2026/27 Under-17 EURO round 1 draw

The 2026/27 UEFA European Under-17 Championship round 1 draw has been made, setting the 14 mini-tournament groups of three or four teams that begin the road to the eight-team finals in Latvia.

Round 1 mini-tournaments must be played from 1 July to 17 November. The 14 group winners and 14 runners-up qualify for round 2 League A. The remaining 26 teams participate in round 2 League B.

Round 2 in spring 2027 will decide the seven teams that join Latvia in the EURO final tournament and will also act as UEFA's qualifier for the 2027 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar. Latvia will take part in qualifying although their place in the EURO finals is assured as hosts.

The draw was made by Bjorn Vassallo, chairman of the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee. He also presented the Respect Fair Play trophy to Peter Loos, Belgium team manager at the 2025 finals.

Peter Loos receives the Respect Fair Play trophy from Bjorn Vassallo©UEFA

ROUND 1 – OVERALL RANKINGS

Reference period and calculation:

The round 1 overall rankings of the 2025/26 edition of the Under-17 championship are taken into account for the round 1 draw for the 2026/27 edition. On completion of round 1, overall rankings are established according to the criteria listed below. The results of matches against fourth-placed teams are not taken into account for the purposes of ranking group winners, runners-up or third-placed teams. For the purpose of ranking fourth-placed teams all matches are taken into account.

The following criteria are applied in the order given (paragraph 15.03 of the competition regulations):

a. Higher position in the final group standings
b. Higher number of points in the matches taken into account for the overall rankings
c. Superior goal difference in the matches taken into account for the overall rankings
d. Higher number of goals scored in the matches taken into account for the overall rankings
e. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points) in the matches taken into account for the overall rankings
f. Higher position in the overall rankings compiled on completion of the previous season’s round 2

DRAW CONDITIONS

Prohibited pairings

On the basis of decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, valid at the time of the draw, teams from the following countries could not be drawn into the same group: Spain and Gibraltar, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo and Serbia.

Due to the composition of the pots, there were no other prohibited team pairings for this draw.

The teams were allocated to groups in ascending order (Group 1 to Group 14). If the group into which a team is drawn had resulted in a prohibited pairing, that team would have been moved to the next available group and the draw would continue by first filling the slot left vacant. If such clashes had been concentrated in the last three or four groups, teams would have been allocated to groups appropriately.

DRAW PROCEDURE

The 54 teams were drawn into 12 groups of four teams (Groups 1 to 12) and two groups of three teams (Groups 13 and 14).

Pot allocation

The participating associations were split into four pots as follows:

Pot 1 (Ranked 1 to 14): Spain, Czechia, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Türkiye, France, Portugal, Montenegro, Slovakia, Cyprus, Kazakhstan

Pot 2 (Ranked 15 to 28): Austria, Scotland, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Romania, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia

Pot 3 (Ranked 29 to 42): Netherlands, Ukraine, Wales, Finland, Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Belarus, Faroe Islands

Pot 4 (Ranked 43 to 54): Albania, Moldova, Malta, Kosovo, England, Armenia, San Marino, Andorra, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar

Procedure

The draw started from Pot 1 and ended with Pot 4. Each pot was emptied before moving to the next pot.

The associations in Pot 1 were drawn one after another and placed in the first position in Groups 1 to 14.

The associations in Pot 2 were drawn one after another and placed in the second position in Groups 1 to 14.

The associations in Pot 3 were drawn one after another and placed in the third position in Groups 1 to 14.

The associations in Pot 4 were drawn one after another and each one placed in the fourth position in one of the 12 groups.