ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 Qualification

**European Women's Football Championship 2017 Qualification**
===========================================================

The qualification matches for the 2017 European Women's Football Championship were held between 4 April 2015 and 25 October 2016. A total of 46 UEFA member associations participated in the qualifying process, with 15 teams earning a spot in the final round alongside the host nation, the Netherlands.

**Participating Teams**
------------------------

The following teams did not participate in the qualification:

* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bulgaria
* Cyprus
* Gibraltar
* Liechtenstein
* San Marino

This was the first time that Albania, Andorra, Moldova, and Montenegro participated in the European Women's Football Championship qualification.

**Qualification Format**
-------------------------

The qualification took place over three rounds. The first qualifying round involved only the eight weakest national teams, while the subsequent rounds featured the remaining teams competing for a spot in the final phase.

**Notable Qualifications**
---------------------------

For the 2017 tournament, five teams (Scotland, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, and Austria) qualified for their first-ever European Women's Football Championship final phase. Portugal's qualification was particularly notable as it came as a surprise to many.

**Timeline**
------------

* 4 April 2015 - 25 October 2016: Qualification matches took place over this period.
* Netherlands (host country): Automatically qualified for the final round.

Note: The dates mentioned in the original sources have been corrected to reflect the correct range of dates.