2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying round: 18 September – 18 November 2015 Elite round: 23–30 March 2016
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	120
Goals scored	352 (2.93 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ivan Šaponjić (6 goals)
← 2015 2017 →

The 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification was a men's under-19 football competition organised by UEFA to determine the seven national teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Germany in the 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.^[1]

A total of 53 national teams entered this qualifying competition, which was played in two rounds between September 2015 and March 2016.^[2] Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to participate.

Format

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

• Qualifying round: Apart from Spain, 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 third-placed team with the best record against the first- and second-placed teams in its group advanced to the elite round.
• Elite round: The 28 teams were drawn into seven 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 seven group winners qualified for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). 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]

1. Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
4. 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;
5. Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
6. Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
7. 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).
8. 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);
9. Drawing of lots.

To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied:^[3]

1. Higher number of points;
2. Superior goal difference;
3. Higher number of goals scored;
4. 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);
5. Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 3 December 2014, 09:50 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][7]

• 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
• 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
• 2014 UEFA European Under-19 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, 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]

Bye to elite round

Team	Coeff	Rank
Spain	13.667	1

Pot A Team Coeff Rank  Portugal 11.833 2  Serbia 11.000 3  France 10.333 4  England 9.833 5  Turkey 9.500 6  Georgia 8.500 7  Austria 8.333 8  Ukraine 8.167 9  Denmark 7.667 10  Netherlands 7.500 11  Croatia 7.167 12  Greece 6.833 13  Czech Republic 6.167 14  Belgium 6.000 15  Republic of Ireland 6.000 16   Switzerland 6.000 17  Norway 5.833 18  Israel 5.833 19  Italy 5.667 20  Romania 5.500 21  Bulgaria 5.167 22  Hungary 5.000 23  Sweden 4.833 24  Russia 4.667 25  Scotland 4.667 26  Cyprus 4.167 27

Pot B Team Coeff Rank  Montenegro 4.167 28  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4.167 29  Slovenia 4.167 30  Slovakia 4.167 31  Macedonia 4.000 32  Poland 3.667 33  Iceland 3.167 34  Armenia 3.000 35  Estonia 3.000 36  Albania 3.000 37  Wales 2.833 38  Northern Ireland 2.667 39  Latvia 2.333 40  Finland 2.333 41  Belarus 2.000 42  Lithuania 1.833 43  Azerbaijan 1.667 44  Malta 1.333 45  Luxembourg 1.000 46  Faroe Islands 1.000 47  Kazakhstan 0.333 48  Moldova 0.333 49  San Marino 0.000 50  Andorra 0.000 51  Liechtenstein 0.000 52  Gibraltar 0.000 53

Notes

• Germany (Coeff: 8.833) qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts.

Groups

Times up to 24 October 2015 were CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times were CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	3	2	1	0	2	0	+2	7	Elite round
2	Scotland	3	2	0	1	6	1	+5	6
3	Republic of Ireland (H)	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
4	Latvia	3	0	1	2	0	5	−5	1

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Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia (H)	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7	Elite round
2	Montenegro	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
3	Hungary	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

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Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Elite round
2	Bulgaria	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4[a]
3	Luxembourg	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4[a]
4	Cyprus (H)	3	0	1	2	4	8	−4	1

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Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7	Elite round
2	Italy	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	Finland	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Macedonia (H)	3	0	0	3	3	7	−4	0

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Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Turkey	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6[a]	Elite round
2	Ukraine	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6[a]
3	Azerbaijan (H)	3	1	0	2	1	5	−4	3[b]
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3[b]

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Group 6

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Elite round
2	Denmark	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5
3	Iceland	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
4	Malta (H)	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

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Group 7

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal (H)	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9	Elite round
2	Greece	3	2	0	1	3	5	−2	6
3	Lithuania	3	1	0	2	1	6	−5	3
4	Moldova	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3	0

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Group 8

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7	Elite round
2	Georgia (H)	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Albania	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3[a]
4	Wales	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3[a]

The match was completed with a 2–1 scoreline before a 3–0 default victory was awarded to Austria due to Albania fielding an ineligible player.

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The match was completed with a 0–1 scoreline before a 0–3 default victory was awarded to Georgia due to Albania fielding an ineligible player.

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Group 9

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovakia	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5	Elite round
2	Northern Ireland	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
3	Russia (H)	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
4	Norway	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

Matches on the first matchday, originally to be played on 11 November (Norway v Northern Ireland at 12:00 and Russia v Slovakia at 15:00), were postponed to 12 November due to heavy rain in Sochi.^[8] Matches on the second matchday were also pushed back from 13 November to 14 November as a result.

