2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
International football competition
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The 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition is a men's under-21 football competition to determine the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Albania and Serbia in the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.
Dates5 June 2025 – 6 October 2026
Teams51 (from 1 confederation)
Matchesplayed210
Goals scored668 (3.18 per match)
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 5 June 2025 – 6 October 2026 |
| Teams | 51 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 210 |
| Goals scored | 668 (3.18 per match) |
| Attendance | 500,497 (2,383 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Nicolò Tresoldi(10 goals) |
← 2025 2029 →
All statistics correct as of 1 October 2026. | |
Qualified (first in group) Qualified (host country) Has reached at least the play-offs |
Still able to qualify Not qualified Did not enter |
suspended no UEFA member |
51 UEFA member national teams will enter the qualifying competition. Players born on or after 1 January 2004 are eligible to participate.
Two teams are not taking part in this tournament: Russia was suspended on 28 February 2022 by FIFA and UEFA from all competitions due to its invasion of Ukraine,[1][2] while the Liechtenstein team has been temporarily dissolved based on a decision announced on 5 October 2022.[3]
Format
The qualifying competition consisted of the following two rounds:
- Qualifying group stage: The 51 teams were drawn into nine groups: six groups of six teams and three groups of five teams. Each group will be 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) will qualify directly for the final tournament, while the remaining eight runners-up will advance to the play-offs.
- Play-offs: The eight teams will be drawn into four ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last four qualified teams.
Tiebreakers
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):[4]
- 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;
- Away goals scored in all group matches;
- Wins in all group matches;
- Away wins in all group matches;
- Disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
- Position in the UEFA men's Under-21 national team coefficient rankings used 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 are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.02):[4]
- Points;
- Goal difference;
- Goals scored;
- Away goals scored;
- Wins;
- Away wins;
- Disciplinary points;
- UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.
Schedule
| Stage | Draw date | FIFA International Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying group stage | 6 February 2025[5] | Matchday 1 (5–10 June 2025) |
| Matchday 2 (4–5 September 2025) | ||
| Matchday 3 (8–9 September 2025) | ||
| Matchday 4 (9–10 October 2025) | ||
| Matchday 5 (13–14 October 2025) | ||
| Matchday 6 (13–15 November 2025) | ||
| Matchday 7 (17–18 November 2025) | ||
| Matchday 8 (26–27 March 2026) | ||
| Matchday 9 (30–31 March 2026) | ||
| Matchday 10 (24–26 September 2026) | ||
| Matchday 11 (28 September – 1 October 2026) | ||
| Matchday 12 (5–6 October 2026) | ||
| Play-offs | TBA | 1st and 2nd legs (9–17 November 2026) |
Qualifying group stage
Draw
| Team |
|---|
 Albania |
 Serbia |
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Each group contained one team from each of Pots A–F (Pots A–E for a five-team group). Based on the previous decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, four pairs of teams were not drawn in the same group.
- Armenia and Azerbaijan
- Gibraltar and Spain
- Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
- Belarus and Ukraine
Groups
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain (X) |
9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 4 | +36 | 24 | Final tournament | — | 2–1 | 6 Oct | 2–0 | 3–0 | 7–0 | |
| 2 | Finland (X) |
9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 3 | +27 | 22 | Final tournament or play-offs | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 7–0 | |
| 3 | Romania (E) |
9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 16 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 4 | Kosovo (E) |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 14 | 1–3 | 6 Oct | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 7–0 | ||
| 5 | Cyprus (E) |
9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 29 | −23 | 3 | 0–7 | 0–5 | 0–3 | 0–4 | — | 6 Oct | ||
| 6 | San Marino (E) |
9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 55 | −55 | 0 | 0–13 | 0–8 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | — |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal (Q) |
9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 2 | +31 | 22 | Final tournament | — | 6 Oct | 3–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Czech Republic (A) |
9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 18 | Final tournament or play-offs | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 5–0 | |
| 3 | Scotland (E) |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 12 | +11 | 14 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 5–2 | 12–0 | ||
| 4 | Bulgaria (E) |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 14 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 6 Oct | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 5 | Azerbaijan (E) |
9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 24 | −16 | 7 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | — | 6 Oct | ||
| 6 | Gibraltar (E) |
9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 41 | −40 | 0 | 0–11 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — |
Updated to match(es) played on 30 September 2026. Source: UEFA
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France (Q) |
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 7 | +20 | 23 | Final tournament | — | 6 Oct | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 6–1 | |
| 2 | Switzerland (Y) |
9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 17 | Final tournament or play-offs | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–1 | |
| 3 | Iceland (Y) |
9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 11 | +9 | 15 | 1–1 | 5–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 6–2 | ||
| 4 | Faroe Islands (E) |
9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 12 | 0–6 | 1–3 | 6 Oct | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | ||
| 5 | Luxembourg (E) |
9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 22 | −12 | 7 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | — | 6 Oct | ||
| 6 | Estonia (E) |
9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 25 | −16 | 2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | — |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England (Q) |
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 4 | +18 | 23 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–2 | |
| 2 | Republic of Ireland (Y) |
9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 17 | Final tournament or play-offs | 6 Oct | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–3 | |
| 3 | Slovakia (Y) |
9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 17 | 0–4 | 0–2 | — | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Andorra (E) |
9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 8 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 6 Oct | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 5 | Moldova (E) |
9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 17 | −8 | 6 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 3–0 | — | 6 Oct | ||
