2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification

2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	19 September – 31 October 2014 (qualifying round); 12–26 March 2015 (elite round)
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	126
Goals scored	316 (2.51 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jan Mlakar (8 goals)
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The 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-17 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the 15 teams joining Bulgaria, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.^[1] A total of 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.^[2]

Each match lasted 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes, with an interval of 15 minutes.

The final tournament also acted as the UEFA qualifier for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile, with six teams qualifying (the four semi-finalists and the two winners of play-off matches between the losing quarter-finalists).

Format

The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:^[3]

Qualifying round: Apart from Germany, which received a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 52 teams were drawn into 13 groups of four teams. Each group was 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 advanced to the elite round.
Elite round: The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four teams. Each group was 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 qualified for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[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 had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were 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);
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 were discarded. The following criteria were applied:^[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);
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 28 November 2013 at 09:30 CET (UTC+1).^[4]^[5]

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

2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2013 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.^[2]

For political reasons, if Azerbaijan and Armenia (due to the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh), as well as Georgia and Russia (due to the disputed status of South Ossetia), were drawn in the same group, neither would host the mini-tournament. Moreover, Spain and Gibraltar could not be drawn in the same group due to the disputed status of Gibraltar.

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Germany	11.333	1

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
Netherlands	9.500	2
England	9.333	3
France	9.000	4
Hungary	8.500	5
Italy	8.000	6
Denmark	8.000	7
Russia	7.833	8
Czech Republic	7.833	9
Spain	7.833	10
Serbia	7.667	11
Portugal	7.167	12
Georgia	7.000	13
Croatia	6.833	14
Norway	6.833	15
Switzerland	6.667	16
Belgium	6.333	17
Poland	6.333	18
Ukraine	6.167	19
Sweden	6.167	20
Scotland	6.000	21
Republic of Ireland	5.833	22
Iceland	5.833	23
Belarus	5.633	24
Austria	5.500	25
Slovakia	5.000	26
Turkey	4.500	27

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Greece	4.333	28
Romania	4.333	29
Northern Ireland	4.167	30
Israel	4.000	31
Finland	3.467	32
Albania	3.000	33
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3.000	34
Slovenia	2.667	35
Lithuania	2.333	36
Luxembourg	2.333	37
Kazakhstan	2.333	38
Montenegro	2.333	39
Latvia	2.167	40
Estonia	1.833	41
Macedonia	1.667	42
Azerbaijan	1.333	43
Armenia	1.333	44
Wales	1.000	45
Moldova	1.000	46
Cyprus	1.000	47
Faroe Islands	1.000	48
Andorra	0.667	49
San Marino	0.333	50
Malta	0.333	51
Liechtenstein	0.000	52
Gibraltar	0.000	53

Notes

Bulgaria (Coeff: 4.000) qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts.

Groups

Times up to 25 October 2014 were CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times were CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Scotland	3	2	1	0	8	0	+8	7	Elite round
2	Republic of Ireland (H)	3	2	1	0	9	2	+7	7	Elite round
3	Faroe Islands	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1
4	Gibraltar	3	0	1	2	0	9	−9	1

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

22 September 2014