Euro U-21 Qualifying

The Euro U-21 Qualifying is a tournament organized by UEFA to determine which teams qualify for the biennial UEFA Euro U-21, officially known as the UEFA Under-21 Championship. The host nation automatically qualifies, allowing the tournament to determine up to 15 of the 16 participants.

The Euro U-21 Qualifying is open to all UEFA member associations, although not all choose to participate due to reasons such as bans, lack of resources, or co-hosting, which grants automatic qualification.

Participants are divided into nine groups, primarily consisting of six teams, with a few having five. Each team plays every other side in their group both home and away. The nine group winners qualify for the Euro U-21 finals.

In tournaments with one host nation, the nine group winners are joined by the three best runners-up (in groups with six teams, matches against the sixth-placed side are excluded from the calculations). The remaining six runners-up enter playoffs, drawn into three home-and-away fixtures, with the winners qualifying for the finals.

When two countries co-host the Euro U-21, only the best runner-up joins the nine group winners in qualifying for the finals. The other eight runners-up move on to playoffs, drawn into four two-legged fixtures, with the winners securing qualification.