2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	7 October – 18 November 2014 (qualifying round); 26 March – 3 June 2015 (elite round)
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	120
Goals scored	416 (3.47 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ramil Sheydayev (10 goals)

The 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the seven teams joining Greece, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.[1] A total of 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.[2]

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 their 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

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 best third-placed team from the qualifying 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 10:15 CET (UTC+1).[4][5]

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

2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
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)

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.

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Spain	14.833	1

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
France	12.333	2
Serbia	10.833	3
Turkey	10.500	4
Portugal	9.833	5
England	9.833	6
Netherlands	8.500	7
Denmark	7.667	8
Croatia	7.500	9
Germany	7.333	10
Belgium	7.333	11
Republic of Ireland	7.167	12
Italy	7.000	13
Norway	6.833	14
Czech Republic	6.833	15
Ukraine	6.667	16
Georgia	6.500	17
Austria	6.333	18
Switzerland	5.833	19
Slovakia	5.500	20
Romania	5.167	21
Scotland	5.167	22
Hungary	5.000	23
Poland	4.333	24
Russia	4.167	25
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4.167	26
Israel	4.000	27

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Slovenia	3.833	28
Northern Ireland	3.667	29
Belarus	3.500	30
Cyprus	3.333	31
Montenegro	3.333	32
Wales	3.333	33
Bulgaria	3.167	34
Macedonia	3.167	35
Iceland	3.000	36
Finland	3.000	37
Estonia	2.667	38
Armenia	2.667	39
Albania	2.667	40
Azerbaijan	2.667	41
Sweden	2.333	42
Latvia	2.000	43
Lithuania	1.667	44
Moldova	1.500	45
Faroe Islands	1.333	46
Malta	1.000	47
Kazakhstan	0.333	48
Luxembourg	0.000	49
San Marino	0.000	50
Andorra	0.000	51
Liechtenstein	0.000	52
Gibraltar	0.000	53

Notes

Greece (Coeff: 8.667) 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	England	3	3	0	0	15	2	+13	9	Elite round
2	Belgium	3	2	0	1	9	6	+3	6	Elite round
3	Belarus	3	0	1	2	4	8	−4	1
4	Luxembourg (H)	3	0	1	2	2	14	−12	1

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host.

10 October 2014