Wikipedia

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

The 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification is a men's under-21 national football team competition to determine the 15 teams that will be joining the automatically qualified hosts Slovakia in the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates24 March 2023 – 19 November 2024
Teams52 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played254
Goals scored770 (3.03 per match)
Attendance527,505 (2,077 per match)
Top scorer(s)Portugal Fábio Silva
(8 goals)
← 2023
2027 →
All statistics correct as of 16 October 2024.

Apart from Slovakia, Liechtenstein (dissolved their U21 team until 2025) and Russia (banned due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine), all remaining 52 UEFA member national teams entered this qualifying competition. Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible to participate.

Format

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The qualifying competition will consist of the following two rounds:

  • Qualifying group stage: The 52 teams are drawn into nine groups: seven groups of six teams and two groups of five teams. Each group is played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners and the three best runner-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualify directly for the final tournament, while the remaining six runners-up advance to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The six teams are drawn into three ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last three qualified teams.

Tiebreakers

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In the qualifying group stage, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 14.01):[1]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Away goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Wins in all group matches;
  9. Away wins in all group matches;
  10. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  11. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

To determine the bests runner-up from the qualifying group stage, the results against the teams in sixth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.02):[1]

  1. Points;
  2. Goal difference;
  3. Goals scored;
  4. Away goals scored;
  5. Wins;
  6. Away wins;
  7. Disciplinary points;
  8. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

Schedule

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Stage Draw date FIFA International Dates
Qualifying group stage 2 February 2023[2] FIFA date 1 (24–28 March 2023)
FIFA date 2 (15–20 June 2023)
FIFA date 3 (6–12 September 2023)
FIFA date 4 (12–17 October 2023)
FIFA date 5 (16–21 November 2023)
FIFA date 6 (21–26 March 2024)
FIFA date 7 (5–10 September 2024)
FIFA date 8 (10–15 October 2024)
Play-offs TBD 1st leg (11 November 2024)
2nd leg (19 November 2024)

Qualifying group stage

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Draw

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Final tournament host
Team
  Slovakia
Pot 1
Team
  Spain
  Portugal
  Germany
  France
  Netherlands
  England
  Denmark
  Italy
  Romania
Pot 2
Team
  Croatia
   Switzerland
  Belgium
  Czech Republic
  Poland
  Ukraine
  Sweden
  Austria
  Republic of Ireland
Pot 3
Team
  Norway
  Greece
  Iceland
  Slovenia
  Israel
  Finland
  Georgia
  Serbia
  Scotland
Pot 4
Team
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Bulgaria
  Hungary
  Turkey
  North Macedonia
  Wales
  Belarus
  Northern Ireland
  Albania
Pot 5
Team
  Kosovo
  Montenegro
  Moldova
  Lithuania
  Faroe Islands
  Cyprus
  Kazakhstan
  Azerbaijan
  Latvia
Pot 6
Team
  Malta
  Armenia
  Luxembourg
  Andorra
  Estonia
  Gibraltar
  San Marino
Banned from entering qualifying
Team
  Russia
Did not enter
Team
  Liechtenstein

Each group contained one team from each of Pots 1–6 (Pots 1–5 for five-team group). Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following teams would not be drawn in the same group.

  • Armenia and Azerbaijan
  • Belarus and Ukraine
  • Gibraltar and Spain
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
  • Kosovo and Serbia

Groups

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Group A

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group A
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Italy 10 6 4 0 27 4 +23 22 Final tournament — 2–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 7–0
2   Norway 10 6 1 3 28 11 +17 19[a] Play-offs 0–3 — 3–2 5–1 7–0 4–0
3   Republic of Ireland 10 5 4 1 24 12 +12 19[a] 2–2 1–1 — 3–2 2–2 3–0
4   Turkey 10 4 1 5 21 15 +6 13 0–2 2–0 0–1 — 3–0 5–0
5   Latvia 10 3 2 5 10 18 −8 11 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–1 — 2–0
6   San Marino 10 0 0 10 1 51 −50 0 0–7 0–7 0–7 1–6 0–3 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Norway 4, Republic of Ireland 1.

