Spain, Sweden lead 22 into WU17 elite round
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Article summary
Holders Spain have led 22 teams through from the qualifying round to join top seeds Germany and France in the elite round which will decide the finals lineup for Belarus.
Article top media content
Article body
Holders Spain have led 22 teams through from the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying round to join top seeds Germany and France in the elite round draw at 11.45CET on 13 November.
The top two sides in each of the 11 groups that have been running since 28 September made progress, and the 24 nations still involved will compete in spring for seven slots in the finals alongside hosts Belarus. The elite round draw seedings will be confirmed in due course.
Qualified teams
Bye as top seeds: Germany, France
Group 1: Republic of Ireland, Ukraine
Group 2: Austria, Scotland
Group 3: Spain (holders), Greece
Group 4: England, Poland
Group 5: Italy, Northern Ireland
Group 6: Belgium, Czech Republic
Group 7: Denmark, Hungary
Group 8: Sweden, Russia
Group 9: Switzerland, Serbia
Group 10: Norway, Netherlands
Group 11: Finland, Iceland
Qualifying round facts
• England's Georgia Stanway and Alessia Russo were joint top scorers with eight goals.
• The Republic of Ireland, Austria, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Finland did not drop a point.
• Ireland, Austria, Italy, Denmark and Finland did not concede a goal.
• Slovenia went out with six points in a three-way head-to-head tie-breaker with Switzerland and Serbia.
Elite round draw procedure
• There will be four seeding pots in accordance with the coefficient ranking list, with the six countries with the highest coefficients in Pot A, the next six in Pot B, and so on.
• No team can play a side they met in the qualifying round.
• Each group comprises one team from each pot, with hosts then appointed to hold the mini-tournaments next spring.
• The six group winners and the runner-up with the best record against the sides first and third in their pool qualify to join hosts Belarus in the finals.
Final tournament
• The final tournament in Belarus runs from 4 to 16 May, with two groups of four producing semi-finalists.
• The finalists and the winner of the third-place play-off qualify for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, taking place from 30 September to 21 October in Jordan.