Qualifying round draw
Group 1 (15–20 September): Norway, Romania, Poland*, Armenia

Group 2 (18–23 October): Republic of Ireland, Italy, Wales, FYR Macedonia*

Group 3 (20–25 October): Belgium, Austria, Belarus*, Lithuania

Group 4 (14–19 September): Scotland, Serbia, Cyprus, Albania*

Group 5 (8–13 September): Russia, Slovenia*, Greece, Israel

Group 6 (15–20 September): Finland*, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan

Group 7 (18–23 October): Sweden, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Georgia

Group 8 (15–20 September): Spain, Ukraine, Azerbaijan*, Latvia

Group 9 (18–23 October): Switzerland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia*

Group 10 (19–24 October): Netherlands, Turkey, Moldova, Bulgaria*

Group 11 (20–25 October): Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia, Montenegro*

*Hosts

Draw procedure & seeding pots
The draw took place at 09.55CET on 13 November 2015 in Nyon, Switzerland. There were four seeding pots according to the coefficient ranking list, with the 11 countries with the highest rating in Pot A, the next 11 in Pot B, and so on. Each group included one team from each pot, with hosts then appointed to stage the mini-tournaments, provisionally scheduled between 12 and 20 September or 17 and 25 October 2016.

Pot A: Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Scotland, Switzerland, Republic of Ireland, Russia*

Pot B: Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Austria, Iceland, Serbia, Ukraine*, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary

Pot C: Poland, Croatia, Wales, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Moldova, Belarus, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan*

Pot D: FYR Macedonia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Georgia, Albania, Armenia*

*Based on previous decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee and UEFA Emergency Panel, Russia and Ukraine cannot be drawn in the same group, and neither can Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Who is involved?
• Hosts Northern Ireland qualify directly for the final tournament in the summer of 2017.

• The three nations with the highest rating on the coefficient ranking list (based on results from 2012/13 to 2014/15) receive a bye to the elite round that spring: France, England and Germany.

• The remaining 44 entrants will be in the qualifying round where they will be split into 11 groups of four.

• Armenia return having last entered in 2011/12.

Road to Northern Ireland
• The group winners plus the ten runners-up with the best record against the teams first and third in their section will join France, England and Germany in the elite round, provisionally in spring 2017

• Seven teams will eventually qualify for the finals to join Northern Ireland.