2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying round:; 8 October – 18 November 2025; Elite round:; Spring 2026
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	78
Goals scored	258 (3.31 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Louis Buffon ; Francis Onyeka ; (6 goals each)
	← 2025 2027 → All statistics correct as of 18 November 2025.

Last updated December 01, 2025

The 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification is an under-19 men's national football team competition that will determine the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Wales in the 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.^[1]

Russia were excluded from the tournament due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, excluding hosts Wales, 53 teams entered this qualification competition, which consists of the Qualifying round played in September–November 2025, followed by the Elite round played in spring 2026. Spain received a bye to the Elite Round and did not participate in the Qualifying round. Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to participate.

Format

The qualification consists of two rounds; both consist of several groups, which are played as single-round-robin mini-tournaments, with one team from each group selected as the host after the draw.

Qualifying round: Apart from Spain, which received a bye to the Elite round as the team with the highest seeding coefficient, the remaining 52 teams were drawn into 13 groups of four. The 13 group winners, the 13 runners-up, and the best third-placed team will advance to the Elite round.
Elite round: 28 teams will be drawn into seven groups of four. The group winners will qualify for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

In a group, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02):^[2]

Points in head to head matches among tied teams
Goal difference in head to head matches among tied teams
Goals scored in head to head matches among tied teams
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams
Goal difference in all group matches
Goals scored in all group matches
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage)
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for 2 yellow cards in one match = 3 points)
UEFA coefficient ranking for the Qualifying round draw

To determine the best third-placed team from the Qualifying round, the results against the teams in fourth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Articles 15.01 and 15.02):^[2]

Points
Goal difference
Goals scored
Disciplinary points
UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying round draw

Qualifying round

Draw

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 5 December 2024, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[3]

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:^[4]

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)
2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (qualifying round and elite round)

Each group contains one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. On the basis of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, valid at the time of the draw, the following countries cannot be drawn into the same group: Armenia and Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine, Kosovo and Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Final tournament hosts
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Wales	5.333	—

Bye to Elite round
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Spain	25.939	1

Teams entering Qualifying round^[4]

Pot A
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Italy	25.333	2
France	23.833	3
Portugal	21.667	4
Norway	18.278	5
England	15.944	6
Israel	15.556	7
Ukraine	14.722	8
Czech Republic	14.056	9
Republic of Ireland	13.444	10
Denmark	12.656	11
Turkey	12.222	12
Romania	11.833	13
Serbia	11.667	14

Pot B
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Belgium	10.900	15
Germany	10.833	16
Netherlands TH	10.333	17
Greece	10.167	18
Slovakia	10.167	19
Iceland	10.000	20
Croatia	9.833	21
Poland	9.333	22
Austria	8.833	23
Scotland	8.500	24
Hungary	8.333	25
Switzerland	8.000	26
Northern Ireland	7.500	27

Pot C
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Slovenia	7.333	28
Georgia	6.667	29
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6.500	30
Finland	6.500	31
Latvia	6.167	32
Sweden	5.833	33
Armenia	5.333	34
Malta	4.667	35
Montenegro	4.500	36
North Macedonia	4.167	37
Belarus	4.000	38
Cyprus	3.833	39
Bulgaria	3.667	40

Pot D
Team	Coeff.	Rank
Azerbaijan	3.500	41
Kosovo	3.333	42
Luxembourg	3.333	43
Lithuania	2.667	44
Estonia	2.333	45
Faroe Islands	1.333	46
Albania	1.333	47
Andorra	1.000	48
Kazakhstan	0.667	49
Moldova	0.667	50
Liechtenstein	0.333	51
San Marino	0.000	52
Gibraltar	0.000	53

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands (H)	3	3	0	0	13	3	+10	9	Elite round
2	Kazakhstan	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4	Elite round
3	Republic of Ireland	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
4	Cyprus	3	0	1	2	1	9	−8	1

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

12 November 2025

19:00

Republic of Ireland	0–1	Kazakhstan
	Report	Tuyakbayev 56'

Sportpark Vondersweijde, Oldenzaal

Attendance: 103

Referee: Bence Csonka (Hungary)

12 November 2025