2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates 25 March 2017 – 20 November 2018
Teams 54 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 243
Goals scored 742 (3.05 per match)
Top scorer(s) Poland Dawid Kownacki
(9 goals)

The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition is a men's under-21 football competition that will determine the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament (the other co-hosts San Marino will not qualify automatically).[1]

Apart from Italy, all remaining 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition,[2] with Gibraltar and Kosovo making their debuts. Players born on or after 1 January 1996 are eligible to participate.

Format

The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:[3]

  • Qualifying group stage: The 54 teams are drawn into nine groups of six teams. Each group is played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners qualify directly for the final tournament, while the four best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) advance to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The four teams are drawn into two ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last two qualified teams.

Tiebreakers

In the qualifying group stage, 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 Article 14.01):[3]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  5. 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;
  6. Goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  10. UEFA coefficient 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. Points;
  2. Goal difference;
  3. Goals scored;
  4. Away goals scored;
  5. Disciplinary points;
  6. UEFA coefficient 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 Article 19.01).[3]

Schedule

The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA International Match Calendar.[2]

Stage FIFA International Dates
Qualifying group stage 20–28 March 2017
5–13 June 2017
28 August – 5 September 2017
2–10 October 2017
6–14 November 2017
19–27 March 2018
3–11 September 2018
8–16 October 2018
Play-offs 12–20 November 2018

Qualifying group stage

Draw

The draw for the qualifying group stage was held on 26 January 2017, 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]

Each group contained one team from each of Pots A–F. For political reasons, Spain and Gibraltar, Serbia and Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo would not be drawn in the same group.[2]

Final tournament hosts
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Italy35,5466
Teams entering qualifying group stage
Pot A
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Germany39,0371
 Portugal38,3782
 England36,6213
 Spain36,5364
 Denmark35,5905
 France34,2627
 Sweden34,2598
 Czech Republic33,6909
 Serbia31,06010
Pot B
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Slovakia31,05711
 Israel30,78612
 Netherlands29,81713
 Austria29,40614
 Croatia28,23915
 Belgium28,23716
 Poland28,10217
  Switzerland27,88218
 Slovenia27,37219
Pot C
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Ukraine27,37220
 Norway26,83021
 Russia26,41422
 Turkey25,92723
 Romania25,85924
 Iceland25,67925
 Greece25,52226
 Montenegro24,79127
 Finland24,58128
Pot D
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Wales23,68329
 Bulgaria23,30930
 Macedonia23,28331
 Georgia22,40232
 Hungary22,34933
 Republic of Ireland22,00434
 Scotland21,78435
 Moldova20,69636
 Albania18,58437
Pot E
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Lithuania18,41138
 Azerbaijan18,33139
 Armenia18,12640
 Bosnia and Herzegovina18,05641
 Belarus17,74142
 Kazakhstan16,82643
 Cyprus16,63644
 Latvia16,51645
 Estonia14,49846
Pot F
TeamCoeffRank[6]
 Malta14,33147
 Luxembourg12,87848
 Northern Ireland12,61149
 Faroe Islands12,11350
 San Marino10,74051
 Andorra10,04552
 Liechtenstein8,05853
 Gibraltar054
 Kosovo055
Notes
  • Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.

Groups

  The nine group winners qualify directly for the final tournament.
  The four best group runners-up (not counting results against sixth-placed team) advance to the play-offs.

Group 1

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Croatia (X) 9 7 1 1 27 5 +22 22 Final tournament — 2–0 5–1 2–1 4–0 5–0
2  Greece (Y) 9 7 1 1 24 5 +19 22 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 1–1 — 3–0 15 Oct 5–1 4–0
3  Czech Republic (E) 10 5 1 4 14 15 −1 16 2–1 1–2 — 1–1 1–0 3–1
4  Belarus (E) 9 4 2 3 11 12 −1 14 0–4 0–2 1–0 — 3–1 1–0
5  Moldova (E) 10 2 1 7 8 23 −15 7 0–3 0–2 1–3 2–2 — 1–0
6  San Marino (E) 9 0 0 9 1 25 −24 0 15 Oct 0–5 0–2 0–2 0–2 —
Updated to match(es) played on 15 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs; (Y) Assured of at least second place.

Group 2

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain (Q) 9 8 0 1 24 8 +16 24 Final tournament — 5–1 1–2 1–0 3–0 3–1
2  Slovakia (Z) 9 6 0 3 17 17 0 18 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 1–4 — 1–0 0–2 4–1 2–0
3  Northern Ireland (Z) 9 5 2 2 14 11 +3 17 3–5 16 Oct — 0–0 1–0 4–2
4  Iceland (E) 9 3 2 4 14 12 +2 11 16 Oct 2–3 0–1 — 2–3 5–2
5  Albania (E) 9 1 3 5 7 15 −8 6 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 — 0–0
6  Estonia (E) 9 0 1 8 9 22 −13 1 0–1 1–2 1–2 2–3 16 Oct —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Z) Cannot qualify directly, but can still qualify via play-offs.

