2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification

2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying round:; 16 September – 6 November 2016; Elite round:; 10–28 March 2017
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	126
Goals scored	397 (3.15 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aaron Connolly (7 goals)
	← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-17 football competition that determined the fifteen teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Croatia in the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.^[1]

A total of 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.^[2] Players born on or after 1 January 2000 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:^[3]

Qualifying round: Apart from Germany, which receive a bye to the elite round as the team 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 five 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

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 mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):^[3]

Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, 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).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

To determine the five 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]

Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
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);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 3 December 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]

2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contained two teams from Pot A and two teams from Pot B. For political reasons, Spain and Gibraltar (due to the disputed status of Gibraltar), Armenia and Azerbaijan (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
Croatia	8.500	—

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Germany	12.667	1

Teams entering qualifying round

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
England	11.667	2
Netherlands	9.667	3
Portugal	9.333	4
Italy	9.167	5
Russia	9.167	6
France	8.667	7
Czech Republic	8.500	8
Austria	8.500	9
Spain	8.167	10
Poland	8.000	11
Scotland	8.000	12
Serbia	7.667	13
Switzerland	7.667	14
Belgium	6.833	15
Republic of Ireland	6.833	16
Ukraine	6.167	17
Sweden	6.000	18
Norway	5.833	19
Georgia	5.667	20
Greece	5.500	21
Slovenia	5.333	22
Hungary	5.167	23
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.000	24
Belarus	4.967	25
Israel	4.833	26
Slovakia	4.333	27

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Turkey	4.333	28
Iceland	4.167	29
Bulgaria	4.000	30
Romania	4.000	31
Northern Ireland	3.833	32
Denmark	3.333	33
Wales	3.167	34
Albania	3.167	35
Estonia	3.167	36
Finland	3.133	37
Latvia	3.000	38
Moldova	2.667	39
Cyprus	2.667	40
Faroe Islands	1.667	41
Azerbaijan	1.500	42
Luxembourg	1.333	43
Macedonia	1.333	44
Armenia	1.000	45
Lithuania	1.000	46
Montenegro	0.333	47
Andorra	0.333	48
San Marino	0.333	49
Gibraltar	0.333	50
Malta	0.000	51
Liechtenstein	0.000	52
Kazakhstan	0.000	53

Notes

Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.

Groups

The qualifying round must be played between 1 July and mid-November 2016.^[3]

Times up to 29 October 2016 are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times are CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	3	3	0	8	1	+7	9	Elite round
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	2	1	5	2	+3	6	Elite round
3	Latvia	3	1	2	2	4	−2	3
4	Moldova (H)	3	0	3	0	8	−8	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

23 September 2016

15:00

Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–0	Latvia
Lušņickis 15' (o.g.) Šikanjić 49' Veips 62' (o.g.)	Report

CSR Orhei, Orhei

Attendance: 50

Referee: Anders Poulsen (Denmark)

23 September 2016