2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

The 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification is a men's under-21 national football team competition to determine the 15 teams that will be joining the automatically qualified hosts Slovakia in the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Dates	24 March 2023 – 19 November 2024
Teams	52 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	254
Goals scored	770 (3.03 per match)
Attendance	527,505 (2,077 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Fábio Silva (8 goals)
← 2023 2027 → All statistics correct as of 16 October 2024.

Apart from Slovakia, Liechtenstein (dissolved their U21 team until 2025) and Russia (banned due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine), all remaining 52 UEFA member national teams entered this qualifying competition. Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible to participate.

Format

The qualifying competition will consist of the following two rounds:

• Qualifying group stage: The 52 teams are drawn into nine groups: seven groups of six teams and two groups of five teams. Each group is played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners and the three best runner-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualify directly for the final tournament, while the remaining six runners-up advance to the play-offs.
• Play-offs: The six teams are drawn into three ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last three qualified teams.

Tiebreakers

In the qualifying group stage, 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 Article 14.01):^[1]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. 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;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Away goals scored in all group matches;
8. Wins in all group matches;
9. Away wins in all group matches;
10. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
11. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

To determine the bests 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):^[1]

1. Points;
2. Goal difference;
3. Goals scored;
4. Away goals scored;
5. Wins;
6. Away wins;
7. Disciplinary points;
8. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

Schedule

Stage	Draw date	FIFA International Dates
Qualifying group stage	2 February 2023[2]	FIFA date 1 (24–28 March 2023)
		FIFA date 2 (15–20 June 2023)
		FIFA date 3 (6–12 September 2023)
		FIFA date 4 (12–17 October 2023)
		FIFA date 5 (16–21 November 2023)
		FIFA date 6 (21–26 March 2024)
		FIFA date 7 (5–10 September 2024)
		FIFA date 8 (10–15 October 2024)
Play-offs	17 October 2024[3]	1st leg (11 November 2024)
		2nd leg (19 November 2024)

Qualifying group stage

Draw

Final tournament host

Team
Slovakia

Pot 1 Team  Spain  Portugal  Germany  France  Netherlands  England  Denmark  Italy  Romania	Pot 2 Team  Croatia   Switzerland  Belgium  Czech Republic  Poland  Ukraine  Sweden  Austria  Republic of Ireland	Pot 3 Team  Norway  Greece  Iceland  Slovenia  Israel  Finland  Georgia  Serbia  Scotland
Pot 4 Team  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Hungary  Turkey  North Macedonia  Wales  Belarus  Northern Ireland  Albania	Pot 5 Team  Kosovo  Montenegro  Moldova  Lithuania  Faroe Islands  Cyprus  Kazakhstan  Azerbaijan  Latvia	Pot 6 Team  Malta  Armenia  Luxembourg  Andorra  Estonia  Gibraltar  San Marino

Banned from entering qualifying

Team
Russia

Did not enter

Team
Liechtenstein

Each group contained one team from each of Pots 1–6 (Pots 1–5 for five-team group). Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following teams would not be drawn in the same group.

• Armenia and Azerbaijan
• Belarus and Ukraine
• Gibraltar and Spain
• Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
• Kosovo and Serbia

Groups

Group A

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	10	6	4	0	27	4	+23	22	Final tournament		—	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	7–0
2	Norway	10	6	1	3	28	11	+17	19[a]	Play-offs		0–3	—	3–2	5–1	7–0	4–0
3	Republic of Ireland	10	5	4	1	24	12	+12	19[a]			2–2	1–1	—	3–2	2–2	3–0
4	Turkey	10	4	1	5	21	15	+6	13			0–2	2–0	0–1	—	3–0	5–0
5	Latvia	10	3	2	5	10	18	−8	11			0–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	—	2–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	1	51	−50	0			0–7	0–7	0–7	1–6	0–3	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Norway 4, Republic of Ireland 1.

Group B

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	9	1	0	28	5	+23	28	Final tournament		—	1–0	1–0	2–0	4–3	6–0
2	Belgium	10	6	1	3	13	6	+7	19	Play-offs		1–1	—	0–2	0–1	1–0	3–1
3	Scotland	10	5	1	4	19	11	+8	16[a]			1–2	0–2	—	3–1	4–1	2–1
4	Hungary	10	5	1	4	12	8	+4	16[a]			0–1	0–1	0–0	—	2–0	2–1
5	Kazakhstan	10	3	0	7	13	24	−11	9			0–4	0–3	3–2	0–3	—	4–1
6	Malta	10	0	0	10	4	35	−31	0			0–6	0–2	0–5	0–3	0–2	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Scotland 4, Hungary 1.

