Jump to content

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates25 March 2021 – 27 September 2022
Teams53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played255
Goals scored778 (3.05 per match)
Top scorerPortugal Gonçalo Ramos (12 goals)
← 2021
2025 →

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.

Format

[edit]

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.

Tiebreakers

[edit]

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]

  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. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  5. 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;
  6. Goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Wins in all group matches;
  10. Away wins in all group matches;
  11. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  12. 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]

  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

[edit]
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)
  1. ↑ 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]

Draw

[edit]
Final tournament co-hosts
Team
Image Romania
Image Georgia
Pot A
Team
Image Spain
Image Germany
Image France
Image England
Image Italy
Image Denmark
Image Portugal
Image Netherlands
Image Croatia
Pot B
Team
Image Austria
Image Poland
Image Sweden
Image Czech Republic
Image Belgium
Image Russia
Image Serbia
Image  Switzerland
Image Greece
Pot C
Team
Image Slovakia
Image Iceland
Image Ukraine
Image Slovenia
Image Republic of Ireland
Image Israel
Image Norway
Image Bulgaria
Image Turkey
Pot D
Team
Image Scotland
Image North Macedonia
Image Bosnia and Herzegovina
Image Wales
Image Northern Ireland
Image Finland
Image Hungary
Image Belarus
Image Albania
Pot E
Team
Image Montenegro
Image Kosovo
Image Lithuania
Image Kazakhstan
Image Moldova
Image Cyprus
Image Faroe Islands
Image Azerbaijan
Image Latvia
Pot F
Team
Image Luxembourg
Image Armenia
Image Malta
Image Andorra
Image Estonia
Image Gibraltar
Image Liechtenstein
Image San Marino

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]

Groups

[edit]

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Norway 10 8 0 2 26 11 +15 24 Final tournament — 3–2 3–1 3–1 2–1 3–0
2 Image Croatia 10 7 1 2 25 10 +15 22 Play-offs 3–2 — 2–3 0–0 2–0 2–0
3 Image Finland 10 6 1 3 18 13 +5 19 0–2 0–2 — 3–1 3–0 1–0
4 Image Austria 10 5 1 4 22 13 +9 16 2–1 1–3 2–3 — 6–0 2–0
5 Image Azerbaijan 10 2 1 7 12 24 −12 7 1–2 1–5 1–1 0–3 — 3–0
6 Image Estonia 10 0 0 10 0 32 −32 0 0–5 0–4 0–3 0–4 0–5 —
Source: UEFA

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Germany 10 9 0 1 32 9 +23 27 Final tournament — 3–2 0–4 4–0 4–0 4–0
2 Image Israel 10 6 1 3 19 10 +9 19 Play-offs 0–1 — 2–2 3–0 2–1 2–0
3 Image Poland 10 5 3 2 26 9 +17 18 1–2 1–2 — 1–1 5–0 3–0
4 Image Hungary 10 4 2 4 16 17 −1 14 1–5 1–2 2–2 — 1–0 4–0
5 Image Latvia 10 2 1 7 5 19 −14 7 1–3 1–0 0–2 0–2 — 2–0
6 Image San Marino 10 0 1 9 0 34 −34 1 0–6 0–4 0–5 0–4 0–0 —
Source: UEFA

Group C

[edit]

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]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Spain 8 8 0 0 37 5 +32 24 Final tournament — 3–2 3–0 8–0 7–1 4–1
2 Image Slovakia 8 5 0 3 18 10 +8 15 Play-offs 2–3 — 2–1 3–1 4–0 Canc.
3 Image Northern Ireland 8 2 1 5 8 18 −10 7 0–6 1–0 — 4–0 0–2 Canc.
4 Image Lithuania 8 2 1 5 7 22 −15 7 0–2 0–2 1–1 — 2–1 0–3
5 Image Malta 8 2 0 6 10 25 −15 6 0–5 1–3 4–1 1–3 — Canc.
6 Image Russia[a] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Disqualified 1–0 3–0 1–0 Canc. 6–0 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ↑ 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]

