UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying

UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying

Tournament details
Dates	29 August 2019 – 13 April 2021
Teams	47 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	143
Goals scored	608 (4.25 per match)
Attendance	246,448 (1,723 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Caroline Graham Hansen Sherida Spitse (10 goals)
← 2017 2025 → All statistics correct as of 24 October 2020.

Qualification for women's championships (UEFA)
FIFA Women's World Cup 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
UEFA Women's Championship 1984 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2022
Summer Olympics 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
v t e

The UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying competition is a women's football competition that will determine the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts England in the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 final tournament. ^[1]

Apart from England, 47 of the remaining 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition, including Cyprus which entered for the first time at senior women's level, and Kosovo which entered their first Women's Euro. ^[2]

Format

Different from previous qualifying competitions, the preliminary round has been abolished and all entrants start from the qualifying group stage. The qualifying competition consists of two rounds: ^[3]

• Qualifying group stage: The 47 teams are drawn into nine groups: two groups of six teams and seven groups of five teams. Each group is played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners and the three best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualify directly for the final tournament, while the remaining six runners-up advance to the play-offs.
• Play-offs: The six teams are drawn into three ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last three qualified teams.

Tiebreakers

In the qualifying group stage, 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 Article 14.01): ^[3]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
5. 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;
6. Goal difference in all group matches;
7. Goals scored in all group matches;
8. Away goals scored in all group matches;
9. Wins in all group matches;
10. Away wins in all group matches;
11. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
12. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

To determine the three best runners-up from the qualifying group stage, the results against the teams in sixth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied (Regulations Article 14.02): ^[3]

1. Points;
2. Goal difference;
3. Goals scored;
4. Away goals scored;
5. Wins;
6. Away wins;
7. Disciplinary points;
8. UEFA coefficient ranking for the qualifying group stage draw.

In the play-offs, the team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualifies for the final tournament. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e., the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e., if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 19.01). ^[3]

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the UEFA Executive Committee approved on 28 August 2020 the following principles for the qualifying phase of UEFA Women's Euro 2021: ^[4]

• If a team cannot field the minimum required number of players (at least 13 players including at least one goalkeeper) due to positive SARS-2 coronavirus tests and the match cannot be rescheduled, the team responsible for the match not taking place are considered to have forfeited the match and lost 0–3.
• If UEFA comes to the conclusion that both or none of the teams are responsible for the match not taking place, the outcome of the match will be decided by drawing of lots, either home win 1–0, home loss 0–1 or draw 0–0, carried out by the UEFA administration.

On 24 September 2020, UEFA announced that five substitutions would be permitted for the remainder of the Women's Euro 2021 qualifying competition, with a sixth allowed in extra time during the play-offs. However, each team is only given three opportunities to make substitutions during matches, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. ^[5]

Schedule

The qualifying matches are played on dates that fall within the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar. ^{[6] [7] [8]} Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final tournament was postponed from the summer of 2021 to 2022, ^[9] and the qualifying round and play-offs were also postponed. ^[10]

Stage	Draw date	FIFA international dates
Qualifying group stage	21 February 2019	26 August – 3 September 2019
		30 September – 8 October 2019
		4–12 November 2019
		2–11 March 2020
		6–14 April 2020 (matches not played due to COVID-19 pandemic) [11]
		1–9 June 2020 (matches not played due to COVID-19 pandemic) [12]
		14–22 September 2020
		19–27 October 2020 (new dates due to COVID-19 pandemic)
		23 November – 1 December 2020 (new dates due to COVID-19 pandemic)
Play-offs	TBC (originally 25 September 2020)	5–13 April 2021 (postponed from 19–27 October 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic)

Qualifying group stage

Draw

The draw for the qualifying group stage was held on 21 February 2019, 13:30 CET (UTC+1), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. ^{[2] [13]}

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following: ^{[14] [15]}

• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final tournament and qualifying competition (20%)
• UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final tournament and qualifying competition (40%)
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying competition (40%)

Each group contained one team from each of Pots A–E (two teams from Pot E for six-team group). Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, Kosovo would not be drawn in the same group as Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia.

Final tournament hosts

Team	Coeff. [14]	Rank
England	41,819	1

Teams entering qualifying group stage

Pot 1 Team Coeff. [14] Rank   France 40,775 2   Germany 40,405 3   Netherlands 40,003 4   Spain 39,181 5   Sweden 36,608 6   Norway 36,060 7    Switzerland 35,481 8   Scotland 35,237 9   Italy 34,741 10	Pot 2 Team Coeff. [14] Rank   Austria 33,503 11   Denmark 32,935 12   Iceland 32,012 13   Belgium 32,007 14   Russia 28,187 15   Wales 28,042 16   Ukraine 27,260 17   Finland 25,907 18   Czech Republic 25,007 19	Pot 3 Team Coeff. [14] Rank   Portugal 25,002 20   Republic of Ireland 24,617 21   Poland 23,712 22   Romania 22,432 23   Serbia 19,846 24   Slovenia 18,207 25   Hungary 17,601 26   Bosnia and Herzegovina 17,056 27   Belarus 16,361 28
Pot 4 Team Coeff. [14] Rank   Turkey 16,142 29   Slovakia 16,046 30   Croatia 15,921 31   Northern Ireland 14,966 32   Greece 14,868 33   Israel 12,771 34   Kazakhstan 12,453 35   Albania 10,899 36   Moldova 8,237 37	Pot 5 Team Coeff. [14] Rank   Faroe Islands 7,777 39   Malta 7,556 40   North Macedonia 7,242 41   Estonia 7,225 42   Montenegro 7,106 43   Georgia 6,500 44   Latvia 5,702 45   Lithuania 4,973 46   Azerbaijan 0 —   Cyprus 0 —   Kosovo 0 —

Notes

• Teams marked in bold qualified for the final tournament.

Did not enter

Team	Coeff. [14]	Rank
Bulgaria	8,050	38
Luxembourg	4,237	47
Andorra	1,793	48
Armenia	0	—
Gibraltar	0	—
Liechtenstein	0	—
San Marino	0	—

Groups

Group A

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying Group A

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands (Q)	9	9	0	0	42	3	+39	27	Final tournament		—	2–0	4–1	1 Dec	3–0	7–0
2	Russia (X)	8	6	0	2	18	5	+13	18	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		0–1	—	1–0	27 Nov	4–2	4–0
3	Slovenia (E)	8	4	0	4	20	12	+8	12			2–4	0–1	—	5–0	3–1	1 Dec
4	Kosovo (E)	8	3	1	4	6	20	−14	10			0–6	0–5	0–3	—	2–0	2–0
5	Turkey (E)	8	0	2	6	4	26	−22	2			0–8	1 Dec	1–6	0–0	—	0–0
6	Estonia (E)	7	0	1	6	1	25	−24	1			0–7	0–3	TBD	1–2	27 Nov	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs.

Group B

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying Group B

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark (Q)	9	9	0	0	48	1	+47	27	Final tournament		—	1 Dec	2–0	4–0	8–0	14–0
2	Italy (X)	8	7	0	1	25	5	+20	21	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1–3	—	2–0	TBD	5–0	6–0
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina (E)	9	5	0	4	16	17	−1	15			0–4	0–5	—	1–0	2–0	7–1
4	Israel (E)	8	2	1	5	10	16	−6	7			0–3	2–3	1–3	—	1 Dec	4–0
5	Malta (E)	8	1	1	6	5	30	−25	4			0–8	0–2	2–3	1–1	—	2–1
6	Georgia (E)	8	0	0	8	3	38	−35	0			0–2	0–1	1 Dec	1–2	26 Nov	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs.

Group C

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group C

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway (Q)	6	6	0	0	34	1	+33	18	Final tournament		—	1–0	6–0	TBD Feb '21	26 Nov
2	Wales (Z)	7	3	2	2	13	4	+9	11	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		0–1	—	2–2	30 Nov	4–0
3	Northern Ireland (Z)	6	2	2	2	9	14	−5	8			0–6	0–0	—	26 Nov	30 Nov
4	Belarus (Y)	5	2	0	3	9	9	0	6			1–7	0–1	0–1	—	6–0
5	Faroe Islands (E)	6	0	0	6	0	37	−37	0			0–13	0–6	0–6	0–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Y) Cannot win group, but can still qualify for final tournament as one of best runners-up; (Z) Cannot win group or qualify for final tournament as one of best runners-up, but can qualify for play-offs.

Group D

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group D

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland	7	4	2	1	16	2	+14	14	Final tournament		—	0–0	0–2	5–0	3–0
2	Spain	5	4	1	0	22	1	+21	13 [lower-alpha 1]	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1 Dec	—	4–0	27 Nov	4–0
3	Czech Republic	7	4	1	2	17	9	+8	13 [lower-alpha 1]			0–0	1–5	—	1 Dec	3–0
4	Moldova (E)	5	1	0	4	3	25	−22	3			0–3	0–9	0–7	—	3–1
5	Azerbaijan (E)	6	0	0	6	1	22	−21	0			0–5	TBD Feb '21	0–4	TBD Feb '21	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated.
Notes:

1. Ranked on head-to-head points: Spain 6, Czech Republic 0.

Group E

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group E

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Finland	5	4	1	0	17	2	+15	13	Final tournament		—	TBD Feb '21	1–0	8–1	4–0
2	Portugal	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5	10	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1–1	—	27 Nov	1 Dec	1–0
3	Scotland	4	3	0	1	16	1	+15	9			1 Dec	TBD Feb '21	—	3–0	8–0
4	Albania (E)	6	1	0	5	3	20	−17	3			0–3	0–1	0–5	—	27 Nov
5	Cyprus (E)	5	0	0	5	0	18	−18	0			TBD Feb '21	0–3	TBD Feb '21	0–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated.

Group F

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group F

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden (Q)	7	6	1	0	34	2	+32	19	Final tournament		—	2–0	7–0	8–0	7–0
2	Iceland (Y)	6	4	1	1	21	4	+17	13	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1–1	—	1–0	4–1	9–0
3	Slovakia (Y)	6	3	1	2	6	10	−4	10			1 Dec	27 Nov	—	0–0	2–0
4	Hungary (E)	7	2	1	4	11	19	−8	7			0–5	1 Dec	1–2	—	4–0
5	Latvia (E)	8	0	0	8	2	39	−37	0			1–4	0–6	1–2	0–5	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Y) Cannot win group, but can still qualify for final tournament as one of best runners-up.

Group G

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group G

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France (X)	6	5	1	0	29	0	+29	16	Final tournament		—	27 Nov	6–0	11–0	1 Dec
2	Austria (X)	6	5	1	0	21	0	+21	16	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		0–0	—	1 Dec	3–0	9–0
3	Serbia (E)	7	4	0	3	21	11	+10	12			0–2	0–1	—	8–1	4–1
4	North Macedonia (E)	7	1	0	6	5	39	−34	3			0–7	0–3	0–6	—	4–1
5	Kazakhstan (E)	6	0	0	6	2	28	−26	0			0–3	0–5	0–3	27 Nov	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs.

Group H

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group H

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland (X)	7	6	1	0	20	2	+18	19	Final tournament		—	2–1	6–0	2–0	4–0
2	Belgium (X)	7	6	0	1	33	5	+28	18	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1 Dec	—	6–1	6–1	6–0
3	Romania (E)	7	3	0	4	12	16	−4	9			0–2	0–1	—	4–1	3–0
4	Croatia (E)	6	1	1	4	6	18	−12	4			1–1	1–4	1 Dec	—	27 Nov
5	Lithuania (E)	7	0	0	7	1	31	−30	0			0–3	0–9	0–4	1–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of at least play-offs.

Group I

Main article: UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group I

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany (Q)	6	6	0	0	37	0	+37	18	Final tournament		—	3–0	8–0	27 Nov	10–0
2	Republic of Ireland (Y)	7	4	1	2	10	7	+3	13	Final tournament if among three best runners-up (play-offs otherwise)		1 Dec	—	3–2	1–0	2–0
3	Ukraine (Y)	7	4	0	3	14	20	−6	12			0–8	1–0	—	4–0	1 Dec
4	Greece (E)	7	2	1	4	6	15	−9	7			0–5	1–1	0–4	—	1–0
5	Montenegro (E)	7	0	0	7	1	26	−25	0			0–3	0–3	1–3	0–4	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (Y) Cannot win group, but can still qualify for final tournament as one of best runners-up.

