played on 24 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 24–29 October 2015

Group 6

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Poland	Elite round
2	Spain	Elite round
3	Latvia (H)	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Andorra

First match(es) will be played on 25 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 25–30 October 2015

Group 7

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Croatia	Elite round
2	Czech Republic	Elite round
3	Gibraltar	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Liechtenstein (H)

First match(es) will be played on 26 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 26–31 October 2015

Group 8

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Denmark	Elite round
2	Iceland (H)	Elite round
3	Greece	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Kazakhstan

First match(es) will be played on 22 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 22–27 September 2015

Group 9

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	England	Elite round
2	Portugal (H)	Elite round
3	San Marino	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Armenia

First match(es) will be played on 29 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 29 September–4 October 2015

Group 10

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Turkey	Elite round
2	Belgium	Elite round
3	Faroe Islands	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Slovenia (H)

First match(es) will be played on 24 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 24–29 September 2015

Group 11

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Norway	Elite round
2	France	Elite round
3	Israel (H)	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Northern Ireland

First match(es) will be played on 20 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 20–25 October 2015

Group 12

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Italy	Elite round
2	Scotland	Elite round
3	Bulgaria (H)	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Macedonia

First match(es) will be played on 21 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 21–26 October 2015

Group 13

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Ukraine	Elite round
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Elite round
3	Moldova (H)	Possible Elite round based on ranking
4	Estonia

First match(es) will be played on 26 October 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

Dates: 26–31 October 2015

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.

Pos	Grp	Team	Qualification
1	1	Group 1 third place	Elite round
2	2	Group 2 third place
3	3	Group 3 third place
4	4	Group 4 third place
5	5	Group 5 third place
6	6	Group 6 third place
7	7	Group 7 third place
8	8	Group 8 third place
9	9	Group 9 third place
10	10	Group 10 third place
11	11	Group 11 third place
12	12	Group 12 third place
13	13	Group 13 third place

First match(es) will be played on 22 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots.

Elite round

Draw

The draw for the elite round will be held in late 2015.

The teams will be seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Germany, which received a bye to the elite round, will be automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group will contain one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D.

Pos	Grp	Team	Seeding
1	—	Germany	Pot A
2		TBD
3		TBD
4		TBD
5		TBD
6		TBD
7		TBD
8		TBD
9		TBD	Pot B
10		TBD
11		TBD
12		TBD
13		TBD
14		TBD
15		TBD
16		TBD
17		TBD	Pot C
18		TBD
19		TBD
20		TBD
21		TBD
22		TBD
23		TBD
24		TBD
25		TBD	Pot D
26		TBD
27		TBD
28		TBD
29		TBD
30		TBD
31		TBD
32		TBD

First match(es) will be played on 22 September 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient used for qualifying round draw; 6) drawing of lots.

Groups

Dates: Spring 2016

Times up to 26 March 2016 are CET (UTC+1), thereafter times are CEST (UTC+2).