Group C

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	10	10	0	0	32	3	+29	30	Final tournament		—	3–1	3–0	5–0	3–0	1–0
2	Georgia	10	6	1	3	14	10	+4	19	Play-offs		0–3	—	0–0	2–1	3–0	2–0
3	Sweden	10	5	2	3	25	10	+15	17			2–4	3–2	—	0–1	4–0	9–0
4	North Macedonia	10	4	0	6	8	15	−7	12			0–2	0–1	0–2	—	2–1	1–0
5	Moldova	10	2	1	7	7	20	−13	7			0–3	0–1	0–0	2–1	—	1–2
6	Gibraltar	10	1	0	9	3	31	−28	3			0–5	0–2	0–5	0–2	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group D

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	8	2	0	35	10	+25	26	Final tournament		—	3–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	2–0
2	Poland	10	7	1	2	24	10	+14	22			3–3	—	0–1	3–0	5–0	2–1
3	Bulgaria	10	4	3	3	17	12	+5	15			2–3	1–3	—	1–1	6–0	1–0
4	Kosovo	10	3	3	4	10	17	−7	12			0–3	0–4	2–2	—	2–0	3–1
5	Estonia	10	2	1	7	7	31	−24	7			1–10	0–1	1–1	3–1	—	1–0
6	Israel	10	1	0	9	5	18	−13	3			1–5	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	—

Source: UEFA

Group E

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	10	7	1	2	23	10	+13	22	Final tournament		—	1–0	3–1	5–0	1–0	2–0
2	Finland	10	6	2	2	21	8	+13	20	Play-offs		2–0	—	1–2	4–1	2–1	6–0
3	Switzerland	10	5	3	2	21	12	+9	18			2–2	1–1	—	1–2	4–2	5–0
4	Albania	10	5	1	4	12	17	−5	16			3–2	0–0	1–3	—	2–0	1–0
5	Montenegro	10	2	1	7	8	19	−11	7			2–6	1–2	0–2	1–0	—	0–0
6	Armenia	10	0	2	8	2	21	−19	2			0–1	1–3	0–0	1–2	0–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group F

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	8	1	1	41	6	+35	25	Final tournament		—	2–1	9–1	3–0	7–0	7–0
2	Ukraine	10	8	0	2	20	7	+13	24			3–2	—	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–0
3	Serbia	10	5	1	4	13	18	−5	16			0–3	1–0	—	1–2	2–0	2–0
4	Northern Ireland	10	3	2	5	10	10	0	11			0–0	1–2	1–2	—	0–1	5–0
5	Luxembourg	10	2	2	6	6	23	−17	8			0–3	0–3	1–1	0–0	—	2–0
6	Azerbaijan	10	1	0	9	4	30	−26	3			1–5	0–3	0–2	0–1	3–2	—

Source: UEFA

Group G

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	9	0	1	33	6	+27	27	Final tournament		—	5–1	2–0	4–0	6–1	3–0
2	Croatia	10	7	1	2	20	14	+6	22	Play-offs		0–2	—	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0
3	Greece	10	5	2	3	16	10	+6	17			2–1	2–2	—	3–0	1–1	1–0
4	Faroe Islands	10	3	1	6	11	24	−13	10			1–3	2–4	0–4	—	1–0	2–2
5	Belarus	10	1	3	6	6	20	−14	6			0–5	0–1	1–0	2–3	—	0–0
6	Andorra	10	0	3	7	4	16	−12	3			1–2	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group H

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	8	5	2	1	13	7	+6	17	Final tournament		—	0–4	1–0	2–0	3–0
2	France	8	5	1	2	22	6	+16	16			1–1	—	1–2	9–0	2–0
3	Austria	8	4	3	1	12	6	+6	15			1–1	2–0	—	2–2	2–0
4	Cyprus	8	1	2	5	7	23	−16	5			0–3	0–3	1–1	—	1–2
5	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	1	0	7	5	17	−12	3			1–2	1–2	0–2	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group I

