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2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

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2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Dates	22 March 2013 – 14 October 2014
Teams	52 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	234
Goals scored	790 (3.38 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Saido Berahino (10 goals)
← 2013 2017 →

The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship started with a qualifying competition which began in March 2013 and finished in September 2014. The final tournament was held in the Czech Republic. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 31 January 2013 in Nyon, with matches played between March 2013 and September 2014.^[1]

There were ten groups. Two of these groups had six teams; the remaining eight groups consisted of five teams. Group competition was a double round robin: each team hosted a game with every other team in its group. At the conclusion of qualifying, the 10 teams at the top of each group and four best second-placed teams qualified for the two-legged play-offs scheduled in October 2014, with the seven winners of the play-off ties joining Czech Republic in the finals.

A total of fifty-two participating teams were divided in five draw pots based on the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking. Pots A through D contained ten teams, while pot E twelve teams.^[1]

Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan (due to the dispute concerning territory of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Georgia would not be drawn against Russia (due to the dispute regarding the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia) in the qualifiers for 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.^[2]

1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
2. Superior goal difference 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. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
5. If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply
6. Results of all group matches:
   1. Superior goal difference
   2. Higher number of goals scored
   3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
7. Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	9	1	0	31	2	+29	28	Play-offs		—	3–0	1–0	1–0	5–0	9–0
2	Finland	10	4	4	2	17	10	+7	16			1–1	—	1–0	2–2	2–2	5–0
3	Moldova	10	5	1	4	12	6	+6	16			0–3	1–0	—	0–0	3–0	2–0
4	Wales	10	3	3	4	12	13	−1	12			1–3	1–5	1–0	—	2–0	4–0
5	Lithuania	10	2	2	6	6	19	−13	8			0–1	0–1	0–3	1–1	—	2–1
6	San Marino	10	1	1	8	2	30	−28	4			0–4	0–0	0–3	1–0	0–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	10	8	2	0	37	9	+28	26	Play-offs		—	4–2	2–2	7–1	8–0	6–0
2	Russia	10	7	1	2	22	12	+10	22			0–2	—	2–1	3–1	1–0	5–0
3	Slovenia	10	5	2	3	29	11	+18	17			2–2	0–1	—	2–1	0–1	5–0
4	Bulgaria	10	2	3	5	18	26	−8	9			2–3	3–3	1–5	—	1–1	3–0
5	Estonia	10	2	3	5	9	23	−14	9			0–1	1–2	1–7	2–2	—	1–1
6	Andorra	10	0	1	9	1	35	−34	1			0–2	0–3	0–5	0–3	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovakia	8	5	2	1	19	7	+12	17	Play-offs		—	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–0
2	Netherlands	8	5	1	2	22	6	+16	16			0–1	—	4–0	0–1	3–1
3	Scotland	8	3	2	3	12	15	−3	11			2–1	1–6	—	1–1	3–0
4	Georgia	8	3	1	4	8	15	−7	10			1–3	0–6	2–1	—	0–3[a]
5	Luxembourg	8	1	0	7	5	23	−18	3			1–7	0–1	0–3	0–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	8	7	1	0	24	6	+18	22	Play-offs		—	1–1	1–0	3–2	4–0
2	Austria	8	5	1	2	15	12	+3	16			2–6	—	4–2	2–0	1–3
3	Hungary	8	3	0	5	12	13	−1	9			0–1	0–2	—	4–1	0–2
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	2	0	6	10	22	−12	6			1–6	0–2	1–4	—	4–1
5	Albania	8	2	0	6	7	15	−8	6			0–2	0–1	1–2	0–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	8	6	1	1	20	5	+15	19	Play-offs		—	1–1	0–2	3–1	4–0
2	Ukraine	8	6	1	1	20	8	+12	19			0–2	—	2–0	2–1	3–0
3	Switzerland	8	5	0	3	23	8	+15	15			0–2	1–2	—	7–1	5–1
4	Latvia	8	2	0	6	11	22	−11	6			1–3	1–5	0–2	—	4–0
5	Liechtenstein	8	0	0	8	3	34	−31	0			0–5	2–5	0–6	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	8	6	2	0	25	5	+20	20	Play-offs		—	8–0	2–0	2–0	3–2
2	Romania	8	3	3	2	14	19	−5	12			2–2	—	4–3	0–0	3–1
3	Montenegro	8	3	2	3	12	11	+1	11			1–1	3–2	—	0–0	3–0
4	Republic of Ireland	8	2	2	4	10	12	−2	8			0–4	0–1	1–2	—	5–2
5	Faroe Islands	8	1	1	6	9	23	−14	4			0–3	2–2	1–0	1–4	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	8	5	1	2	20	14	+6	16	Play-offs		—	3–0	3–1	4–3	5–0
2	Greece	8	5	0	3	20	10	+10	15			5–1	—	3–1	2–1	5–0
3	Poland	8	5	0	3	17	10	+7	15			2–0	3–1	—	3–1	2–0
4	Turkey	8	4	1	3	16	11	+5	13			2–2	1–0	1–0	—	4–0
5	Malta	8	0	0	8	2	30	−28	0			1–2	0–4	1–5	0–3	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	8	8	0	0	22	6	+16	24	Play-offs		—	3–0	5–1	3–1	2–0
2	Israel	8	5	0	3	22	15	+7	15			3–4	—	4–1	7–2	2–1
3	Norway	8	3	0	5	11	19	−8	9			1–2	1–3	—	1–3	2–1
4	Azerbaijan	8	2	1	5	9	15	−6	7			0–2	3–0	0–1	—	0–0
5	Macedonia	8	1	1	6	4	13	−9	4			0–1	0–3	1–3	1–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	8	6	0	2	19	7	+12	18	Play-offs		—	3–2	1–3	7–1	3–0
2	Serbia	8	5	1	2	18	10	+8	16			1–0	—	2–2	2–1	3–1
3	Belgium	8	5	1	2	15	7	+8	16			0–1	0–3	—	2–0	1–0
4	Cyprus	8	2	0	6	7	21	−14	6			0–2	2–1	0–6	—	3–0
5	Northern Ireland	8	1	0	7	3	17	−14	3			0–2	1–4	0–1	1–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	8	7	1	0	28	7	+21	22	Play-offs		—	1–1	5–0	6–0	1–0
2	Iceland	8	5	1	2	20	11	+9	16			3–4	—	2–0	4–0	4–1
3	Kazakhstan	8	3	0	5	8	18	−10	9			1–5	3–2	—	0–1	1–2
4	Armenia	8	3	0	5	7	19	−12	9			1–4	1–2	1–2	—	2–1
5	Belarus	8	1	0	7	6	14	−8	3			1–2	1–2	0–1	0–1	—

