2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship

2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Lithuania
Dates	9–21 May
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (4th title)
Runners-up	Germany
Third place	Finland
Fourth place	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	61 (3.81 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Shekiera Martinez; (9 goals)

The 2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-17 Euro 2018) was the 11th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the women's under-17 national teams of Europe. Lithuania, which were selected by UEFA on 26 January 2015, hosted the tournament from 9 to 21 May 2018.[1][2]

A total of eight teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2001 eligible to participate. Each match had a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.

Same as previous editions held in even-numbered years, the tournament acted as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Uruguay as the UEFA representatives.

Spain won their fourth title by beating defending champions Germany 2–0 in the final.[3]

Qualification

A total of 46 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Lithuania qualifying automatically, the other 45 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.[4] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2017, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2018.[5]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.[6]

Team	Method of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Lithuania	Hosts	1st	—	Debut
Netherlands	Elite round Group 1 winners	3rd	2017 (semi-finals)	Fourth place (2010), Semi-finals (2017)
Finland	Elite round Group 2 winners	1st	—	Debut
Spain	Elite round Group 3 winners	9th	2017 (runners-up)	Champions (2010, 2011, 2015)
Italy	Elite round Group 4 winners	3rd	2016 (group stage)	Third place (2014)
England	Elite round Group 5 winners	6th	2017 (group stage)	Third place (2016)
Poland	Elite round Group 6 winners	2nd	2013 (champions)	Champions (2013)
Germany	Elite round Group 7 winners	10th	2017 (champions)	Champions (2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017)

Final draw

The final draw was held on 6 April 2018, 10:00 EEST (UTC+3), at the Kaunas State Musical Theatre in Kaunas, Lithuania.[7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Lithuania were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

In January 2015 Lithuanian Football Federation announced plans to host championships in Kaunas, Alytus, Marijampolė and Jonava, although Central stadium of Jonava had to improve the conditions in stadium.[8] In early 2018 it was announced that competition would be held in three cities: Alytus, Marijampolė and Šiauliai.[9]

Marijampolė	Marijampolė Alytus Šiauliai	Alytus	Šiauliai
Sūduva Stadium		Alytus Stadium	Savivaldybė Stadium
Capacity: 6,500		Capacity: 3,748	Capacity: 4,000

Match officials

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[6]

Referees

Khristiyana Guteva
Lucie Šulcová
Frida Mia Klarlund Nielsen
Irena Velevačkoska
Désirée Grundbacher
Kateryna Usova

Assistant referees

Sara Telek
Almira Spahić
Maja Petravić
Polyxeni Irodotou
Élodie Coppola
Yelena Alistratova
Diāna Vanaga
Sandra Österberg

Fourth officials

Squads

Each national team submitted a squad of 20 players (Regulations Article 41).[5]

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 12 April 2018.[10]

The group winners and runners-up advance to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01 and 17.02):[5]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, EEST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	2	1	0	12	3	+9	7	Knockout stage
2	Finland	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6	Knockout stage
3	Netherlands	3	1	1	1	12	4	+8	4
4	Lithuania (H)	3	0	0	3	0	21	−21	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

9 May 2018