The UEFA Futsal Euro 2016 qualifying competition was a men's futsal competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Serbia in the UEFA Futsal Euro 2016 final tournament.[1]
The national teams from a total of 45 UEFA member associations entered the qualifying competition. Scotland made their UEFA Futsal Euro qualifying debut.[2]
Format
The qualifying competition consisted of three rounds:[3]
Preliminary round: The 24 lowest-ranked teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams which were pre-selected as hosts. The six group winners and the best runner-up advanced to the main round.
Main round: The 28 teams (21 highest-ranked teams and seven preliminary round qualifiers) were drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group was played in single round-robin format at one of the teams which were pre-selected as hosts. The seven group winners qualified for the final tournament, while the seven runners-up and the best third-placed team advanced to the play-offs.
Play-offs: The eight teams were drawn into four ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last four qualified teams.
Tiebreakers
In the preliminary round and main round, the teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[3]
Higher number of points obtained in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the mini-tournament matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the mini-tournament matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 10 applied;
Superior goal difference in all mini-tournament matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all mini-tournament matches;
If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the mini-tournament, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the mini-tournament matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Coefficient ranking;
Drawing of lots.
To determine the best runner-up in the preliminary round and the best third-placed team in the main round, the following criteria were applied:[3]
Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Coefficient ranking;
Drawing of lots.
In the play-offs, the team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualified for the final tournament. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e., the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e., if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.[3]
Schedule
The qualifying matches were played on the following dates.[2]
Stage
Dates
Preliminary round
14–17 January 2015
Main round
18–21 March 2015
Play-offs
15 & 22 September 2015
Entrants
The teams were ranked according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:[3][4]
The 21 highest-ranked teams entered the main round, while the 24 lowest-ranked teams entered the preliminary round.[2] The coefficient ranking was also used for seeding in the preliminary round and main round draws.
Teams which were pre-selected as preliminary round or main round hosts were denoted by (H).
The draws for the preliminary round and main round were held on 26 September 2014, 14:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[5][6] Each group in the preliminary round and main round contained one team from each of the seeding positions 1–4. The seven teams which qualified from the preliminary round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, were placed in seeding position 4 for the main round draw. In both draws, the teams which were pre-selected as hosts were drawn from a separate pot, while being placed in their groups according to their seeding positions. For political reasons, Azerbaijan and Armenia (due to the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh), as well as Spain and Gibraltar (due to the disputed status of Gibraltar), could not be drawn in the same group.
Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient; 6) drawing of lots.
Play-offs
The draw for the play-offs was held on 10 June 2015, 14:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[7][8] There were no seedings, with the only restriction that the best third-placed team (Romania) could not be drawn against the runner-up from the same main round group (Kazakhstan).[9]
