2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification

2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	13–18 September 2014 (qualifying round); 4–9 April 2015 (elite round)
Teams	47 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	102
Goals scored	454 (4.45 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Stina Blackstenius (14 goals)

The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-19 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the seven teams joining Israel, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament.^[1] A total of 47 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.

The final tournament also acted as the UEFA qualifier for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea, with the four semi-finalists qualifying.^[2]

Format

The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:^[3]

Qualifying round: Apart from Germany, England and France, which received byes to the elite round as the three teams with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 44 teams were drawn into 11 groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The 11 group winners and the 10 runners-up with the best record against the first and third-placed teams in their group advanced to the elite round.
Elite round: The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The six group winners and the runner-up with the best record against the first and third-placed teams in their group qualified for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[3]

Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Drawing of lots.

To determine the ten best runners-up from the qualifying round and the best runner-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied:^[3]

Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 20 November 2013 at 10:45 CET (UTC+1).^[4]^[5]

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[6]

2011 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D.

Bye to elite round
Team	Coeff	Rank
Germany	13.667	1
England	12.667	2
France	12.000	3

Pot A
Team	Coeff	Rank
Norway	10.500	4
Denmark	10.333	5
Sweden	10.167	6
Spain	10.000	7
Italy	8.667	8
Finland	8.500	9
Switzerland	8.333	10
Belgium	8.233	11
Portugal	7.000	12
Czech Republic	7.000	13
Netherlands	7.000	14

Pot B
Team	Coeff	Rank
Iceland	6.833	15
Scotland	6.667	16
Austria	6.500	17
Serbia	6.333	18
Russia	6.000	19
Republic of Ireland	6.000	20
Wales	5.167	21
Romania	5.167	22
Northern Ireland	4.833	23
Ukraine	4.333	24
Hungary	4.333	25

Pot C
Team	Coeff	Rank
Poland	4.167	26
Greece	4.000	27
Turkey	3.833	28
Croatia	3.500	29
Slovenia	3.333	30
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2.000	31
Macedonia	2.000	32
Cyprus	1.333	33
Slovakia	1.333	34
Moldova	1.333	35
Faroe Islands	1.333	36

Pot D
Team	Coeff	Rank
Lithuania	1.200	37
Bulgaria	1.000	38
Belarus	0.333	39
Estonia	0.333	40
Kazakhstan	0.000	41
Latvia	0.000	42
Azerbaijan	0.000	43
Georgia	0.000	44
Albania	—	45
Malta	—	46
Montenegro	—	47

Notes

Israel (Coeff: 1.000) qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts.
Andorra, Armenia, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and San Marino did not enter.

Groups

All times were CEST (UTC+2).

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	23	1	+22	9	Elite round
2	Iceland	3	2	1	10	2	+8	6	Elite round
3	Croatia	3	1	2	3	10	−7	3
4	Lithuania (H)	3	0	3	2	25	−23	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

13 September 2014