2021 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification

2021 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification
Tournament details
DatesCancelled

(Originally

Qualifying round:
March 2021[1]
Elite round:
Abolished
Play-offs:
May 2021)
Teams53 (from 1 confederation)
← 2019
2020
2022 →

The 2021 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-19 football competition that would have determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Romania in the 2021 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament.[2] Players born on or after 1 January 2002 were eligible to participate.[3]

Apart from Romania, 53 of the remaining 54 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition, where the original format consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which would have taken place in autumn 2020, and Elite round, which would also have take place in spring 2021.[4] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, UEFA announced on 13 August 2020 that after consultation with the 55 member associations, the qualifying round was delayed to March 2021, and the elite round was abolished and replaced by play-offs, with the 13 qualifying round group winners joining the top seed by coefficient ranking, Portugal (which originally received a bye to the elite round), in the play-offs in May 2021 to determine the teams qualifying for the final tournament.[5][6]

On 23 February 2021, UEFA announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and its effect on staging competitions, the tournament was cancelled.[7]

  1. ^ "2020/21 U19 qualifying round guide". UEFA. 18 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Romania, Slovakia to stage U19 EURO in 2021 and 2022". UEFA.com. 24 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, 2020/21". UEFA. 13 July 2020.
  4. ^ "2020/21 U19 qualifying round draw". UEFA.com. 14 October 2019.
  5. ^ "UEFA postpones youth national team competitions". UEFA.com. 13 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Updated UEFA competitions calendar". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  7. ^ "2020/21 Under-19 EURO cancelled". UEFA.com. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.