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	8	5	2	1	18	8	+10	17	Final tournament		—	5–0	2–2	2–0	3–0
2	Czech Republic	8	4	2	2	13	11	+2	14[a]	Play-offs		0–0	—	1–1	4–1	3–0
3	Wales	8	4	2	2	13	11	+2	14[a]			1–2	1–2	—	1–0	2–1
4	Iceland	8	3	0	5	9	14	−5	9			4–2	2–1	1–2	—	0–2
5	Lithuania	8	1	0	7	7	16	−9	3			1–2	1–2	2–3	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Czech Republic 4, Wales 1

Ranking of second-placed teams

Because two groups have one fewer team than the others, 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 three teams qualify directly for the final tournament, while the other six teams enter the play-offs.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F	Ukraine	8	6	0	2	16	7	+9	18	Final tournament
2	H	France	8	5	1	2	22	6	+16	16
3	D	Poland	8	5	1	2	20	8	+12	16
4	G	Croatia	8	5	1	2	15	14	+1	16	Play-offs
5	E	Finland	8	4	2	2	12	7	+5	14
6	I	Czech Republic	8	4	2	2	13	11	+2	14
7	A	Norway	8	4	1	3	17	11	+6	13
8	B	Belgium	8	4	1	3	8	5	+3	13
9	C	Georgia	8	4	1	3	10	10	0	13

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
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.

Play-offs

Main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs

The draw for the play-offs was held on 17 October 2024 in Nyon, Switzerland.^[3]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Finland	6–3	Norway	5–1	1–2
Belgium	1–3	Czech Republic	0–2	1–1
Georgia	3–3 (7–6 p)	Croatia	1–0	2–3 (a.e.t.)

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Appearance	First appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Slovakia	Hosts	25 January 2023	3rd (9th incl. Czechoslovakia)	2000	2017	Fourth place (2000)
Netherlands	Group C winners	9 September 2024	10th	1988	2023	Champions (2006, 2007)
Spain	Group B winners	10 September 2024	17th	1982	2023	Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
Portugal	Group G winners	11 October 2024	11th	1994	2023	Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
Germany	Group D winners	11 October 2024	15th	1982	2023	Champions (2009, 2017, 2021)
Denmark	Group I winners	11 October 2024	10th	1978	2021	Semi-finals (1992, 2015)
Ukraine	Top three of second-placed teams	11 October 2024	4th (7th incl. Soviet Union)	2006	2023	Runners-up (2006)
England	Group F winners	12 October 2024	18th	1978	2023	Champions (1982, 1984, 2023)
Romania	Group E winners	15 October 2024	5th	1998	2023	Semi-finals (2019)
Poland	Top three of second-placed teams	15 October 2024	8th	1982	2019	Quarter-finals (1982, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994)
Slovenia	Group H winners	15 October 2024	2nd (6th incl. Yugoslavia)	2021	2021	Group stage (2021)
France	Top three of second-placed teams	15 October 2024	12th	1982	2023	Champions (1988)
Italy	Group A winners	15 October 2024	23rd	1978	2023	Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Finland	Play-offs winner	19 November 2024	2nd	2009	2009	Group stage (2009)
Czech Republic	Play-offs winner	19 November 2024	10th (16th incl. Czechoslovakia)	1996	2023	Champions (2002)
Georgia	Play-offs winner	19 November 2024	2nd (5th incl. Soviet Union)	2023	2023	Quarter-finals (2023)

Top goalscorers

There have been 776 goals scored in 250 matches, for an average of 3.1 goals per match.

8 goals

• Fábio Silva

7 goals

• Harvey Elliott
• Otso Liimatta
• Noah Ohio
• Andreas Schjelderup

6 goals

• Marin Ljubičić
• Francesco Pio Esposito
• Noni Madueke
• Samu Omorodion
• Youssoufa Moukoko
• Kristian Arnstad
• Tio Cipot
• Erencan Yardımcı

5 goals

• James McAtee
• Mateo Joseph
• Karim Adeyemi
• Rocco Vata
• Million Manhoef
• Filip Szymczak
• Louis Munteanu

4 goals

• Adrion Pajaziti
• Kazeem Olaigbe
• Nikola Iliev
• Georgi Nikolov
• Václav Sejk
• Casper Terho
• Arnaud Kalimuendo
• Jørgen Nielsen
• Nicolò Tresoldi
• Nick Woltemade
• Christos Tzolis
• Sinclair Armstrong
• Kristall Máni Ingason
• Tommaso Baldanzi
• Wilfried Gnonto
• Vlad Răileanu
• Andrea Zammit
• Paulo Bernardo
• Fabian Rieder
• Jusef Erabi
• Nazar Voloshyn

For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each group:

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I