2025-27 Under-21 EURO qualifying group stage draw
Thursday, February 6, 2025
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The draw has set the groups to decide ten finals places alongside co-hosts Albania and Serbia plus eight play-off slots.
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The 2025-27 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying group stage draw has been made.
Group games will take place between March 2025 and October 2026, followed by play-offs the following month ahead of the final tournament in summer 2027 in Albania and Serbia.
The nine group winners and the runner-up with the best record (not counting results against sixth-placed teams) qualify directly for the final tournament to join co-hosts Albania and Serbia. The eight other runners-up contest play-offs to determine the four remaining finalists.
2025-27 Under-21 EURO qualifying groups
Group A: Spain, Romania, Finland, Kosovo, Cyprus, San Marino
Group B: Portugal, Czechia, Bulgaria, Scotland, Azerbaijan, Gibraltar
Group C: France, Switzerland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Estonia
Group D: England, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Andorra
Group E: Italy, Poland, Sweden, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Armenia
Group F: Germany, Georgia, Greece, Northern Ireland, Latvia, Malta
Group G: Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group H: Ukraine, Croatia, Hungary, Türkiye, Lithuania
Group I: Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Belarus
2025-27 U21 EURO qualifying dates
Qualifying group stage
▪ 17–25 March 2025
▪ 2–10 June 2025
▪ 1–9 September 2025
▪ 6–14 October 2025
▪ 10–18 November 2025
▪ 23–31 March 2026
▪ 21 September–6 October 2026
Play-offs
▪ 9–17 November 2026
How did the 2025-27 U21 EURO qualifying draw work?
• Hosts Albania and Serbia qualify directly for the final tournament in summer 2027.
• The teams were classified on the basis of the coefficient ranking system established according to the regulations, Annex A.
• The 51 teams were allocated into six pots as follows:
Pot 1: Teams ranked 1 to 9 (9 balls)
Pot 2: Teams ranked 10 to 18 (9 balls)
Pot 3: Teams ranked 19 to 27 (9 balls)
Pot 4: Teams ranked 28 to 36 (9 balls)
Pot 5: Teams ranked 37 to 45 (9 balls)
Pot 6: Teams ranked 46 to 51 (6 balls)
• The teams were drawn into six groups of six teams and three groups of five teams.
Pot 1: Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, France, Ukraine, Italy, Denmark
Pot 2: Romania, Switzerland, Croatia, Czechia, Poland, Norway, Belgium, Georgia, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3: Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Slovakia, Greece, Iceland, Hungary, Bulgaria
Pot 4: Scotland, Wales, Israel, North Macedonia, Türkiye, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands, Moldova
Pot 5: Belarus, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Pot 6: Estonia, Malta, Armenia, Andorra, Gibraltar, San Marino
Draw procedure
• The draw started with Pot 1 and ended with Pot 6.
• A ball was first drawn from Pot 1 to determine the team in first position of Group A. The same procedure was repeated until all balls from Pot 1 are drawn and all first positions in Groups A to I are filled.
• Then followed Pot 2 to determine the teams in the second positions of Groups A to I (in alphabetical order) until all balls from Pot 2 had been drawn.
• Then followed Pot 3 to determine the teams in the third positions of Groups A to I (in alphabetical order) until all balls from Pot 3 had been drawn.
• Then followed Pot 4 to determine the teams in the fourth positions of Groups A to I (in alphabetical order) until all balls from Pot 4 had been drawn.
• Then followed Pot 5 to determine the teams in the fifth positions of Groups A to I (in alphabetical order) until all balls from Pot 5 had been drawn.
• Finally, the balls from Pot 6 were drawn to determine the teams in the sixth positions of Groups A to F (in alphabetical order, subject to draw conditions applying).
Draw conditions
On the basis of previous decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following countries could not be drawn into the same group:
• Armenia & Azerbaijan
• Belarus & Ukraine
• Gibraltar & Spain
• Kosovo & Bosnia and Herzegovina
If a clash arose, the team drawn would be placed in the first available group in alphabetical order taking into account other possible clashes to be avoided in the remaining groups.