2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification


The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification was a men's under-17 football competition organised by UEFA to determine the 15 national teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Azerbaijan in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.
A total of 53 national teams entered this qualifying competition, which was played in two rounds between September 2015 and April 2016. Players born on or after [|1] January 1999 were eligible to participate. Each match had a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.

Format

The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:
The teams were ranked according to points. 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:
  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.
  8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches ;
  9. 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:
  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 ;
  5. Drawing of lots.

    Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 3 December 2014, 09:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:
Each group contained two teams from Pot A and two teams from Pot B. For political reasons, Spain and Gibraltar, as well as Russia and Ukraine, could not be drawn in the same group.
Team
11.3331

;Notes
Times up to 24 October 2015 were CEST, thereafter times were CET.

Group 1


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Group 2


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Group 3


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Group 4


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Group 5


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Group 6


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Group 7


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Group 8


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Group 9


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Group 10


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Group 11


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Group 12


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Group 13


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Ranking of third-placed teams

To determine the five best third-placed teams 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.

Elite round

Draw

The draw for the elite round was held on 3 December 2015, 11:45 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Germany, 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. Winners and runners-up from the same qualifying round group could not be drawn in the same group, but third-placed teams could be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn in the same group.

Groups

Times up to 26 March 2016 were CET, thereafter times were CEST.

Group 1


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Group 2


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Group 3


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Group 4


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Group 5


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Group 6


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Group 7


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Group 8


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Ranking of second-placed teams

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

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament:
TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament1
only U-17 era

Top goalscorers

The following players scored four goals or more in the qualifying competition:
;7 goals
;6 goals
;5 goals
;4 goals