The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:
Qualifying round: The 48 teams are drawn into 12 groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The 12 group winners, the 12 runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best record against the first and second-placed teams in their group advance to the elite round.
Elite round: The 28 teams are drawn into seven groups of four teams. Each group is played in single round-robin format at one of the teams selected as hosts after the draw. The seven group winners qualify for the final tournament.
Qualifying round
Draw
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 29 November2019, 09:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:
2016 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
2017 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
2019 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition
Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Based on the decisions taken by the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following pairs of teams could not be drawn in the same group: Russia and Ukraine, Russia and Kosovo, Serbia and Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
;Notes
Teams marked in bold have qualified for the final tournament.
Groups
The qualifying round must be played by 8 November 2020. Times up to 24 October 2020 are CEST, thereafter times are CET, as listed by UEFA.
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Group 5
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Group 6
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Group 7
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Group 8
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Group 9
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Group 10
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Group 11
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Group 12
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Ranking of third-placed teams
To determine the four best third-placed teams from the qualifying round which advance to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group are taken into account.
Elite round
Draw
The draw for the elite round will be held on 8 December 2020 at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The teams are seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Each group contains one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Winners and runners-up from the same qualifying round group cannot be drawn in the same group, but the best third-placed teams can be drawn in the same group as winners or runners-up from the same qualifying round group.
Groups
The elite round is scheduled to be played in spring 2021. Times up to 27 March 2021 are CET, thereafter times are CEST, as listed by UEFA.
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Group 5
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Group 6
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Group 7
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Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualify for the final tournament.