Group 3

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Denmark (Y) 9 6 2 1 27 8 +19 20 Final tournament — 1–1 5–2 2–0 16 Oct 6–0
2  Poland (Y) 9 5 4 0 19 9 +10 19 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 3–1 — 16 Oct 3–3 1–1 1–0
3  Georgia (E) 9 3 3 3 11 16 −5 12 2–2 0–3 — 2–2 1–0 1–0
4  Finland (E) 9 2 3 4 13 19 −6 9 0–5 1–3 1–2 — 1–1 16 Oct
5  Faroe Islands (E) 9 1 4 4 10 17 −7 7 0–3 2–2 3–1 1–3 — 2–2
6  Lithuania (E) 9 1 2 6 5 16 −11 5 0–2 0–2 0–0 0–2 3–0 —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Y) Assured of at least second place.

Group 4

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  England (Q) 9 7 2 0 21 4 +17 23 Final tournament — 2–1 0–0 3–1 3–0 7–0
2  Ukraine (Z) 9 5 2 2 18 9 +9 17 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 0–2 — 1–1 3–1 3–2 1–0
3  Netherlands (Z) 9 4 3 2 18 6 +12 15 1–1 16 Oct — 1–2 3–0 8–0
4  Scotland (E) 9 4 2 3 13 11 +2 14 16 Oct 0–2 2–0 — 1–1 3–0
5  Latvia (E) 9 0 3 6 5 18 −13 3 1–2 1–1 0–3 0–2 — 0–0
6  Andorra (E) 9 0 2 7 1 28 −27 2 0–1 0–6 0–1 1–1 16 Oct —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Z) Cannot qualify directly, but can still qualify via play-offs.

Group 5

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany (Q) 9 7 1 1 31 7 +24 22 Final tournament — 2–1 16 Oct 1–0 3–0 6–1
2  Norway (E) 9 4 2 3 14 12 +2 14 3–1 — 2–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 0–0 16 Oct
3  Republic of Ireland (E) 9 4 2 3 12 13 −1 14 0–6 0–0 — 1–0 4–0 1–0
4  Kosovo (E) 9 3 3 3 9 9 0 12 0–0 3–2 1–1 — 0–4 2–0
5  Israel (E) 9 3 2 4 14 18 −4 11 2–5 1–3 3–1 16 Oct — 3–1
6  Azerbaijan (E) 9 0 2 7 5 26 −21 2 0–7 1–3 1–3 0–0 1–1 —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated.
Notes:
  1. ↑ The Norway v Kosovo match originally ended with a 5–0 win for Norway, but was later awarded as a 0–3 win for Kosovo, after UEFA concluded that Norway had played Kristoffer Ajer in this match, who was ineligible after being suspended due to cards in his U-19 tournament match.[7][8]

Group 6

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Belgium (X) 9 7 2 0 20 5 +15 23 Final tournament — 1–1 0–0 3–0 3–2 2–1
2  Sweden (Y) 9 6 2 1 19 5 +14 20 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 16 Oct — 0–1 1–0 4–1 3–0
3  Turkey (E) 9 4 2 3 12 9 +3 14 1–2 0–3 — 0–0 4–0 4–2
4  Hungary (E) 9 3 2 4 11 12 −1 11 0–3 2–2 16 Oct — 4–0 2–1
5  Cyprus (E) 9 2 0 7 7 22 −15 6 0–2 0–1 2–1 0–2 — 2–1
6  Malta (E) 9 1 0 8 7 23 −16 3 0–4 0–4 0–1 2–1 16 Oct —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs; (Y) Assured of at least second place.

Group 7

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Serbia (Q) 9 8 1 0 23 5 +18 25 Final tournament — 3–2 0–0 16 Oct 2–1 4–0
2  Russia (Z) 9 6 1 2 23 10 +13 19 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 1–2 — 1–0 0–0 5–1 3–0
3  Austria (Z) 9 6 1 2 22 5 +17 19 1–3 16 Oct — 2–1 2–0 3–0
4  Armenia (E) 9 2 2 5 9 16 −7 8 0–1 1–2 0–5 — 0–3 1–0
5  Macedonia (E) 9 1 1 7 11 23 −12 4 0–2 3–4 0–4 3–3 — 16 Oct
6  Gibraltar (E) 9 1 0 8 1 30 −29 3 0–6 0–5 0–5 0–3 1–0 —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Z) Cannot qualify directly, but can still qualify via play-offs.

