2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

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):[3]

1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
5. 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;
6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
9. 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);
10. 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):[3]

1. Higher number of points;
2. Superior goal difference;
3. Higher number of goals scored;
4. Higher number of away goals scored;
5. 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);
6. 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).[3]

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.[4][5]

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

• 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
• 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
• 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition

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.[2]

Final tournament hosts

Team	Coeff	Rank
Poland	25,402	24

Teams entering qualifying group stage

Pot A Team Coeff Rank  Spain 41,470 1  England 36,252 2  Italy 36,129 3  Germany 35,370 4  France 35,107 5  Czech Republic 34,516 6  Portugal 33,887 7  Netherlands 33,422 8  Denmark 31,989 9	Pot B Team Coeff Rank  Russia 31,346 10   Switzerland 31,296 11  Sweden 30,365 12  Serbia 29,837 13  Israel 29,766 14  Ukraine 28,950 15  Slovakia 27,982 16  Romania 27,668 17  Belgium 27,539 18	Pot C Team Coeff Rank  Turkey 27,497 19  Slovenia 27,252 20  Austria 27,177 21  Greece 26,982 22  Scotland 25,812 23  Croatia 25,286 25  Norway 24,859 26  Armenia 24,441 27  Montenegro 24,402 28
Pot D Team Coeff Rank  Finland 23,851 29  Wales 23,818 30  Hungary 23,776 31  Iceland 23,521 32  Bosnia and Herzegovina 22,912 33  Georgia 22,606 34  Moldova 22,431 35  Republic of Ireland 21,936 36  Belarus 20,638 37	Pot E Team Coeff Rank  Bulgaria 20,317 38  Cyprus 18,809 39  Macedonia 18,126 40  Lithuania 17,511 41  Azerbaijan 17,414 42  Kazakhstan 17,076 43  Albania 16,014 44  Latvia 15,836 45  Estonia 15,726 46	Pot F Team Coeff Rank  Faroe Islands 14,896 47  Northern Ireland 14,651 48  Luxembourg 11,251 49  Malta 10,838 50  San Marino 10,163 51  Andorra 8,950 52  Liechtenstein 8,125 53

Notes

• Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.

Did not enter

Team	Coeff	Rank
Gibraltar	0	54

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.[7]

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	6	Spain	8	5	2	1	22	9	+13	17	Play-offs
2	2	Serbia	8	5	2	1	18	8	+10	17
3	7	Austria	8	5	1	2	20	12	+8	16
4	9	Norway	8	5	1	2	12	10	+2	16
5	4	Israel	8	4	3	1	13	4	+9	15
6	8	Netherlands	8	4	2	2	15	10	+5	14
7	3	France	8	4	2	2	13	8	+5	14
8	1	Belgium	8	4	0	4	10	10	0	12
9	5	Bulgaria	8	3	2	3	8	7	+1	11

The draw for the play-offs was held on 14 October 2016, 13:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[8][9]

The two play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Serbia	2–1	Norway	2–0	0–1
Austria	1–1 (a)	Spain	1–1	0–0