Group B

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group B
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Spain 10 9 1 0 28 5 +23 28 Final tournament — 1–0 1–0 2–0 4–3 6–0
2   Belgium 10 6 1 3 13 6 +7 19 Play-offs 1–1 — 0–2 0–1 1–0 3–1
3   Scotland 10 5 1 4 19 11 +8 16[a] 1–2 0–2 — 3–1 4–1 2–1
4   Hungary 10 5 1 4 12 8 +4 16[a] 0–1 0–1 0–0 — 2–0 2–1
5   Kazakhstan 10 3 0 7 13 24 −11 9 0–4 0–3 3–2 0–3 — 4–1
6   Malta 10 0 0 10 4 35 −31 0 0–6 0–2 0–5 0–3 0–2 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Scotland 4, Hungary 1.

Group C

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group C
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Netherlands 10 10 0 0 32 3 +29 30 Final tournament — 3–1 3–0 5–0 3–0 1–0
2   Georgia 10 6 1 3 14 10 +4 19 Play-offs 0–3 — 0–0 2–1 3–0 2–0
3   Sweden 10 5 2 3 25 10 +15 17 2–4 3–2 — 0–1 4–0 9–0
4   North Macedonia 10 4 0 6 8 15 −7 12 0–2 0–1 0–2 — 2–1 1–0
5   Moldova 10 2 1 7 7 20 −13 7 0–3 0–1 0–0 2–1 — 1–2
6   Gibraltar 10 1 0 9 3 31 −28 3 0–5 0–2 0–5 0–2 1–3 —
Source: UEFA

Group D

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group D
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Germany 10 8 2 0 35 10 +25 26 Final tournament — 3–1 2–1 0–0 4–1 2–0
2   Poland 10 7 1 2 24 10 +14 22 3–3 — 0–1 3–0 5–0 2–1
3   Bulgaria 10 4 3 3 17 12 +5 15 2–3 1–3 — 1–1 6–0 1–0
4   Kosovo 10 3 3 4 10 17 −7 12 0–3 0–4 2–2 — 2–0 3–1
5   Estonia 10 2 1 7 7 31 −24 7 1–10 0–1 1–1 3–1 — 1–0
6   Israel 10 1 0 9 5 18 −13 3 1–5 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 —
Source: UEFA

Group E

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group E

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Romania 10 7 1 2 23 10 +13 22 Final tournament — 1–0 3–1 5–0 1–0 2–0
2   Finland 10 6 2 2 21 8 +13 20 Play-offs 2–0 — 1–2 4–1 2–1 6–0
3    Switzerland 10 5 3 2 21 12 +9 18 2–2 1–1 — 1–2 4–2 5–0
4   Albania 10 5 1 4 12 17 −5 16 3–2 0–0 1–3 — 2–0 1–0
5   Montenegro 10 2 1 7 8 19 −11 7 2–6 1–2 0–2 1–0 — 0–0
6   Armenia 10 0 2 8 2 21 −19 2 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–2 0–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group F

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group F
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   England 10 8 1 1 41 6 +35 25 Final tournament — 2–1 9–1 3–0 7–0 7–0
2   Ukraine 10 8 0 2 20 7 +13 24 3–2 — 2–1 1–0 4–0 1–0
3   Serbia 10 5 1 4 13 18 −5 16 0–3 1–0 — 1–2 2–0 2–0
4   Northern Ireland 10 3 2 5 10 10 0 11 0–0 1–2 1–2 — 0–1 5–0
5   Luxembourg 10 2 2 6 6 23 −17 8 0–3 0–3 1–1 0–0 — 2–0
6   Azerbaijan 10 1 0 9 4 30 −26 3 1–5 0–3 0–2 0–1 3–2 —
Source: UEFA

Group G

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group G
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification            
1   Portugal 10 9 0 1 33 6 +27 27 Final tournament — 5–1 2–0 4–0 6–1 3–0
2   Croatia 10 7 1 2 20 14 +6 22 Play-offs 0–2 — 3–2 2–1 2–0 2–0
3   Greece 10 5 2 3 16 10 +6 17 2–1 2–2 — 3–0 1–1 1–0
4   Faroe Islands 10 3 1 6 11 24 −13 10 1–3 2–4 0–4 — 1–0 2–2
5   Belarus 10 1 3 6 6 20 −14 6 0–5 0–1 1–0 2–3 — 0–0
6   Andorra 10 0 3 7 4 16 −12 3 1–2 0–3 0–1 0–1 1–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group H

