All 54 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Georgia qualifying automatically, the other 53 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 2016, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2017.^[5]

Qualified teams edit

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.^[6][7]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

Final draw edit

The final draw was held in 13 April 2017, 14:00 GET (UTC+4), at the Ballroom of Hotels & Preference Hualing in Tbilisi, Georgia.^[8][9] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Georgia were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

The final tournament matches were held in four stadium venues located in two cities:

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.^[10]

Each national team have to submit a squad of 18 players.^[5]

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 24 April 2017.^[11]

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

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01 and 17.02):^[5]

1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
7. If only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their rankings are determined by a penalty shoot-out (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).
8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
9. Higher position in the coefficient ranking list used for the qualifying round draw;
10. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, GET (UTC+4).^[12]

Group A edit

Group B edit

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.^[5]

On 2 May 2016, the UEFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board (IFAB)'s trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time.^[13] On 1 June 2017, it was also announced as part of a trial sanctioned by the IFAB to reduce the advantage of the team shooting first in a penalty shoot-out,^[14] a different sequence of taking penalties, known as "ABBA", that mirrors the serving sequence in a tennis tiebreak would be used if a penalty shoot-out was needed (team A kicks first, team B kicks second):^[15]

Original sequence

AB AB AB AB AB (sudden death starts) AB AB etc.

Trial sequence

AB BA AB BA AB (sudden death starts) BA AB etc.

Bracket edit

Semi-finals edit

Final edit

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: UEFA.com^[16]

Source: UEFA Technical Report^[17]

• Official website
• 2016/17 final tournament: Georgia, UEFA.com