| 6 | Kazakhstan (E) |
9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 18 | −9 | 4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — |
Group E
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poland (X) |
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2 | +24 | 27 | Final tournament | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | Italy (X) |
9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 5 | +21 | 24 | Final tournament or play-offs | 5 Oct | — | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 5–1 | |
| 3 | Montenegro (E) |
9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 15 | −3 | 11 | 0–1 | 1–4 | — | 2–0 | 3–2 | 5 Oct | ||
| 4 | Sweden (E) |
9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 22 | −12 | 10 | 0–6 | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | 5 Oct | 3–0 | ||
| 5 | North Macedonia (E) |
9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 18 | −10 | 7 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 6 | Armenia (E) |
9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 24 | −20 | 0 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — |
Group F
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany (X) |
9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 5 | +25 | 24 | Final tournament | — | 2–3 | 3–0 | 6 Oct | 5–0 | 6–0 | |
| 2 | Greece (X) |
9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 6 | +22 | 24 | Final tournament or play-offs | 0–2 | — | 4–0 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 5–0 | |
| 3 | Northern Ireland (E) |
9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 12 | +1 | 14 | 1–2 | 6 Oct | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Georgia (E) |
9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 4–1 | ||
| 5 | Latvia (E) |
9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 20 | −14 | 5 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | — | 6 Oct | ||
| 6 | Malta (E) |
9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 36 | −34 | 0 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 0–4 | 0–5 | 0–1 | — |
Group G
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway (Q) |
7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 5 | +13 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 6 Oct | 3–2 | 6–1 | 5–0 | |
| 2 | Israel (Y) |
7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 10 | Final tournament or play-offs | 0–3 | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | |
| 3 | Netherlands (Y) |
7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 9 | 0–0 | 2–2 | — | 6 Oct | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (Y) |
7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 7 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | ||
| 5 | Slovenia (E) |
8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 5 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 2–4 | 0–2 | — |
Group H
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Croatia (Q) |
7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Turkey (A) |
7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 12 | Play-offs | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 6 Oct | 2–0 | |
| 3 | Ukraine (E) |
8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 12 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 3–3 | 1–1 | ||
| 4 | Hungary (E) |
7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 13 | −4 | 6 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 5 | Lithuania (E) |
7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 2 | 6 Oct | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–1 | — |
Updated to match(es) played on 2 October 2026. Source: UEFA
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
(A) Advance to a further round; (E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Group I
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium (X) |
7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Denmark |
7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 14 | Final tournament or play-offs | 6 Oct | — | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | |
| 3 | Austria (Y) |
7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Wales (E) |
7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 21 | −15 | 6 | 0–7 | 2–6 | 6 Oct | — | 2–0 | ||
| 5 | Belarus (E) |
8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 4 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | — |
Ranking of second-placed teams
Only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams in their group are taken into account, while results against the sixth-placed team in six-team groups are not included. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team are counted for the purposes of determining the ranking. The top-ranked team will qualify directly for the final tournament, while the other teams enter the play-offs.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E | Italy |
7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | +16 | 18 | Final tournament |
| 2 | F | Greece |
7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 18 | Play-offs |
| 3 | A | Finland |
7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 16 | |
| 4 | I | Denmark |
7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 14 | |
| 5 | B | Czech Republic (Q) |
7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | |
| 6 | H | Turkey (Q) |
7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 12 | |
| 7 | C | Switzerland |
7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 11 | |
| 8 | D | Republic of Ireland |
7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 11 | |
| 9 | G | Israel |
7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 10 |
Updated to match(es) played on 3 October 2026. Source: UEFA
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.
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
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.
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Play-offs
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TBD | TBD | |||
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Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).
| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance[a] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | Streak | ||||
| Serbia |
Co-hosts | 4 February 2025 | 12th[b] | 1978 | 2019 | 1 | Champions (1978) (as Yugoslavia)[b] |
| Albania |
2nd | 1984 | 1 | Quarter-finals (1984) | |||
| Croatia |
Group H winners | 26 September 2026 | 6th | 2000 | 2023 | 1 | Quarter-finals (2021) |
| Norway |
Group G winners | 29 September 2026 | 4th | 1998 | 2023 | 1 | Semi-finals (1998, 2013) |
| Portugal |
Group B winners | 30 September 2026 | 12th | 1994 | 2025 | 4 | Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021) |
| England |
Group D winners | 2 October 2026 | 19th | 1978 | 2025 | 11 | Champions (1982, 1984, 2023, 2025) |
| France |
Group C winners | 3 October 2026 | 13th | 1982 | 2025 | 5 | Champions (1988) |
Top goalscorers
There have been 682 goals scored in 216 matches, for an average of 3.16 goals per match (as of 3 October 2026).
10 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
Lucas Stassin
Nikola Iliev- Georgi Lazarov
Matěj Mikulenka
Matias Siltanen
Eli Junior Kroupi- Wilson Odobert
Gabriel Sigua
Tom Bischof- Muhammed Damar
- Lennart Karl
Konstantinos Kostoulas- Stavros Pnevmonidis
Benoný Andrésson
Ran Binyamin
Seydou Fini- Luca Koleosho
- Luca Lipani
Hekuran Berisha- Eliot Bujupi
- Leon Frokaj
Vladislav Costin
Gjivai Zechiël
Dimitar Trajkov
Niklas Ødegård
Tomasz Pieńko
Jamie Mullins
Ioan Vermeșan
Adrián Fiala
Liam Chipperfield- Alessandro Vogt
Ali Habeşoğlu- Emirhan Ilkhan
Danylo Krevsun
Below are goalscorer lists for all groups: