The 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2011 and 2012 to decide the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be held in Israel. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 3 February 2011 in Nyon, with matches played between March 2011 and September 2012.

There were ten groups. Two of these groups had six teams; the remaining eight groups consisted of five teams. Group competition was a double round robin: each team hosted a game with every other team in its group. At the conclusion of qualifying, the team at the top of each group and four best second-placed teams qualified for the two-legged play-offs scheduled in October 2012, with the winner of each play-off tie qualifying for the finals.

Seeds

A total of fifty-two participating teams were divided in five draw pots based on the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking. Pots A through D contained ten teams, while pot E twelve teams.

Pot APot BPot CPot DPot E
England Spain Netherlands Italy Sweden Czech Republic Russia Serbia Germany RomaniaSwitzerland Wales Belarus France Ukraine Turkey Austria Portugal Denmark BelgiumCroatia Hungary Scotland Greece Iceland Slovakia Moldova Finland Armenia Northern IrelandPoland Montenegro Georgia Latvia Norway Slovenia Republic of Ireland Bulgaria Bosnia and Herzegovina MacedoniaAlbania Faroe Islands Cyprus Lithuania Kazakhstan Estonia Azerbaijan Andorra San Marino Luxembourg Malta Liechtenstein

The UEFA executive committee has decided on its meeting on 27 January 2011 to have Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine seeded in groups of six to avoid any group of five to potentially be reduced to four or three teams as a result of hypothetical suspension.

Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan (due to the dispute concerning territory of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Georgia would not be drawn against Russia (due to the dispute regarding the territory of South Ossetia) in the qualifiers for 2013 UEFA European Under–21 Football Championship.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
  2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
  5. If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply
  6. Results of all group matches: Superior goal difference Higher number of goals scored Higher number of goals scored away from home
  7. Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw

Qualifying group stage

Group 1

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationGermany national under-21 football teamBosnia and Herzegovina national under-21 football teamGreece national under-21 football teamBelarus national under-21 football teamCyprus national under-21 football teamSan Marino national under-21 football team
1Germany10910399+3028Play-offs—3–01–03–04–17–0
2Bosnia and Herzegovina106222512+13204–4—4–03–05–13–1
3Greece104151415−1134–50–1—2–31–02–0
4Belarus104151117−6130–11–11–3—0–31–0
5Cyprus104061620−4120–32–10–21–3—6–0
6San Marino10019234−3210–80–30–00–21–2—

Group 2

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationSweden national under-21 football teamSlovenia national under-21 football teamUkraine national under-21 football teamFinland national under-21 football teamLithuania national under-21 football teamMalta national under-21 football team
1Sweden107121810+822Play-offs—1–12–13–04–04–0
2Slovenia10622158+7202–1—2–01–12–02–1
3Ukraine105232110+11176–02–0—1–12–05–1
4Finland103341214−2120–11–01–2—3–40–0
5Lithuania10307918−990–10–11–01–3—1–2
6Malta10127823−1550–11–42–21–20–2—

Group 3

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationCzech Republic national under-21 football teamArmenia national under-21 football teamMontenegro national under-21 football teamWales national under-21 football teamAndorra national under-21 football team
1Czech Republic8620243+2120Play-offs—1–12–15–08–0
2Armenia8431115+6150–2—4–10–04–1
3Montenegro8323148+6110–00–0—3–14–0
4Wales8314710−3100–10–11–0—4–0
5Andorra8008232−3001–50–10–50–1—

Group 4

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationSerbia national under-21 football teamDenmark national under-21 football teamNorth Macedonia national under-21 football teamNorthern Ireland national under-21 football teamFaroe Islands national under-21 football team
1Serbia8530174+1318Play-offs—0–05–11–05–1
2Denmark8440198+11161–1—6–53–04–0
3Macedonia83321415−1121–11–1—1–01–0
4Northern Ireland8116513−840–20–31–3—4–0
5Faroe Islands8035318−1530–21–11–10–0—

Group 5

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationSpain national under-21 football teamSwitzerland national under-21 football teamGeorgia national under-21 football teamCroatia national under-21 football teamEstonia national under-21 football team
1Spain8710272+2522Play-offs—3–02–06–06–0
2Switzerland8521154+11170–0—5–04–03–0
3Georgia8314818−10102–70–1—1–12–1
4Croatia8215716−970–21–20–1—4–0
5Estonia8017219−1710–10–01–20–1—

Group 6

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationRussia national under-21 football teamPortugal national under-21 football teamPoland national under-21 football teamMoldova national under-21 football teamAlbania national under-21 football team
1Russia8521175+1217Play-offs—2–14–12–20–0
2Portugal8431156+9151–0—1–15–03–1
3Poland832313130110–20–0—0–14–3
4Moldova82151024−1470–60–22–4—2–1
5Albania81251118−750–12–20–34–3—

Group 7

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationItaly national under-21 football teamTurkey national under-21 football teamRepublic of Ireland national under-21 football teamHungary national under-21 football teamLiechtenstein national under-21 football team
1Italy8611278+1919Play-offs—2–02–42–07–0
2Turkey8503137+6150–2—1–02–16–1
3Republic of Ireland84131510+5132–20–1—2–12–0
4Hungary84041110+1120–31–02–1—2–0
5Liechtenstein8008435−3102–70–31–40–4—

Group 8

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationEngland national under-21 football teamNorway national under-21 football teamBelgium national under-21 football teamAzerbaijan national under-21 football teamIceland national under-21 football team
1England8701243+2121Play-offs—1–04–06–05–0
2Norway8512137+6161–2—2–21–02–1
3Belgium83231715+2112–11–3—4–15–0
4Azerbaijan8215618−1270–20–22–2—1–0
5Iceland8107421−1730–30–22–11–2—

Group 9

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationFrance national under-21 football teamSlovakia national under-21 football teamRomania national under-21 football teamKazakhstan national under-21 football teamLatvia national under-21 football team
1France8701192+1721Play-offs—2–03–02–03–0
2Slovakia8503177+10152–1—0–26–02–0
3Romania8422116+5140–22–0—0–02–0
4Kazakhstan8044214−1240–30–11–1—0–0
5Latvia8026121−2020–30–60–41–1—

Group 10

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationNetherlands national under-21 football teamScotland national under-21 football teamBulgaria national under-21 football teamAustria national under-21 football teamLuxembourg national under-21 football team
1Netherlands8611213+1819Play-offs—1–25–04–14–0
2Scotland8341169+7130–0—0–02–23–0
3Bulgaria83321112−1120–12–2—1–13–2
4Austria83231514+1110–13–20–2—4–1
5Luxembourg8008631−2500–51–51–31–4—

Ranking of second-placed teams

Because some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.

Tiebreakers

The following criteria were applied to determine the rankings.

  1. Higher number of points obtained in these matches
  2. Superior goal difference from these matches
  3. Higher number of goals scored in these matches
  4. Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
  5. Position in the UEFA Under-21 coefficient ranking used for the group stage draw
PosGrpTeamPldWDLGFGAGDAGPtsQualification
15Switzerland8521154+11317Play-offs
24Denmark8440198+11516
38Norway8512137+6716
49Slovakia8503177+10715
56Portugal8431156+9515
67Turkey8503137+6415
73Armenia8431115+6315
81Bosnia and Herzegovina84221911+8314
92Slovenia842296+3214
1010Scotland8341169+71113

Play-offs

The play-offs for the tournament finals were held between 11 and 16 October 2012. The seven winners qualified for the final tournament in Israel.

Seedings

The draw for the play-offs was held on 14 September 2012 in Nyon to determine the seven pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties. The seven group winners with the highest competition coefficients have been seeded and those teams were drawn against the unseeded teams. Nations from the same group could not be drawn against each other.

Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:

The seedings are as follows:

Pot A (seeded)Pot B (unseeded)
TeamCoeffTeamCoeff
Spain40,391Switzerland34,034
Czech Republic36,189Sweden32,482
England35,601Russia31,772
Netherlands34,400Serbia30,470
Germany34,063Denmark29,841
Italy33,508Slovakia27,802
France32,517Norway24,564

Matches

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Spain Spain8–1Denmark Denmark5–03–1
Italy Italy4–2Sweden Sweden1–03–2
Czech Republic Czech Republic2–4Russia Russia0–22–2
Slovakia Slovakia0–4Netherlands Netherlands0–20–2
Germany Germany4–2Switzerland Switzerland1–13–1
England England2–0Serbia Serbia1–01–0
France France4–5Norway Norway1–03–5

Top goalscorers

The top scorers in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification were as follows. Players in italics have also played in the play-offs.

RankNameGoalsAppsMinutes played
1Spain Rodrigo119651'
2Czech Republic Jan Chramosta95294'
3Netherlands Género Zeefuik87362'
Scotland Jordan Rhodes86491'
Germany Peniel Mlapa811665'
6Russia Fyodor Smolov79584'
7Bosnia and Herzegovina Milan Đurić64251'
Italy Manolo Gabbiadini67424'
Sweden Mikael Ishak67513'
Albania Armando Sadiku67523'
Spain Isco610781'
Bosnia and Herzegovina Nemanja Bilbija610842'

External links