2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
Year:2017
Other Titles:2017 Craobhchomórtas na mBan Faoi 19 de chuid UEFA
Size:200
Country:Northern Ireland
Dates:8–20 August
Num Teams:8
Confederations:1
Venues:4
Cities:4
Count:2
Matches:16
Goals:52
Player: Patricia Guijarro[1]
Prevseason:2016
Nextseason:2018

The 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-19 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (20th edition if the Under-18 era is included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the women's under-19 national teams of Europe. Northern Ireland was selected by UEFA on 26 January 2015 as the host country for the tournament.[2]

A total of eight teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1998 eligible to participate.

Same as previous editions held in odd-numbered years, the tournament acts as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France as the UEFA representatives, besides France who qualified automatically as hosts.[3]

Qualification

See main article: article and 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification.

A total of 48 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Northern Ireland qualifying automatically, the other 47 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.[4] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2016, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2017.[5]

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.[6] [7]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

TeamMethod of qualificationFinals appearanceLast appearancePrevious best performance
Debut
(2004)
(2009)
(2014)
(2003, 2010, 2013, 2016)
(2005, 2008, 2010, 2014)
(2008)
(2002, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Notes

Final draw

The final draw was held on 22 June 2017, 15:00 BST (UTC+1), at the Belfast City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[8] [9] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Northern Ireland were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

The tournament was hosted in four venues:

BelfastLurgan
Windsor ParkMourneview Park
Capacity: 18,434Capacity: 4,160
4 group matches, 2 semi-finals, final3 group matches
PortadownBallymena
Shamrock ParkBallymena Showgrounds
Capacity: 2,770Capacity: 3,600
2 group matches3 group matches, third-place playoff

Squads

See main article: 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship squads. Each national team have to submit a squad of 18 players.[5]

Match officials

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[10]

Referees
Assistant referees
Fourth officials

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 22 June 2017.[11]

The group winners and runners-up advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

TiebreakersThe teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01 and 17.02):[5]
  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
  5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  7. If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their rankings are determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
  8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  9. Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
  10. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, BST (UTC+1).[12]

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.[5]

On 2 May 2016, the UEFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board (IFAB)'s trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time.[13] On 1 June 2017, it was also announced as part of a trial sanctioned by the IFAB to reduce the advantage of the team shooting first in a penalty shoot-out,[14] a different sequence of taking penalties, known as "ABBA", that mirrors the serving sequence in a tennis tiebreak would be used if a penalty shoot-out was needed (team A kicks first, team B kicks second):[15]

Original sequence
  • AB AB AB AB AB (sudden death starts) AB AB etc.
    Trial sequence
  • AB BA AB BA AB (sudden death starts) BA AB etc.

    FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup play-off

    Winner qualifies for 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

    Semi-finals

    ----

    Final

    Goalscorers

    Note: Goals scored in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup play-off are included in this list, but are not counted by UEFA for statistical purposes.

    5 goals
    3 goals
    2 goals
    1 goal
    1 own goal

    Team of the Tournament

    Goalkeepers
    Defenders
    Midfielders
    Forwards

    [16]

    Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

    The following five teams from UEFA qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, including France which qualified as hosts.[17]

    TeamQualified ondata-sort-type="number"Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup1
    [18] 6 (2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016)
    2 (2004, 2016)
    8 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
    0 (debut)
    4 (2002, 2008, 2010, 2014)

    1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: James. Laure. 2017: Patricia Guijarro. UEFA.com. en. 14 September 2017.
    2. Web site: Northern Irish, Swiss to host Women's U19 finals. UEFA.com. 26 January 2015.
    3. Web site: Circular #1565 - FIFA women's tournaments 2018-2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20161112085224/http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/02/84/92/41/circularno.1565-fifawomenstournaments2018-2019_neutral.pdf. dead. November 12, 2016. FIFA.com. 11 November 2016.
    4. Web site: 2016/17 WU19 EURO qualifying round draw pots. UEFA. 21 October 2015.
    5. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship, 2016/17. UEFA.com. PDF.
    6. Web site: 2017 WU19 EURO final line-up complete. UEFA.com. 12 June 2017.
    7. Web site: 2017 UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship programme. UEFA.com.
    8. Web site: Women's Under-19 final tournament draw. UEFA.com. 22 June 2017.
    9. Web site: 2017 WU19 EURO final tournament draw. UEFA.com. 22 June 2017.
    10. Web site: Technical Report — Results. UEFA.com.
    11. Web site: 2017 WU19 EURO match schedule. UEFA.com. 22 June 2017.
    12. Web site: Final Match Schedule. UEFA.com.
    13. Web site: FIFA Executive Committee approves key priorities to restore trust in FIFA. UEFA. 2 May 2016.
    14. Web site: Penalty shoot-outs could soon resemble tennis tie-breaks. The Telegraph. 3 March 2017.
    15. Web site: Comprehensive bidding regulations approved for all finals and final tournaments. UEFA.org. 1 June 2017.
    16. Web site: Technical Report — Team of the Tournament. UEFA.com.
    17. Web site: European quartet secure France 2018 berths. https://web.archive.org/web/20170822095039/http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/y=2017/m=8/news=european-trio-secure-france-2018-berths-2904125.html. dead. August 22, 2017. FIFA.com. 14 August 2017.
    18. Web site: France to host the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20150320194817/http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/news/y=2015/m=3/news=france-to-host-the-fifa-women-s-world-cup-in-2019-2567761.html. dead. March 20, 2015. FIFA.com. 19 March 2015.