The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship started with a qualifying competition which began in March 2013 and finished in September 2014. The final tournament was held in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 31 January 2013 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Nyon Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland.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 2013 and September 2014.2015 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 10 teams at the top of each group and four best second-placed teams qualified for the two-legged play-offs scheduled in October 2014, with the seven winners of the play-off ties joining

in the finals.

Seeding

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. 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 ...

and

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

) in the qualifiers for 2015 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. The following criteria are 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 on 9,10 and 14 October 2014. The seven winners qualify for the final tournament in Czech Republic.

Seedings

The draw for the play-offs was held on 12 September 2014 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 were seeded and 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 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying group stage. *40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2013 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 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying stage and

. ;Seeded * * * * * * * ;Unseeded * * * * * * *

Matches

Top goalscorers

The top scorers in the 2015 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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2015 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