# 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.
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):
* 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 (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
* 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):
* 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 | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 1 (24–28 March 2023) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 2 (15–20 June 2023) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 3 (6–12 September 2023) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 4 (12–17 October 2023) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 5 (16–21 November 2023) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 6 (21–26 March 2024) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 7 (5–10 September 2024) |
| Qualifying group stage | 2 February 2023 | FIFA date 8 (10–15 October 2024) |
| Play-offs | 17 October 2024 | 1st leg (11 November 2024) |
| Play-offs | 17 October 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

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Play-offs | 0–3 | — | 3–2 | 5–1 | 7–0 | 4–0 |
| 3 | Republic of Ireland | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 24 | 12 | +12 | 19 | | 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 | — |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Norway 4, Republic of Ireland 1.

#### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | — | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 |
| 4 | Hungary | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 16 | | 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 | — |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Scotland 4, Hungary 1.

#### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | — |

#### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Final tournament | 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 | — |

#### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | — |

#### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Final tournament | 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 | — |

#### Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | — |

#### Group H

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Final tournament | 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 | — |

#### Group I

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Play-offs | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Wales | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 14 | | 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 | — |
* 1 2 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 | Final tournament |
| 3 | D | Poland | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 16 | Final tournament |
| 4 | G | Croatia | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 16 | Play-offs |
| 5 | E | Finland | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 14 | Play-offs |
| 6 | I | Czech Republic | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 14 | Play-offs |
| 7 | A | Norway | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 13 | Play-offs |
| 8 | B | Belgium | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 13 | Play-offs |
| 9 | C | Georgia | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 13 | Play-offs |

## Play-offs

The draw for the play-offs was held on 17 October 2024 in Nyon, Switzerland.
| 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