The 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification was a series of parallel

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competitions held over 2011 and 2012 to decide the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be held in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 3 February 2011 in

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilomet ...

, with matches played between March 2011 and September 2012.2013 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying draw
UEFA.com There were ten groups. Two of these groups had six teams; the remaining eight groups consisted of five teams. Group competition was a

double round robin A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

: each team hosted a game with every other team in its group. At the conclusion of qualifying, the team at the top of each group and four best second-placed teams qualified for the two-legged play-offs scheduled in October 2012, with the winner of each play-off tie qualifying for the finals.

Seeds

A total of fifty-two participating teams were divided in five draw pots based on the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking. Pots A through D contained ten teams, while pot E twelve teams. The UEFA executive committee has decided on its meeting on 27 January 2011 to have

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

seeded in groups of six to avoid any group of five to potentially be reduced to four or three teams as a result of hypothetical suspension. Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons,

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

would not be drawn against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

(due to the dispute concerning territory of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

) and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

would not be drawn against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(due to the dispute regarding the territory of

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

) in the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under–21 Football Championship.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings. # Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question # Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question # Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question # Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question # If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply # Results of all group matches: ## Superior

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

## Higher number of goals scored ## Higher number of goals scored away from home # Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw

Qualifying group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Group 10

Ranking of second-placed teams

Because some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.

Tiebreakers

The following criteria were applied to determine the rankings. # Higher number of points obtained in these matches # Superior goal difference from these matches # Higher number of goals scored in these matches # Higher number of away goals scored in these matches # Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw

Play-offs

The play-offs for the tournament finals were held between 11 and 16 October 2012. The seven winners qualified for the final tournament in Israel.

Seedings

The draw for the play-offs was held on 14 September 2012 in

to determine the seven pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties. The seven group winners with the highest competition coefficients have been seeded and those teams were drawn against the unseeded teams. Nations from the same group could not be drawn against each other. Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating: *40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying group stage. *40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying stage and

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. *20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying stage and

. The seedings are as follows:

Matches

Top goalscorers

The top scorers in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification were as follows. Players in ''italics'' have also played in the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 Uefa European Under-21 Championship Qualification

Qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

Qual UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification