The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: •
Qualifying round: Apart from
England and
Spain, which received byes to the elite round as the two 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 11 runners-up 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 The teams were ranked according to
points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). 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: • 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 best runner-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied: • 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==