The2023 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-17football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hostsEstonia in the2023 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament.[1]
48 teams, including hosts Estonia, entered the qualifying competition.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2006 are eligible to participate.
Last season,UEFA implemented a new format for the women'sU17 andU19 Euros, based on a league-style qualifying format.
The teams are divided in two leagues: League A (28 teams) and League B (20 teams).
Each league will play two rounds:
Round 1: In each league, groups of 4 teams will play mini-tournaments. The winners of each mini-tournament in league B and the best runner-up will be promoted and the last-placed teams in league A mini-tournaments will be relegated.
Round 2: The seven winners of League A will qualify for the final tournament. The six winners of mini-tournaments in league B and the best runner-up will be promoted and the last-placed teams in league A will be relegated for Round 1 of the next edition of the tournament.
In Round 1 and Round 2, teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01 and 17.02):[2]
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 (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);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Position in the applicable ranking:
for teams in round 1, position in2021–22 round 2 league rankings;
for teams in round 2, position in the round 1 league ranking.
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 (Regulations Article 15.01):[2]
Points;
Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Disciplinary points;
Position in the applicable ranking:
for teams in round 1, position in the coefficient rankings;
for teams in round 2, position in the round 1 league ranking.
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 31 May 2022, at the UEFA headquarters inNyon, Switzerland.[3]
The teams were seeded according to their final group standings of the2021–22 competition (Regulations Article 13.01).[2]
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, Armenia and Azerbaijan would not be drawn in the same group.[3]
To determine the2021–22 Round 2 league rankings, the following criteria was followed:
higher position in the following classification:
League A Round 2 group winners
League A Round 2 group runners-up
League A Round 2 third-placed teams
Teams promoted from League B
Teams relegated from League A
League B Round 2 runners-up
League B Round 2 third-placed teams
League B Round 2 fourth-placed teams
higher number of points in all mini-tournament matches;
superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
lower disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
higher position in the 2021–22 round 1 league rankings.
To determine the best runner-up, only the results of the runner-up teams against the first and third-placed teams in their group are taken into account.
The 21 teams of Round 1 League A and the 7 teams of Round 2 League B (six group winners and the best runner-up) are drawn in seven groups of four teams.
The teams were seeded according to their results in the round 1 (Regulations Article 15.01).[71]
Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) higher position in the round 1 league ranking. Notes:
Maša Tomašević (9 goals)
Czech Republic
Norway
Hungary(H)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
23'
Spain(H)
Poland
Belgium
Greece
Republic of Ireland
Finland
Austria
Northern Ireland(H)
Switzerland
France
Italy(H)
Iceland
Germany
Slovenia(H)
Serbia
Turkey
England
Denmark
Estonia(H)
Ukraine
Netherlands
Portugal(H)
Sweden
Scotland
Belarus
Luxembourg(H)
Armenia
Georgia
North Macedonia
Kosovo
Albania(H)
Moldova
Croatia
Faroe Islands
Bulgaria(H)
Slovakia
Latvia(H)
Azerbaijan
Wales
Israel(H)
Romania(H)
Kazakhstan
Lithuania