Group D

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Portugal 10 9 1 0 41 3 +38 28 Final tournament — 1–1 2–1 1–0 6–0 11–0
2 Image Iceland 10 5 3 2 25 7 +18 18 Play-offs 0–1 — 1–1 3–1 5–0 9–0
3 Image Greece 10 5 2 3 16 10 +6 17 0–4 1–0 — 2–0 0–0 4–0
4 Image Belarus 10 4 0 6 16 15 +1 12 1–5 1–2 0–2 — 2–0 6–0
5 Image Cyprus 10 3 2 5 16 16 0 11 0–1 1–1 3–0 0–1 — 6–0
6 Image Liechtenstein 10 0 0 10 0 63 −63 0 0–9 0–3 0–5 0–4 0–6 —
Source: UEFA

Group E

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Netherlands 10 8 2 0 32 3 +29 26 Final tournament — 2–0 3–0 5–0 3–1 6–0
2 Image  Switzerland 10 7 2 1 22 6 +16 23 2–2 — 3–0 5–1 1–0 4–0
3 Image Moldova 10 3 3 4 7 12 −5 12 0–3 1–1 — 1–0 0–2 1–0
4 Image Wales 10 3 2 5 15 14 +1 11 0–1 0–1 0–0 — 1–1 2–0
5 Image Bulgaria 10 2 4 4 10 11 −1 10 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–4 — 5–0
6 Image Gibraltar 10 0 1 9 1 41 −40 1 0–7 0–4 0–4 0–7 1–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group F

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Italy 10 7 3 0 19 5 +14 24 Final tournament — 4–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–0
2 Image Republic of Ireland 10 6 1 3 16 10 +6 19 Play-offs 0–2 — 1–0 3–0 3–1 2–0
3 Image Sweden 10 5 3 2 22 8 +14 18 1–1 0–2 — 4–0 3–1 6–0
4 Image Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 3 2 5 9 16 −7 11 1–2 0–2 1–1 — 2–1 1–0
5 Image Montenegro 10 3 2 5 14 17 −3 11 1–1 2–1 1–3 2–2 — 3–0
6 Image Luxembourg 10 0 1 9 2 26 −24 1 0–3 1–1 0–3 0–2 1–2 —
Source: UEFA

Group G

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image England 10 8 1 1 26 7 +19 25 Final tournament — 3–1 1–2 2–0 3–0 4–1
2 Image Czech Republic 10 7 1 2 23 6 +17 22 Play-offs 1–2 — 1–0 3–0 4–0 7–0
3 Image Slovenia 10 4 4 2 11 7 +4 16 2–2 1–1 — 0–0 3–0 2–0
4 Image Kosovo 10 3 3 4 8 13 −5 12 0–5 0–1 0–0 — 2–1 2–0
5 Image Albania 10 3 1 6 9 17 −8 10 0–3 0–1 2–0 1–1 — 2–0
6 Image Andorra 10 0 0 10 1 28 −27 0 0–1 0–3 0–1 0–3 0–3 —
Source: UEFA

Group H

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image France 10 8 2 0 31 5 +26 26 Final tournament — 5–0 2–0 2–0 3–0 7–0
2 Image Ukraine 10 7 2 1 20 11 +9 23 Play-offs 3–3 — 2–1 1–0 4–0 2–1
3 Image Serbia 10 3 3 4 10 11 −1 12 0–3 0–1 — 0–0 2–1 2–0
4 Image Faroe Islands 10 2 4 4 6 12 −6 10 1–1 0–4 1–1 — 1–1 2–0
5 Image North Macedonia 10 2 3 5 8 15 −7 9 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 — 3–1
6 Image Armenia 10 1 0 9 7 28 −21 3 1–4 0–2 1–4 2–0 1–2 —
Source: UEFA

Group I

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Image Image Image Image Image
1 Image Belgium 8 6 2 0 14 2 +12 20 Final tournament — 1–0 2–0 0–0 2–0
2 Image Denmark 8 5 2 1 12 6 +6 17 Play-offs 1–1 — 3–2 1–1 3–0
3 Image Turkey 8 2 2 4 7 11 −4 8 0–3 1–2 — 1–1 0–0
4 Image Scotland 8 1 4 3 6 10 −4 7 0–2 0–1 0–2 — 2–1
5 Image Kazakhstan 8 0 2 6 4 14 −10 2 1–3 0–1 0–1 2–2 —
Source: UEFA

