The2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hostsGeorgia in the2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.[1]
A total of 53UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.[2] Players born on or after 1 January 1998 are eligible to participate.
The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:[3]
Qualifying round: Apart fromSpain, 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.
The teams are ranked according topoints (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;
Superiorgoal 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 apenalty 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;
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 ofNagorno-Karabakh), as well as Russia and Ukraine (due to theRussian military intervention in Ukraine), could not be drawn in the same group.[2]
To determine the best third-placed team 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.[7]
The draw for the elite round was held on 13 December 2016, 11:00CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters inNyon,Switzerland.[8][9]
The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round.[10]Spain, 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 team (Belarus) could be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group.[11]
Lassi Lappalainen
Birk Risa
Nathan Broadhead
Belgium(H)
Russia
Kazakhstan
88'
Netherlands(H)
Romania
San Marino
Israel
Scotland
Andorra(H)
Liechtenstein
Germany
Republic of Ireland
Albania(H)
Gibraltar
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Azerbaijan
Lithuania(H)
England
Greece
Luxembourg
Italy
Hungary
Switzerland
Armenia(H)
Bulgaria(H)
Portugal
Belarus
Denmark
France
Czech Republic(H)
Slovenia
Estonia
Sweden
Serbia(H)
Malta
Moldova
Slovakia
Poland(H)
Northern Ireland
Macedonia
Croatia
Cyprus
Faroe Islands
Montenegro(H)
Turkey
Ukraine(H)
Iceland
Latvia
Spain
Georgia