2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification|
| Dates | 25 March 2021 – 27 September 2022 |
|---|
| Teams | 53 (from 1 confederation) |
|---|
|
| Matches played | 255 |
|---|
| Goals scored | 778 (3.05 per match) |
|---|
| Top scorer | Gonçalo Ramos (12 goals) |
|---|
|
International football competition
The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition to determine the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Romania and Georgia in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.
Apart from Romania and Georgia, all remaining 53 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition. Players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to participate.
The qualifying competition consisted of the following two rounds:
- Qualifying group stage: The 53 teams were drawn into nine groups: eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. Each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners and the best runner-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualified directly for the final tournament, while the remaining eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs.
- Play-offs: The eight teams were drawn into four ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last four qualified teams.
In the qualifying group stage, teams were 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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 14.01):[1]
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Away goals scored in all group matches;
- Wins in all group matches;
- Away wins in all group matches;
- Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
- UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.
To determine the best runner-up from the qualifying group stage, the results against the teams in sixth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied (Regulations Article 15.02):[1]
- Points;
- Goal difference;
- Goals scored;
- Away goals scored;
- Wins;
- Away wins;
- Disciplinary points;
- UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.
| Stage
|
Draw date
|
FIFA International Dates
|
| Qualifying group stage
|
28 January 2021[2]
|
Matchday 1 (1–3 September 2021)[a]
|
| Matchday 2 (6–7 September 2021)
|
| Matchday 3 (7–8 October 2021)
|
| Matchday 4 (11–12 October 2021)
|
| Matchday 5 (10–12 November 2021)
|
| Matchday 6 (14–16 November 2021)
|
| Matchday 7 (24–25 March 2022)
|
| Matchday 8 (28–29 March 2022)
|
| Matchday 9 (2–6 June 2022)
|
| Matchday 10 (6–14 June 2022)
|
| Play-offs
|
21 June 2022[3]
|
1st leg (23 September 2022)
|
| 2nd leg (27 September 2022)
|
- ^ Some matches of Matchday 1 were played on 25 and 29 March 2021 and some matches were played on 4–8 June 2021
Qualifying group stage
[edit]
Each group contained one team from each of Pots A–F (Pots A–E for a five-team group). Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, six pairs of teams would not be drawn in the same group.[4]
- Armenia and Azerbaijan
- Gibraltar and Spain
- Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
- Kosovo and Serbia
- Kosovo and Russia
- Russia and Ukraine[5]
On 28 February 2022, FIFA and UEFA announced that Russia was suspended from all competitions.[6][7] On 2 May 2022, UEFA announced that Russia would no longer be allowed to take part in the competition, that their previous results were nullified, and that Group C would continue with five teams.[8][9]
- ^ On 28 February 2022, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian national teams from all competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6][10] On 2 May 2022, UEFA expelled Russia and declared all of their results to be null and void.[11][12]
Ranking of second-placed teams
[edit]
Only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams in their group were taken into account, while results against the sixth-placed team in six-team groups were not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team were counted for the purposes of determining the ranking. The top-ranked team qualified directly for the final tournament, while the other teams entered the play-offs.
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.
The draw for the play-offs was held on 21 June 2022 in Nyon, Switzerland.[13]
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
|
Last appearance
|
Previous best performance
|
Romania |
Co-hosts |
3 December 2020 |
4th |
2021 |
Semi-finals (2019)
|
Georgia |
1st |
Debut
|
Belgium |
Group I winners |
29 March 2022 |
4th |
2019 |
Semi-finals (2007)
|
Spain |
Group C winners |
2 May 2022[a] |
16th |
2021 |
Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
|
Germany |
Group B winners |
3 June 2022 |
14th |
2021 |
Champions (2009, 2017, 2021)
|
Portugal |
Group D winners |
6 June 2022 |
10th |
2021 |
Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
|
England |
Group G winners |
7 June 2022 |
17th |
2021 |
Champions (1982, 1984)
|
Netherlands |
Group E winners |
8 June 2022 |
9th |
2021 |
Champions (2006, 2007)
|
France |
Group H winners |
9 June 2022 |
11th |
2021 |
Champions (1988)
|
Italy |
Group F winners |
14 June 2022 |
22nd |
2021 |
Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
|
Norway |
Group A winners |
14 June 2022 |
3rd |
2013 |
Semi-finals (1998, 2013)
|
Switzerland |
Best runner-up |
14 June 2022 |
5th |
2021 |
Runners-up (2011)
|
Ukraine |
Play-offs winner |
27 September 2022 |
3rd |
2011 |
Runners-up (2006)
|
Czech Republic |
Play-offs winner |
27 September 2022 |
9th |
2021 |
Champions (2002)
|
Croatia |
Play-offs winner |
27 September 2022 |
5th |
2021 |
Quarter-finals (2021)
|
Israel |
Play-offs winner |
27 September 2022 |
3rd |
2013 |
Group stage (2007, 2013)
|
- ^ On 2 May 2022, UEFA announced that Russia were removed from European Under-21 Championship qualification due to their country's invasion of Ukraine, with all their earlier results considered null and void.[8] Spain therefore qualified for the European Under-21 Championship, as no other teams could surpass them.
There were 778 goals scored in 255 matches, for an average of 3.05 goals per match.
12 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each group:
- ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ UEFA.com (2021-01-04). "2021-23 Under-21 qualifying draw: 28 January". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ UEFA.com (2022-06-10). "2023 Under-21 EURO qualifying latest: France, Netherlands, England, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium in finals". UEFA. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
- ^ UEFA.com (2021-01-04). "2021-23 Under-21 qualifying draw: 28 January". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ UEFA.com (2014-07-17). "Emergency Panel decisions | Inside UEFA". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ a b "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". FIFA. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ UEFA.com (2022-02-28). "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions | Inside UEFA". UEFA. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
- ^ a b "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs". UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ "Uefa announces further sanctions on Russian clubs and national teams amid Ukraine invasion". BBC Sport. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ UEFA.com (2022-02-28). "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". UEFA. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
- ^ "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs". UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ "Uefa announces further sanctions on Russian clubs and national teams amid Ukraine invasion". BBC Sport. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ "2023 Under-21 EURO qualifying latest: France, Netherlands, England, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium in finals - Under-21 - News - UEFA.com". UEFA. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
|
|---|
| Under-23 | |
|---|
| Under-21 | | Without host | |
|---|
| With host | |
|---|
| Qualification | |
|---|
| Finals | |
|---|
| Squads | |
|---|
|
|---|
|
|---|
| Domestic leagues | |
|---|
| Domestic cups | |
|---|
| League cups | |
|---|
| Supercups | |
|---|
| UEFA competitions | |
|---|
| International competitions | |
|---|
|
|---|
| Domestic leagues | |
|---|
| Domestic cups | |
|---|
| League cups | |
|---|
| Supercups | |
|---|
| UEFA competitions | |
|---|
| International competitions | |
|---|