Seedings set for 2017 U21 qualifying draw

The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament in Poland will contain an expanded field of 12 nations and the qualifying process begins with the draw at 09.00CET on 5 February, streamed live from Nyon on UEFA.com.

Draw details
• The 52 entrants will be drawn into nine groups – seven sections of six teams and two of five.

• The sides have been split into six seeding pots based on the coefficient ranking system.

• The nine group winners will qualify automatically for the 2017 finals in Poland.

• The four runners-up with the best records against the teams first, third, fourth and fifth in their group will go into the play-offs and be drawn into two ties to decide the last two qualifiers for the expanded 12-country finals.

• Full draw procedure.

Draw pots
Pot A: Spain, England*, Italy*, Germany*, France, Czech Republic*, Portugal*, Netherlands, Denmark*

Pot B: Russia, Switzerland, Sweden*, Serbia*, Israel, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Belgium

Pot C: Turkey, Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Scotland, Croatia, Norway, Armenia, Montenegro

Pot D: Finland, Wales, Hungary, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Republic of Ireland, Belarus

Pot E: Bulgaria, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Albania, Latvia, Estonia

Pot F: Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein

*Competing at 2015 finals in the Czech Republic from 17–30 June

Based on previous decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee, Russia and Ukraine cannot be drawn into the same group, nor can Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Road to Poland: match dates
Qualifying group stage
23–31 March 2015
8–16 June 2015
31 August–8 September 2015
5–13 October 2015
9–17 November 2015
21–29 March 2016
29 August–6 September 2016
3–11 October 2016

Play-offs
7–15 November 2016