Because some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.

The following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.^[2]

1. Higher number of points obtained in these matches
2. Superior goal difference from these matches
3. Higher number of goals scored in these matches
4. Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
5. Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	5	Ukraine	8	6	1	1	20	8	+12	19	Play-offs
2	3	Netherlands	8	5	1	2	22	6	+16	16
3	10	Iceland	8	5	1	2	20	11	+9	16
4	9	Serbia	8	5	1	2	18	10	+8	16
5	4	Austria	8	5	1	2	15	12	+3	16
6	2	Russia	8	5	1	2	14	12	+2	16
7	7	Greece	8	5	0	3	20	10	+10	15
8	8	Israel	8	5	0	3	22	15	+7	15
9	1	Finland	8	3	3	2	12	10	+2	12
10	6	Romania	8	3	3	2	14	19	−5	12

The play-offs for the tournament finals were held on 9,10 and 14 October 2014. The seven winners qualify for the final tournament in Czech Republic.^[2]

The draw for the play-offs was held on 12 September 2014 in Nyon to determine the seven pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties. The seven group winners with the highest competition coefficients were seeded and were drawn against the unseeded teams. Nations from the same group could not be drawn against each other.^[3][4]

Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:^[2]

• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying group stage.
• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying stage and final tournament.
• 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying stage and final tournament.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Slovakia	2–4	Italy	1–1	1–3
France	3–4	Sweden	2–0	1–4
Denmark	1–1 (a)	Iceland	0–0	1–1
England	4–2	Croatia	2–1	2–1
Netherlands	4–7	Portugal	0–2	4–5
Ukraine	0–5	Germany	0–3	0–2
Serbia	2–1	Spain	0–0	2–1

The top scorers in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification were as follows. Players in italics have also played in the play-offs.^[5]

Rank	Name	Goals	Apps	Minutes played
1	Saido Berahino	10	10	800
2	Arkadiusz Milik	9	6	517
3	Álvaro Morata	8	7	583
	Emil Atlason	8	10	599
	Mu'nas Dabbur	8	7	616
6	Marcelo Brozović	7	7	586
	Quincy Promes	7	7	596
	Philipp Hofmann	7	10	726

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