The UEFA European Under-19 Championship consists of three distinct stages: the qualifying round, the elite round and the final tournament.

Qualifying round
The qualifying round, played in autumn, is made up of 12 groups of four teams playing in one-venue mini-tournaments. The top two from each progress alongside the third-placed team with the best record against the top pair in their group.

Elite round
In the elite round, played in the spring, those 25 qualifiers join the three top seeds given byes in seven mini-tournament groups of four. The group winners then join the hosts in the finals.

Final tournament
The seven qualifiers plus the hosts are split into two groups of four who play each other once, with the top two progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of those ties contest the final.

Further details, including the criteria for separating teams that finish level on points in a group, or after extra time in a match, can be found in the official competition regulations.