U19 Futsal EURO preliminary and main round draws

The UEFA European Under-19 Futsal Championship preliminary and main round draws on Monday 30 August paved the road to the 2022 finals.

In all 34 teams have entered, with 33 competing to join hosts Spain in the finals in Jaén scheduled from 3–10 September 2022. Spain won the first edition in Riga in 2019; hoping to again reach the last eight will be runners-up Croatia, semi-finalists Portugal and Poland plus group contenders Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands and hosts Latvia. Making their debuts will be Estonia, Gibraltar and Wales.

Preliminary round draw (2–7 November)

Group A: Andorra, San Marino (hosts), Estonia, Wales

Group B: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Gibraltar (hosts)

• The two group winners progress to the main round.

Main round draw (15–20 March 2022)

Group 1: Netherlands, Turkey (hosts), Italy, Winner preliminary round Group B

Group 2: Portugal (hosts), Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece

Group 3: Slovenia, France. Hungary, Serbia (hosts)

Group 4: Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland (hosts), Kazakhstan

Group 5: Russia, Slovakia, Romania (hosts), Georgia

Group 6: Ukraine (hosts), Belgium, Moldova, Winner preliminary round Group A

Group 7: Croatia (hosts), Belarus, Latvia, Azerbaijan

• The seven group winners join Spain in the finals.

How the draw worked

• Hosts Spain receive a bye to the finals.
• Of the 33 other entrants, the seven lowest-ranked associations by coefficient (based on results in the inaugural edition) begin in November's preliminary round.
• The seven preliminary round contenders will compete for two places alongside the 26 nations entering in March's main round, which will produce Spain's seven opponents for the finals.
• Both rounds will be played as one-venue mini-tournaments with the group winners progressing to the next stage.

Preliminary round

• Teams were split into three seeding tiers (two in each of positions 1 and 2, and the other three in positions 3 or 4), based on their coefficients, and drawn accordingly. Group A contains four teams and Group B will have three.
• San Marino (position 2) and Gibraltar (position 3 or 4) were pre-designated as mini-tournament hosts and were drawn from a separate Pot 1 while maintaining their seeding. Next to be drawn was Pot 2, containing the remaining teams from the lowest seeding tier, Estonia and Wales. Pot 3 contained just one team, Montenegro. Pot 4 contained North Macedonia and Andorra, who were each be placed in position 1 with the first team drawn in Group A.

Seeding pots

Pot 1: hosts
San Marino (seeding position 2)
Gibraltar (4 or 3)

Pot 2: seeding position 4 or 3
Estonia
Wales

Pot 3: seeding position 2
Montenegro

Pot 4: seeding position 1
North Macedonia
Andorra

Main round

• Seven groups of four were formed: the seven group winners join hosts Spain in the finals in Jaén from 3–10 September 2022.
• Teams were split into four seeding tiers according to their coefficients: the two preliminary round group winners join those ranked 23 to 24 in position 4.
• Croatia, Portugal, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, Finland and Serbia were pre-designated as mini-tournament hosts and were drawn from Pot 1 while maintaining their seeding.
• The remaining sides were drawn by seeding tiers from Pots 2 to 5 in a similar fashion to the preliminary round, filling the vacant slots for their respective positions in each group.

Seeding pots

Pot 1: hosts
Croatia (seeding position 1)
Portugal (1)
Ukraine (1)
Turkey (2)
Romania (3)
Finland (3)
Serbia (4)

Pot 2: seeding position 4
Greece
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Winner preliminary round Group A
Winner preliminary round Group B

Pot 3: seeding position 3
Latvia
Cyprus
Italy
Hungary
Moldova

Pot 4: seeding position 2
Belgium
France
Slovakia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Czech Republic
Belarus

Pot 5: seeding position 1
Poland
Russia
Netherlands
Slovenia

Age limit

Players are eligible to play in the competition if they were born on or after 1 January 2002, the date which was originally set when the competition was scheduled to conclude with a final tournament in September 2021. The biennial competition will return to odd-numbered years from the next edition, with the final tournament in 2023.