The UEFA European Under-19 Championship consists of three distinct stages; the qualifying round, the Elite round and the final round. The qualifying round, played in autumn, is made up of 13 groups of four teams playing in one-venue mini-tournaments. The top two from each progress alongside the two third-placed teams with the best record against the top pair in their group. In the Elite round, played in the spring, those 28 qualifiers compete in seven mini-tournament groups of four. The group winners then join the hosts in the finals in July, and are split into two groups of four, with the top two progressing to the semi-finals and ultimately the final.