The2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hostsMalta in the2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to participate.
Russia were originally scheduled to participate in the competition before being excluded due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, whileLiechtenstein opted not to participate. This meant that the tournament featured 52 of the remaining 54 UEFA member association national teams. Qualification consisted of a qualifying round in autumn 2022 followed by an elite round in spring 2023.[2]
The qualifying competition consisted of the following two rounds:
Qualifying Round: Apart fromPortugal, which received a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 51 teams were drawn in twelve groups of four teams and one group of three teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The thirteen group winners, thirteen runners-up, and the third placed team with the best record against the first and second-placed teams in their group advanced to the elite round.
Elite Round: The 28 teams were drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The seven group winners qualified for the final tournament.
The schedule of each group was as follows, with two rest days between each matchday (Regulations Article 20.04):[3]
In the qualifying and elite round, teams were ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):[4]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 had the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and were tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage)
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for 2 yellow cards in one match = 3 points)
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw
To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02):[4]
Points
Goal difference
Goals scored
Disciplinary points (total 3 matches)
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw
Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following pairs of teams could not be drawn in the same group: Spain and Gibraltar, Ukraine and Russia, Serbia and Kosovo, Russia and Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round which advanced to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group were taken into account.
Updated to match(es) played on 23 November 2022. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient; 6) drawing of lots. Notes:
^abRanked on disciplinary points: Austria −4, Wales −6.
^abRanked on disciplinary points: Montenegro −2, Albania −7.
Leon Elshan
Orri Óskarsson
Liechtenstein
Greece
Czech Republic
Switzerland(H)
Andorra
15'
Turkey
Bulgaria(H)
Azerbaijan
Ukraine
Sweden(H)
Cyprus
Kosovo
Republic of Ireland
Hungary
Wales(H)
Gibraltar
Poland(H)
Estonia
Italy
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Romania(H)
Latvia
Austria
Lithuania
Spain
Belgium(H)
Albania
Russia
France
Scotland(H)
Kazakhstan
England
Denmark(H)
Montenegro
Georgia
Serbia
Norway
North Macedonia(H)
San Marino
Croatia(H)
Israel
Finland
Faroe Islands
Germany(H)
Slovakia
Belarus
Armenia
Slovenia
Northern Ireland
Netherlands(H)
Moldova
Portugal
Malta