Group 8

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Romania (X) 9 6 3 0 15 4 +11 21 Final tournament — 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 16 Oct
2  Portugal 9 6 1 2 29 9 +20 19 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 1–2 — 16 Oct 2–0 2–1 7–0
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina (Z) 9 6 0 3 22 7 +15 18 1–3 3–1 — 1–0 3–0 6–0
4  Wales (E) 9 3 1 5 8 13 −5 10 0–0 0–2 0–4 — 16 Oct 2–1
5   Switzerland (E) 9 3 1 5 10 15 −5 10 0–2 2–4 1–0 0–3 — 3–0
6  Liechtenstein (E) 9 0 0 9 2 38 −36 0 0–2 0–9 0–4 1–3 0–2 —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs; (Z) Cannot qualify directly, but can still qualify via play-offs.

Group 9

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France (Q) 9 9 0 0 23 5 +18 27 Final tournament — 16 Oct 4–1 3–0 2–1 2–0
2  Slovenia (Z) 9 4 3 2 13 11 +2 15 Play-offs if among four best runners-up 1–3 — 2–1 1–1 2–0 3–1
3  Kazakhstan (E) 9 2 4 3 12 13 −1 10 0–3 0–0 — 1–1 1–1 3–0
4  Bulgaria (E) 9 2 4 3 10 10 0 10 0–1 3–0 2–2 — 3–1 0–1
5  Montenegro (E) 9 2 2 5 10 14 −4 8 0–2 1–3 16 Oct 0–0 — 3–0
6  Luxembourg (E) 9 1 1 7 6 21 −15 4 2–3 1–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 16 Oct 1–3 —
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Z) Cannot qualify directly, but can still qualify via play-offs.
Notes:
  1. ↑ The Luxembourg v Kazakhstan originally ended with a 1–2 win for Kazakhstan, but was later awarded as a 0–3 win for Kazakhstan, after UEFA concluded that Luxembourg had played an ineligible player.[9]

Ranking of second-placed teams

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 are not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team will count for the purposes of determining the ranking.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 1  Greece 7 5 1 1 15 5 +10 16 Play-offs
2 6  Sweden 7 4 2 1 12 5 +7 14
3 3  Poland 7 3 4 0 16 9 +7 13
4 7  Russia 7 4 1 2 15 10 +5 13
5 8  Portugal 7 4 1 2 13 9 +4 13
6 2  Slovakia 7 4 0 3 13 16 −3 12
7 4  Ukraine 7 3 2 2 11 9 +2 11
8 5  Norway (E) 8 3 2 3 11 11 0 11
9 9  Slovenia 7 3 2 2 9 9 0 11
Updated to match(es) played on 12 October 2018. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) coefficient.
(E) Eliminated.

Play-offs

Draw

The draw for the play-offs will be held on 19 October 2018, 13:00 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[10] The four teams are drawn into two ties of home-and-away two-legged format.

Matches

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

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
12–20 Nov 12–20 Nov
12–20 Nov 12–20 Nov

Qualified teams

The following 12 teams qualify for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in Under-21 Euro1
only U-21 era (since 1978)
 ItalyHosts9 December 2016[1]19 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017)
TBDGroup 1 winners15 October 2018
 SpainGroup 2 winners6 September 201813 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017)
TBDGroup 3 winners16 October 2018
 EnglandGroup 4 winners11 October 201814 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
 GermanyGroup 5 winners12 October 201811 (19822, 19902, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017)
TBDGroup 6 winners16 October 2018
 SerbiaGroup 7 winners12 October 201810 (19783, 19803, 19843, 19903, 20044, 20064, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017)
TBDGroup 8 winners16 October 2018
 FranceGroup 9 winners7 September 20188 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1994, 1996, 2002, 2006)
TBDPlay-off winnersNovember 2018
TBDPlay-off winnersNovember 2018
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 12 October 2018
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals

Source: UEFA.com[11]

For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each group:

References

  1. 1 2 "Italy to host 2019 Under-21 EURO". uefa.com. 9 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Seedings set for live 2019 U21 qualifying draw". UEFA.com. 25 January 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "2017-19 UEFA European Under-21 Championship regulations" (PDF). UEFA.
  4. ↑ "2019 Under-21 qualifying group stage draw". UEFA.com.
  5. ↑ "England face Netherlands, Scotland in 2019 U21 qualifying". UEFA.com. 26 January 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Under-21 coefficients: 2019 qualifying draw" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  7. ↑ "UEFA confirms: Kosovo wins three points on table against Norway". Football Federation of Kosovo. 29 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "NFF har tatt grep etter Kristoffer Ajer-brøleren" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "МОЛОДЕЖНАЯ СБОРНАЯ КАЗАХСТАНА ВЫРВАЛА НИЧЬЮ У БОЛГАРИИ". Football Federation of Kazakhstan. 6 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "Play-off draw". UEFA.com.
  11. ↑ "Statistics — Qualifying phase — Player statistics — Goals". UEFA.com. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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