Ranking of second-placed teams

To determine the three best second-placed teams from the qualifying group stage which advance directly to the final tournament, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams in their group are taken into account; in Groups A and B, results against the sixth-placed team are discounted. As a result, eight matches played by each second-placed team are counted for the purposes of determining the ranking.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	H	Belgium	7	6	0	1	33	5	+28	18	Final tournament
2	G	Austria	6	5	1	0	21	0	+21	16
3	B	Italy	6	5	0	1	18	5	+13	15
4	D	Spain	5	4	1	0	22	1	+21	13	Play-offs
5	F	Iceland	6	4	1	1	21	4	+17	13
6	I	Republic of Ireland	7	4	1	2	10	7	+3	13
7	A	Russia	6	4	0	2	11	5	+6	12
8	C	Wales	7	3	2	2	13	4	+9	11
9	E	Portugal	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5	10

Updated to match(es) played on 27 October 2020. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) wins; 6) away wins; 7) disciplinary points; 8) coefficient ranking.

Play-offs

Draw

The draw for the play-offs will be held on a date to be confirmed (originally 25 September 2020, but had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic) at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, to decide the matchups and the order of legs. ^[16]

Matches

The three play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
TBD		TBD	5–13 Apr '21	5–13 Apr '21
TBD		TBD	5–13 Apr '21	5–13 Apr '21
TBD		TBD	5–13 Apr '21	5–13 Apr '21

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualify for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Women's Euro 1
England	Hosts	3 December 2018 [1]	8 (1984, 1987, 1995, 2001, 2005 , 2009, 2013, 2017)
Germany	Group I winners	23 October 2020	10 (1989 , 1991 , 1993, 1995 , 1997 , 2001 , 2005 , 2009 , 2013 , 2017)
Netherlands	Group A winners	23 October 2020	3 (2009, 2013, 2017)
Denmark	Group B winners	27 October 2020	9 (1984, 1991 , 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017)
Norway	Group C winners	27 October 2020	11 ( 1987 , 1989, 1991, 1993 , 1995, 1997 , 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017)
Sweden	Group F winners	27 October 2020	10 ( 1984 , 1987, 1989, 1995, 1997 , 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 , 2017)
TBD	Group D winners	2020
TBD	Group E winners	2020
TBD	Group G winners	2020
TBD	Group H winners	2020
TBD	Best three runners-up	2020
TBD	Best three runners-up	2020
TBD	Best three runners-up	2020
TBD	Play-off winners	April 2021
TBD	Play-off winners	April 2021
TBD	Play-off winners	April 2021

¹Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers

There have been 608 goals scored in 143 matches, for an average of 4.25 goals per match (as of 24 October 2020).

10 goals

• Sherida Spitse
• Caroline Graham Hansen
• Tine De Caigny

9 goals

• Vivianne Miedema
• Nadia Nadim

8 goals

• Pernille Harder
• Linda Sällström
• Cristiana Girelli
• Daniëlle van de Donk
• Tessa Wullaert

7 goals

• Eugénie Le Sommer

For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each group:

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I

Source: UEFA ^[17]

References

1. "England to host UEFA Women's EURO 2021". UEFA. 3 December 2018.
2. "Seedings for the Women's EURO 2021 qualifying draw". UEFA.com. 20 December 2018.
3. "Regulations of the UEFA European Women's Championship, 2019–21" (PDF). UEFA.com.
4. "UEFA Executive Committee approves new principles for upcoming national team matches". UEFA.com. 31 August 2020.
5. "Two triple-headers approved for 2021 March and September national team windows". UEFA. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
6. "2018/19 UEFA Women's calendar" (PDF). UEFA.
7. "2019/20 UEFA Women's calendar" (PDF). UEFA.
8. "2020/21 UEFA Women's calendar" (PDF). UEFA.
9. "UEFA Women's EURO moved to July 2022". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
10. "COVID-19 impact on UEFA competitions calendar: latest updates". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
11. "COVID-19: latest updates on UEFA competitions". UEFA.com. 17 March 2020.
12. "UEFA postpones all June national team matches". UEFA.com. 1 April 2020.
13. "Women's EURO 2021 qualifying draw". UEFA.com.
14. "Women's National Team Coefficients Overview" (PDF). UEFA.com.
15. "Coefficient Ranking of the Teams Participating in the Group Stage" (PDF). UEFA.com.
16. "UEFA Women's EURO 2021 play-off draw". UEFA.com.
17. "UEFA Women's EURO — Statistics". UEFA.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Women's Euro Matches: 2021 Qualifying, UEFA.com