2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification explained

Tourney Name:	UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification
Year:	2003
Dates:	2002 (qualifying round) 2003 (elite round)
Num Teams:	51
Confederations:	1
Prevseason:	2002
Nextseason:	2004

The 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was an under-17 football competition played in 2002 and 2003 to determine the 7 teams joining Portugal, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament.

The final tournament also acted as the UEFA qualifier for the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, with two teams qualifying, Portugal and Spain, as finalists.

Format

The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:

Qualifying round: Apart from six nations (Spain, England, Russia, Finland, Poland and Hungary), which received a bye to the elite round, the remaining 44 teams were drawn into 11 groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. Two best teams from each group advanced to the elite round.
Elite round: The 28 teams were drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The seven group winners qualified for the final tournament.

Qualifying round

Groups

Group 11

Elite round

Groups

All times were CET (UTC+1).

Group 7

Qualified teams

The following 8 teams qualified for the final tournament.

width=150px	Country	width=120px	Qualified as	Previous appearances in tournament¹ only U-17 era (since 2002)

	Group 1 winner
	Group 2 winner
	Group 3 winner	0 (debut)
	Group 4 winner	0 (debut)
	Group 5 winner
	Group 6 winner
	Group 7 winner	0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italics indicate host.