Apart from Sweden, 46 of the remaining 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.[3] Players born on or after 1 January 2003 were eligible to participate.
The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:[4]
Qualifying round: Apart from Spain and Germany, which receive byes to the elite round as the teams with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 44 teams are drawn into 11 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 11 group winners, the 11 runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best record against the first and second-placed teams in their group advance to the elite round.
Elite round: The 28 teams are 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 qualify for the final tournament.
The schedule of each group is as follows, with two rest days between each matchday (Regulations Article 20.04):[4]
In the qualifying round 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):[4]
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 two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.
To determine the four best third-placed teams from the qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 15.01):[4]
Points;
Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Disciplinary points (total 3 matches);
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw;
Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn in the same group.
To determine the four best third-placed teams from the qualifying round which advance to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group are taken into account.
The draw for the elite round was held on 29 November 2019, 11:40 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[6]
The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Spain and Germany, which received byes to the elite round, were automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Winners and runners-up from the same qualifying round group could not be drawn in the same group, but the best third-placed teams could be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group. Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn in the same group.[7]
Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient ranking; 6) drawing of lots. (Y)Third-placed teams from qualifying round (may be drawn with teams from same qualifying round group) Notes:
^ abRanked on disciplinary points: Norway 0, Switzerland –2.
^ abRanked on disciplinary points: France –1, Hungary –4.
The elite round was originally scheduled to be played between 14 and 29 March 2020. On 12 March 2020, UEFA announced that the elite round had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the elite round had been rescheduled to 12–21 September 2020.[9] However, UEFA announced on 13 August 2020 that after consultation with the 55 member associations, the tournament had been cancelled.[10][11]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Emőke Pápai
Karoline Nagelhus Hernes
Andorra
Armenia
Cyprus
Gibraltar
Kosovo
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
San Marino
England
Belgium
Croatia
Bosnia and Herzegovina (H)
87'
Switzerland
Turkey
Romania
Moldova (H)
France
Iceland
Malta
Belarus (H)
Austria
Slovakia (H)
Finland
Estonia
Slovenia
Faroe Islands (H)
Azerbaijan
Russia
Denmark (H)
Wales
North Macedonia
Republic of Ireland
Greece
Lithuania (H)
Albania
Czech Republic
Serbia (H)
Ukraine
Georgia
Poland
Bulgaria
Kazakhstan
Italy
Scotland (H)
Montenegro
Northern Ireland
Netherlands
Portugal (H)
Israel
Latvia
Spain
Germany
Sweden
