2024/25 Under-17 EURO round 2 draw made
Thursday, December 5, 2024
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Groups for both leagues in the new competition format have been set with the 28 League A teams competing to reach the finals in Albania.
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The 2024/25 UEFA European Under-17 Championship round 2 draw was the first of its kind under the new format, with 54 teams split into two-tiered leagues to be played in spring 2025.
The draw was made by Bjorn Vassallo, chairman of the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee, and Yaël Thébault, part of the France team in the 2024 finals, who received the Respect Fair Play trophy on behalf of the squad.
U17 EURO round 2 draw: League A
Group A1: Italy (holders), Croatia, Ukraine, Slovakia
Group A2: Spain, Austria, Germany, Norway
Group A3: France, Greece, Denmark, Finland
Group A4: Portugal, Serbia, Netherlands, Hungary
Group A5: Czechia, Switzerland, Türkiye, Sweden
Group A6: Belgium, Poland, Iceland, Republic of Ireland
Group A7: England, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Israel
The seven group winners will qualify to join hosts Albania in the final tournament, scheduled from 19 May to 1 June.
The seven teams ranked fourth in the League A groups will be relegated to League B for round 1 of U19 EURO qualifying for the same age cohort (so teams relegated from League A in 2024/25 U17 EURO round 2 will begin 2026/27 U19 EURO round 1 in League B).
The FIFA U-17 World Cup is changing from 2025 to become an annual 48-team tournament, for which League A round 2 will act as Europe's qualifying tournament, with full details of confederation allocations to follow. Qatar has been announced as host nation for the first five annual U-17 World Cups between 2025 and 2029.
U17 EURO round 2 draw: League B
Group B1: Romania, North Macedonia, Scotland, Liechtenstein
Group B2: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Armenia, San Marino
Group B3: Montenegro, Latvia, Estonia, Gibraltar
Group B4: Kosovo, Cyprus, Moldova, Andorra
Group B5: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Malta, Faroe Islands
Group B6: Albania, Wales, Azerbaijan
Group B7: Lithuania, Georgia, Kazakhstan
The seven League B winners will be promoted to League A for round 1 of 2026/27 U19 EURO qualifying.
All 54 entrants, including final tournament hosts Albania, started in round 1, the results of which decided which 28 teams entered League A, with the remaining 26 nations going into League B. Albania will play in League B although their finals place as hosts is assured.
The round 2 groups will be played as one-venue mini-tournaments with hosts to be agreed after the draw and completed by 25 March for League A and Albania's League B group, and 30 June for the remaining League B groups.
How the draw worked
On completion of round 1, an overall ranking was established according to the criteria listed below. Because the groups in round 1 were different sizes, the results of matches against the fourth-placed team were not taken into account for the purposes of comparing the teams placed first, second and third in their respective group (article 15.01 of the competition regulations).
The following criteria were applied in the order given (article 15.03):
a. higher position in the group
b. higher number of points
c. superior goal difference
d. higher number of goals scored
e. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points)
f. higher position in the qualifying round coefficient rankings for round 1
Draw condition
The teams were allocated to groups in ascending order in such a way as to ensure that no teams from round 1 meet each other in round 2. When clashes arose, the team draw was moved to the next available group. The draw continued by first filling the slot left vacant. When clashes arose in the last three or four groups, the teams were allocated to groups appropriately
League A
League A contenders by round 1 group
Group 1: England, Sweden
Group 2: Poland, Slovenia
Group 3: Croatia, Netherlands
Group 4: Belgium, Ukraine
Group 5: Portugal, Finland
Group 6: Greece, Hungary
Group 7: Czechia, Germany
Group 8: Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland
Group 9: Italy, Norway
Group 10: Switzerland, Israel
Group 11: France, Slovakia
Group 12: Spain, Iceland
Group 13: Serbia, Türkiye
Group 14: Austria, Denmark
The 28 teams were drawn into seven groups of four, with each group containing one team from each seeding pot as follows:
Pot 1
Associations ranked 1 to 28
Italy, Portugal, England, France, Belgium, Spain, Czechia
The teams in Pot 1 were drawn one after another and placed in the first position in Groups A1 to A7.
Pot 2
Associations ranked 8 to 14
Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Austria, Northern Ireland
The teams in Pot 2 were drawn one after another and placed in the second position in Groups A1 to A7.
Pot 3
Associations ranked 15 to 21
Germany, Iceland, Slovenia, Türkiye, Netherlands, Denmark, Ukraine
The teams in Pot 3 were drawn one after another and placed in the third position in one of the seven groups.
Pot 4
Associations ranked 22 to 28
Slovakia, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Finland
The teams in Pot 4 were drawn one after another and placed in the fourth position in one of the seven groups.
League B
League B contenders by round 1 group
Group 1: Latvia, Malta
Group 2: Georgia, Armenia
Group 3: Albania, Faroe Islands
Group 4: Kosovo, Kazakhstan
Group 5: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liechtenstein
Group 6: Romania, Azerbaijan
Group 7: Belarus, Andorra
Group 8: Lithuania, Scotland
Group 9: Wales, San Marino
Group 10: Montenegro, Moldova
Group 11: Cyprus, Gibraltar
Group 12: North Macedonia, Estonia
Group 13: Bulgaria
Group 14: Luxembourg
The teams were drawn into five groups of four teams and two groups of three teams.
Luxembourg (Pot 1) and Bulgaria (Pot 2) could not be drawn into three-team groups.
Groups 1 to 5 contained one team from each seeding pot, and Groups 6 and 7 one team from Pots 1 to 3, as follows:
Pot 1
Associations ranked 29 to 35
Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Luxembourg, Romania, Albania, Kosovo
The teams in Pot 1 were drawn one after another and placed in the first position in Groups B1 to B7.
Pot 2
Associations ranked 36 to 42
Cyprus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Wales, Latvia, North Macedonia, Belarus
The teams in Pot 2 were drawn one after another and placed in the second position in Groups B1 to B7.
Pot 3
Associations ranked 43 to 49
Scotland, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Armenia, Moldova, Malta
The teams in Pot 3 were drawn one after another and placed in the third position in one of the seven groups.
Pot 4
Associations ranked 50 to 54
Andorra, San Marino, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein
The teams in Pot 4 were drawn one after another and placed in the fourth position in one of the five four-team groups.