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Group 10

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France (H)	3	2	1	0	13	2	+11	7	Elite round
2	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	12	1	+11	7
3	Liechtenstein	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1
4	Gibraltar	3	0	1	2	1	19	−18	1

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Group 11

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9	Elite round
2	Romania (H)	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Andorra	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1
4	Faroe Islands	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

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Group 12

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	3	3	0	0	10	3	+7	9	Elite round
2	Serbia	3	2	0	1	11	4	+7	6
3	Estonia (H)	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3
4	Armenia	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

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Group 13

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium (H)	3	2	1	0	13	2	+11	7	Elite round
2	Sweden	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
3	Belarus	3	1	1	1	8	5	+3	4
4	San Marino	3	0	0	3	1	16	−15	0

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Ranking of third-placed teams

To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round advancing to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group were taken into account.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	9	Russia	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2	Elite round
2	3	Luxembourg	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	1
3	4	Finland	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
4	13	Belarus	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1
5	6	Iceland	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	1
6	2	Hungary	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1
7	11	Andorra	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0
8	10	Liechtenstein	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	0
9	1	Republic of Ireland	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	0[a]
10	5	Azerbaijan	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	0[a]
11	12	Estonia	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	0
12	7	Lithuania	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0[a]
13	8	Albania	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0[a]

Elite round

Draw

The draw for the elite round was held on 3 December 2015, 11:00 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[9][10]

The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round.^[11] Spain, which received a bye to the elite round, were automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Teams from the same qualifying round group could not be drawn in the same group. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine) could not be drawn in the same group.^[12]

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Seeding
1	—	Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Pot A
2	7	Portugal	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9
3	12	Czech Republic	3	3	0	0	10	3	+7	9
4	11	Switzerland	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9
5	13	Belgium	3	2	1	0	13	2	+11	7[a]
6	10	France	3	2	1	0	13	2	+11	7[a]
7	10	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	12	1	+11	7
8	6	Israel	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Pot B
9	3	Poland	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
10	2	Croatia	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
11	8	Austria	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7[b]
12	4	England	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
13	1	Slovenia	3	2	1	0	2	0	+2	7
14	12	Serbia	3	2	0	1	11	4	+7	6
15	5	Ukraine	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6	Pot C
16	1	Scotland	3	2	0	1	6	1	+5	6
17	2	Montenegro	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
18	11	Romania	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
19	5	Turkey	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6
20	13	Sweden	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
21	7	Greece	3	2	0	1	3	5	−2	6
22	6	Denmark	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5	Pot D
23	9	Slovakia	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
24	4	Italy	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
25	3	Bulgaria	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
26	9	Northern Ireland	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
27	8	Georgia	3	1	1	1	1	3	−2	4[b]
28	9	Russia	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3

Groups

Times up to 26 March 2016 were CET (UTC+1), thereafter times were CEST (UTC+2).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7	Final tournament
2	Spain (H)	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4[a]
3	Greece	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4[a]
4	Georgia	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

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Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy (H)	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Final tournament
2	Turkey	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7
3	Israel	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
4	Switzerland	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

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Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria (H)	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8	9	Final tournament
2	Slovakia	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6
3	Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3
4	Romania	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

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Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands (H)	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Final tournament
2	Poland	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
3	Ukraine	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Northern Ireland	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

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Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia (H)	3	3	0	0	8	0	+8	9	Final tournament
2	Belgium	3	2	0	1	3	4	−1	6
3	Scotland	3	1	0	2	2	6	−4	3
4	Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3	0

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Group 6

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal (H)	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Final tournament
2	Slovenia	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
3	Russia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Sweden	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

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Group 7

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Final tournament
2	Denmark	3	1	1	1	9	7	+2	4
3	Serbia (H)	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2	4
4	Montenegro	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

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Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1 only U-19 era (since 2002)
Germany	Hosts	20 March 2012[1]	7 (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015)
England	Elite round Group 1 winners	29 March 2016	7 (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Italy	Elite round Group 2 winners	30 March 2016	4 (2003, 2004, 2008, 2010)
Austria	Elite round Group 3 winners	29 March 2016	6 (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015)
Netherlands	Elite round Group 4 winners	29 March 2016	3 (2010, 2013, 2015)
Croatia	Elite round Group 5 winners	28 March 2016	2 (2010, 2012)
Portugal	Elite round Group 6 winners	29 March 2016	7 (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014)
France	Elite round Group 7 winners	29 March 2016	8 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Top goalscorers

The following players scored four goals or more in the qualifying competition:^[13]

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

References

External links

• Official website