The 2026 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship was the 17th 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. Northern Ireland hosted the tournament. A total of eight teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2009 eligible to participate.
The defending champions were the Netherlands, having won their first title by defeating Norway 2–1 in the 2025 final, but were unable to defend their title as they did not qualify for this tournament.
This tournament also acted as UEFA's qualifier for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco, with top five teams qualifying as the UEFA representatives.
Qualification
A total of 50 out of 55 UEFA nations entered the qualifying competition, with the hosts Northern Ireland also competing despite already qualifying automatically, and seven teams qualified for the final tournament at the end of the qualifiers round 2 to join the hosts.
TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performanceTotalFirstLastStreak Host nation 1st 200820231 (2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022) 200820241 (2024) 201820221 (2018) 200820255 (2023) 200920253 (2025) 2009202512 (2010, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2024) 201320254 (2013)
Venues The tournament was hosted in three venues.
Belfast Coleraine Larne Windsor Park The Showgrounds Inver Park Capacity: 18,434 Capacity: 4,843 Capacity: 2,732
Squads
Each national team had to submit a squad of 20 players, two of whom had to be goalkeepers.
Group stage The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and automatically qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. The third-placed teams in both groups qualified for the play-off match, with the winner also qualifying for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Tie-breaking criteria for group play The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches; 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 were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 had the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and were tied after applying all criteria above (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); Disciplinary points Yellow card: −1 point; Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points; Direct red card: −3 points; UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw; Drawing of lots.
Group A
Group B
Play-off match The two third-placed teams in each group played a 90-minute play-off match followed by a penalty shoot-out to decide the winners if necessary (no extra time was played), with the winning team qualifying for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Knockout stage In the knockout stage, a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winners if necessary (no extra time was played).
Bracket
Semi-finals
Final
Goalscorers
Awards The following awards were given after the tournament: Player of the Tournament: Mirja Kropp Top Scorer(s): Rachael Adedini, Stine Ariell Solemdal (3 goals)
Team of the Tournament After the tournament, the Under-17 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observer panel.
PositionPlayerGoalkeeper Mirja KroppDefenders Laura Ernst Rosie Olando Muriel Dürr Iraia FernándezMidfielders Odélia Tae Stine Ariell Solemdal Johanna HebbenForwards Léa Motyka Rachael Adedini Ángela Gálvez
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The following five teams from UEFA qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco.
Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup1 7 May 2026 7 (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022) 8 May 2026 4 (2008, 2012, 2022, 2025) 10 May 2026 1 (2025) 11 May 2026 7 (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025) 14 May 2026 1 (2024) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year.
Notes
References
External links