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group H
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Slovenia 8 5 2 1 13 7 +6 17 Final tournament — 0–4 1–0 2–0 3–0
2   France 8 5 1 2 22 6 +16 16 1–1 — 1–2 9–0 2–0
3   Austria 8 4 3 1 12 6 +6 15 1–1 2–0 — 2–2 2–0
4   Cyprus 8 1 2 5 7 23 −16 5 0–3 0–3 1–1 — 1–2
5   Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 1 0 7 5 17 −12 3 1–2 1–2 0–2 1–3 —
Source: UEFA

Group I

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group I
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification          
1   Denmark 8 5 2 1 18 8 +10 17 Final tournament — 5–0 2–2 2–0 3–0
2   Czech Republic 8 4 2 2 13 11 +2 14[a] Play-offs 0–0 — 1–1 4–1 3–0
3   Wales 8 4 2 2 13 11 +2 14[a] 1–2 1–2 — 1–0 2–1
4   Iceland 8 3 0 5 9 14 −5 9 4–2 2–1 1–2 — 0–2
5   Lithuania 8 1 0 7 7 16 −9 3 1–2 1–2 2–3 0–1 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Czech Republic 4, Wales 1

Ranking of second-placed teams

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Because two groups have one fewer team than the others, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth, and fifth-placed teams in their group are taken into account, while results against the sixth-placed team in six-team groups are not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team are counted for the purposes of determining the ranking. The top three teams qualify directly for the final tournament, while the other six teams enter the play-offs.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 F   Ukraine 8 6 0 2 16 7 +9 18 Final tournament
2 H   France 8 5 1 2 22 6 +16 16
3 D   Poland 8 5 1 2 20 8 +12 16
4 G   Croatia 8 5 1 2 15 14 +1 16 Play-offs
5 E   Finland 8 4 2 2 12 7 +5 14
6 I   Czech Republic 8 4 2 2 13 11 +2 14
7 A   Norway 8 4 1 3 17 11 +6 13
8 B   Belgium 8 4 1 3 8 5 +3 13
9 C   Georgia 8 4 1 3 10 10 0 13
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) wins; 6) away wins; 7) disciplinary points; 8) coefficient ranking.

Play-offs

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Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs

The draw for the play-offs was held on 17 October 2024 in Nyon, Switzerland.[3]

Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Finland  6–3  Norway5–11–2
Belgium  1–3  Czech Republic0–21–1
Georgia  3–3 (7–6 p)  Croatia1–02–3 (a.e.t.)

Qualified teams

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The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).

Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Appearance First appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
  Slovakia Hosts 25 January 2023 3rd (9th incl. Czechoslovakia) 2000 2017 Fourth place (2000)
  Netherlands Group C winners 9 September 2024 10th 1988 2023 Champions (2006, 2007)
  Spain Group B winners 10 September 2024 17th 1982 2023 Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
  Portugal Group G winners 11 October 2024 11th 1994 2023 Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
  Germany Group D winners 11 October 2024 15th 1982 2023 Champions (2009, 2017, 2021)
  Denmark Group I winners 11 October 2024 10th 1978 2021 Semi-finals (1992, 2015)
  Ukraine Top three of second-placed teams 11 October 2024 4th (7th incl. Soviet Union) 2006 2023 Runners-up (2006)
  England Group F winners 12 October 2024 18th 1978 2023 Champions (1982, 1984, 2023)
  Romania Group E winners 15 October 2024 5th 1998 2023 Semi-finals (2019)
  Poland Top three of second-placed teams 15 October 2024 8th 1982 2019 Quarter-finals (1982, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994)
  Slovenia Group H winners 15 October 2024 2nd (6th incl. Yugoslavia) 2021 2021 Group stage (2021)
  France Top three of second-placed teams 15 October 2024 12th 1982 2023 Champions (1988)
  Italy Group A winners 15 October 2024 23rd 1978 2023 Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
  Finland Play-offs winner 19 November 2024 2nd 2009 2009 Group stage (2009)
  Czech Republic Play-offs winner 19 November 2024 10th (16th incl. Czechoslovakia) 1996 2023 Champions (2002)
  Georgia Play-offs winner 19 November 2024 2nd (5th incl. Soviet Union) 2023 2023 Quarter-finals (2023)

Top goalscorers

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There have been 776 goals scored in 250 matches, for an average of 3.1 goals per match.

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each group:

References

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  1. ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  2. ^ UEFA.com (2023-03-24). "2025 Under-21 EURO qualifying groups". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  3. ^ "2025 Under-21 EURO qualifying groups: See who made the finals or reached the play-offs". www.uefa.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
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