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.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 E Image  Switzerland 8 5 2 1 14 6 +8 17 Final tournament
2 H Image Ukraine 8 5 2 1 16 10 +6 17 Play-offs
3 I Image Denmark 8 5 2 1 12 6 +6 17
4 A Image Croatia 8 5 1 2 19 10 +9 16
5 G Image Czech Republic 8 5 1 2 13 6 +7 16
6 C Image Slovakia 8 5 0 3 18 10 +8 15
7 F Image Republic of Ireland 8 5 0 3 13 9 +4 15
8 B Image Israel 8 4 1 3 13 10 +3 13
9 D Image Iceland 8 3 3 2 13 7 +6 12
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.

Advanced teams

[edit]
Advanced teams
Group Group winners Runners-up (Direct entrant) Runners-up (Play-offs)
A Image Norway Image Croatia
B Image Germany Image Israel
C Image Spain Image Slovakia
D Image Portugal Image Iceland
E Image Netherlands Image  Switzerland
F Image Italy Image Republic of Ireland
G Image England Image Czech Republic
H Image France Image Ukraine
I Image Belgium Image Denmark

Play-offs

[edit]

The draw for the play-offs was held on 21 June 2022 in Nyon, Switzerland.[13]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Croatia Image 3–3 (5–4 p) Image Denmark 2–1 1–2 (a.e.t.)
Slovakia Image 3–5 Image Ukraine 3–2 0–3
Republic of Ireland Image 1–1 (1–3 p) Image Israel 1–1 0–0 (a.e.t.)
Iceland Image 1–2 Image Czech Republic 1–2 0–0

Qualified teams

[edit]

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
Image RomaniaCo-hosts3 December 20204th2021Semi-finals (2019)
Image Georgia1stDebut
Image BelgiumGroup I winners29 March 20224th2019Semi-finals (2007)
Image SpainGroup C winners2 May 2022[a]16th2021Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
Image GermanyGroup B winners3 June 202214th2021Champions (2009, 2017, 2021)
Image PortugalGroup D winners6 June 202210th2021Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
Image EnglandGroup G winners7 June 202217th2021Champions (1982, 1984)
Image NetherlandsGroup E winners8 June 20229th2021Champions (2006, 2007)
Image FranceGroup H winners9 June 202211th2021Champions (1988)
Image ItalyGroup F winners14 June 202222nd2021Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Image NorwayGroup A winners14 June 20223rd2013Semi-finals (1998, 2013)
Image  SwitzerlandBest runner-up14 June 20225th2021Runners-up (2011)
Image UkrainePlay-offs winner27 September 20223rd2011Runners-up (2006)
Image Czech RepublicPlay-offs winner27 September 20229th2021Champions (2002)
Image CroatiaPlay-offs winner27 September 20225th2021Quarter-finals (2021)
Image IsraelPlay-offs winner27 September 20223rd2013Group stage (2007, 2013)
  1. ↑ 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.

Top goalscorers

[edit]

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:

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  2. ↑ UEFA.com (2021-01-04). "2021-23 Under-21 qualifying draw: 28 January". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ UEFA.com (2021-01-04). "2021-23 Under-21 qualifying draw: 28 January". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  5. ↑ UEFA.com (2014-07-17). "Emergency Panel decisions | Inside UEFA". UEFA. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  6. 1 2 "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". FIFA. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  7. ↑ UEFA.com (2022-02-28). "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions | Inside UEFA". UEFA. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  8. 1 2 "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs". UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Uefa announces further sanctions on Russian clubs and national teams amid Ukraine invasion". BBC Sport. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  10. ↑ UEFA.com (2022-02-28). "FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions". UEFA. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  11. ↑ "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs". UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "Uefa announces further sanctions on Russian clubs and national teams amid Ukraine invasion". BBC Sport. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "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.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2023_UEFA_European_Under-21_Championship_qualification&oldid=1327223340"