2026 UEFA European Under-17 Championship
International football competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 UEFA European Under-17 Championship will be the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (42nd edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-17 national teams of Europe. Estonia, which were selected by UEFA on 26 September 2023, will host the tournament.[1]
A total of eight teams will play in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2009 eligible to participate.[2]
The tournament and its qualification will act as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the UEFA representatives.
Qualification
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
Note: All appearance statistics include only U-17 era (since 2002).
| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance[a] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | Streak | ||||
 Estonia |
Host nation | 26 September 2023 | 1st | Debut | |||
 France |
Round 2 Group A1 winners | 31 March 2026 | 17th | 2002 | 2025 | 6 | Champions (2004, 2015, 2022) |
 Italy |
Round 2 Group A2 winners | 31 March 2026 | 14th | 2003 | 2025 | 10 | Champions (2024) |
 Montenegro |
Round 2 Group A3 winners | 28 March 2026 | 1st | Debut | |||
 Denmark |
Round 2 Group A4 winners | 31 March 2026 | 8th | 2002 | 2024 | 1 | Semi-finals (2011, 2024) |
 Belgium |
Round 2 Group A5 winners | 28 March 2026 | 10th | 2006 | 2025 | 2 | Semi-finals (2007, 2015, 2018, 2025) |
 Spain |
Round 2 Group A6 winners | 21 March 2026 | 17th | 2002 | 2024 | 1 | Champions (2007, 2008, 2017) |
 Croatia |
Round 2 Group A7 winners | 31 March 2026 | 7th | 2005 | 2024 | 1 | Fourth place (2005) |
Venues
The tournament will be hosted in 4 venues.[3]
| Tallinn | Tallinn | Rakvere | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lilleküla staadion | Kalevi Keskstaadion | Kadrioru staadion | Rakvere staadion | |
| Capacity: 14,336 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 1,785 | |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
Group stage
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals.
| Tie-breaking criteria for group play |
|---|
The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined as follows:
|
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Estonia (H) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Belgium |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Croatia |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Spain |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | France |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Italy |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Montenegro |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Knockout stage
The winners of each group are paired with the runners-up of the other group, and the allocation of matches to stadiums will only be confirmed on 1 June 2026 upon completion of the group stage. In the knockout stage, a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winner if necessary (no extra time is played).[4]
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 4 June – Tallinn | ||||||
| 7 June – Tallinn | ||||||
| 4 June – Tallinn | ||||||
Semi-finals
Final
Notes
- Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.