2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification
The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-17 football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts England in the 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament. Apart from England, all remaining 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition (including Kosovo who entered for the first time). Players born on or after 1 January 2001 are eligible to participate. Each match has a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time. Format. The qualifying competition  consists of two rounds: The schedule of each mini-tournament is as follows (Regulations Article 20.04): Tiebreakers. 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): To determine the four best third-placed teams from the qualifying round and the seven best runners-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place are  discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Articles 15.01, 15.02 and 15.03): Qualifying round. Draw. The draw for the qualifying round was held on 13 December 2016, 09:00 CET (), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following: Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine, Spain and Gibraltar, Serbia and Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo would not be drawn in the same group . Groups. The qualifying round must be played by 19 November 2017. Times up to 28 October 2017 are CEST (), thereafter times are CET (). Ranking of third-placed teams. 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. Elite round. Draw. The draw for the elite round was held on 6 December 2017, 11:45 CET (), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams were seeded according to their results  in the qualifying round. Germany and Portugal, 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. Groups. The elite round must be played by the end of March 2018. Times  up to 24 March 2018 are CET (), thereafter times are CEST (). Group 1. "The Serbia v Ukraine match was completed with a score of 1–2 before a default victory was awarded to Serbia due to participation of disqualified Ukrainian players Mykola Yarosh and Roman Bodnia." Ranking of second-placed teams. To determine the seven best second-placed teams from the elite round which qualify for the final tournament, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first and third-placed teams in their group are taken into account. Qualified teams. The following 16 teams qualified for the final  tournament.