ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base
UEFA Women's Euro 2017 Qualification
**European Women's Football Championship 2017 Qualification**
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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**
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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**
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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**
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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**
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* 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.