2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification explained

Tourney Name:	UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification
Year:	2026
Dates:	Qualifying round: Elite round: Spring 2026
Num Teams:	54
Confederations:	1
Nextseason:	2027

The 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification is a men's under-19 national football team competition that will determine the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Wales in the 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.^[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to participate.

Russia was excluded from participating in the tournament due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Spain has received a bye to the Elite Round and will not participate in the qualifying round. Therefore, excluding hosts Wales, 52 teams entered this qualification competition, which consists of a qualifying round played in September–November 2025, followed by an elite round played in spring 2026.

Format

The qualifying competition will consist of the following two rounds:

Qualifying Round: Apart from Spain, which receives a bye to the elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 52 teams will be drawn into 13 groups of four teams. Each group will be played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The 13 group winners, 13 runners-up, and the best third-placed team will advance to the elite round.
Elite Round: The 28 teams will be drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The seven group winners will qualify for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

In the qualifying and elite round, teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):^[2]

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
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams
Goal difference in all group matches
Goals scored in all group matches
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (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)
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for 2 yellow cards in one match = 3 points)
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw

To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02):

Points
Goal difference
Goals scored
Disciplinary points (total 3 matches)
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round will be held on 5 December 2024, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[3]

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[4]

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contains one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. On the basis of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, valid at the time of the draw, the following countries cannot be drawn into the same group: Armenia and Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine, Kosovo and Serbia and Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Final tournament hosts!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	5.333	—

Bye to elite round!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	25.939	1

Teams entering qualifying round^[5]

Pot A!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	25.333	2
	23.833	3
	21.667	4
	18.278	5
	15.944	6
	15.556	7
	14.722	8
	14.056	9
	13.444	10
	12.656	11
	12.222	12
	11.833	13
	11.667	14

Pot B!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	10.900	15
	10.833	16
	10.333	17
	10.167	18
	10.167	19
	10.000	20
	9.833	21
	9.333	22
	8.833	23
	8.500	24
	8.333	25
	8.000	26
	7.500	27

Pot C!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	7.333	28
	6.667	29
	6.500	30
	6.500	31
	6.167	32
	5.833	33
	5.333	34
	4.667	35
	4.500	36
	4.167	37
	4.000	38
	3.833	39
	3.667	40

Pot D!Team!Coeff.!Rank
	3.500	41
	3.333	42
	3.333	43
	2.667	44
	2.333	45
	1.333	46
	1.333	47
	1.000	48
	0.667	49
	0.667	50
	0.333	51
	0.000	52
	0.000	53

Groups

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Group 5

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Group 6

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Group 7

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Group 8

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Group 9

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Group 10

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Group 11

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Group 12

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Group 13

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Notes and References

Web site: UEFA Documents . 2 December 2024. uefa.com.
Web site: UEFA Documents . 2024-04-10. documents.uefa.com.
Web site: 2025/26 Under-19 EURO qualifying round draw. UEFA.
Web site: 2025/26 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualifying round draw . UEFA.com.
Web site: 2025/26 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualifying round draw . UEFA.com.