The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition is a men's under-17 football competition that will determine the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts England in the 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.[1]
A total of 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition (including Kosovo who entered for the first time).[2] Players born on or after 1 January 2001 are eligible to participate. Each match has a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.
Format
The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:
Qualifying round: Apart from Germany and Portugal, which receive byes to the elite round as the teams 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 four 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
NOTE: The following information is based on the regulations of the 2017 qualifying competition,[3] and is subject to confirmation based on the regulations of the 2018 qualifying competition.
In the qualifying round and elite round, teams are ranked according to points (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 14.01 and 14.02):[3]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying criteria 1 to 3, a subset of teams are still tied, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
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 criteria 1 to 6, their rankings are determined by a penalty 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);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.
To determine the four 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 (Regulations Articles 15.01, 15.02 and 15.03):[3]
Points;
Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Disciplinary points;
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.
Qualifying round
Draw
The draw for the qualifying round will be held on 13 December 2016, 09:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
The teams are seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:[4]
Each group contains one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine, Spain and Gibraltar, Serbia and Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo will not be drawn in the same group.[2]
First match(es) will be played: 2017. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Team 1
v
Team 4
Team 3
v
Team 2
Team 1
v
Team 3
Team 2
v
Team 4
Team 2
v
Team 1
Team 4
v
Team 3
Ranking of third-placed teams
To determine the four 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.
First match(es) will be played: 2017. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient; 6) drawing of lots.
Elite round
Draw
The draw for the elite round will be held in late 2017.
The teams are seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Germany and Portugal, which received byes to the elite round, are automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group contains 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 cannot be drawn in the same group, but the best third-placed teams can be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group.
First match(es) will be played: 2017. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient; 6) drawing of lots. (X) Certain to be in pot as indicated
Groups
Times up to 24 March 2018 are CET (UTC+1), thereafter times are CEST (UTC+2).
First match(es) will be played: 2018. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Team 1
v
Team 4
Team 3
v
Team 2
Team 1
v
Team 3
Team 2
v
Team 4
Team 2
v
Team 1
Team 4
v
Team 3
Ranking of second-placed teams
To determine the seven best second-placed teams from the elite round which qualify for the final tournament, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first and third-placed teams in their group are taken into account.
First match(es) will be played: 2018. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient; 6) drawing of lots.
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualify for the final tournament.
Team
Qualified as
Qualified on
Previous appearances in tournament1 only U-17 era (since 2002)
Germany (X)
Portugal (X)
England