2017 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification

2017 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying round:; 20 September – 31 October 2016; Elite round:; 13 March – 2 April 2017
Teams	45 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	102
Goals scored	366 (3.59 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Joëlle Smits (10 goals)

The 2017 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-17 football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Czech Republic in the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament.[1]

A total of 45 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition (including Malta who entered for the first time).[2] Players born on or after 1 January 2000 are eligible to participate. Each match has a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.

Format

The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:[3]

Qualifying round: Apart from Spain, which receive a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 44 teams are drawn into 11 groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The 11 group winners, the 11 runners-up, and the third-placed team with the best record against the first and second-placed teams in their group advance to the elite round.
Elite round: The 24 teams are drawn into six groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The six group winners and the runner-up with the best record against the first and third-placed teams in their group qualify for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):[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 have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings are determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are 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);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round and the best runner-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.01):[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);
Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 13 November 2015, 08:40 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]

2013 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine) could not be drawn in the same group.[2]

Final tournament hosts
Team	Coeff	Rank
Czech Republic	7.333	—

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Spain	15.333	1

Teams entering qualifying round

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
France	13.500	2
Germany	13.000	3
Norway	8.833	4
Austria	8.833	5
Switzerland	8.500	6
Belgium	8.500	7
Sweden	8.500	8
Italy	8.333	9
Poland	7.833	10
Republic of Ireland	7.667	11
England	7.500	12

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Scotland	7.000	13
Denmark	6.833	14
Iceland	6.833	15
Netherlands	6.667	16
Finland	6.167	17
Russia	6.167	18
Hungary	5.167	19
Turkey	5.000	20
Serbia	4.833	21
Northern Ireland	4.667	22
Greece	4.667	23

Pot C
Team	Coeff	Rank
Belarus	4.000	24
Portugal	3.833	25
Slovakia	3.167	26
Wales	3.000	27
Bulgaria	3.000	28
Romania	2.833	29
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2.333	30
Slovenia	2.333	31
Croatia	2.000	32
Azerbaijan	2.000	33
Montenegro	2.000	34

Pot D
Team	Coeff	Rank
Ukraine	1.333	35
Israel	1.000	36
Macedonia	1.000	37
Lithuania	0.333	38
Latvia	0.333	39
Moldova	0.333	40
Faroe Islands	0.000	41
Estonia	0.000	42
Kazakhstan	0.000	43
Georgia	0.000	44
Malta	—	45

Notes

Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.

Did not enter
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Cyprus
Gibraltar
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
San Marino

Groups

The qualifying round must be played between 1 September and 31 October 2016.[3]

Times up to 29 October 2016 are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times are CET (UTC+1).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	3	3	0	12	2	+10	9	Elite round
2	Switzerland	3	2	1	5	4	+1	6	Elite round
3	Slovakia	3	1	2	2	9	−7	3
4	Israel (H)	3	0	3	0	4	−4	0

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

20 September 2016