The 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification began in 2000. The final tournament was held in 2002. The 47 national teams were divided into nine groups (one group of four, five groups of 5, and three groups of 6). The records of the nine group runners-up were then compared. The top seven joined the nine winners in a play-off for the eight finals spots. One of the eight qualifiers was then chosen to host the remaining fixtures.

Qualifying group stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

• Groups 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 featured the same nations
• Group 1 did not include Faroe Islands
• Group 2 did not include Andorra
• Group 6 did not include San Marino
• Group 7 did not include Liechtenstein, but included France (who did not participate in World Cup qualification)

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Switzerland 8 4 4 0 22 10 +12 16  Russia 8 4 3 1 23 9 +14 15  Yugoslavia 8 4 3 1 22 11 +11 15  Slovenia 8 2 2 4 10 10 0 8  Luxembourg 8 0 0 8 1 38 −37 0

Luxembourg  — 0–10 1–5 0–3 0–3 Russia  2–0 — 0–0 3–3 2–0 Slovenia  1–0 1–3 — 0–0 1–2 Switzerland  6–0 3–1 2–1 — 2–2 Yugoslavia  8–0 2–2 2–1 3–3 —

  Switzerland qualify as group winners
 Russia fail to qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Portugal 8 6 1 1 22 4 +18 19  Netherlands 8 5 2 1 20 7 +13 17  Republic of Ireland 8 4 1 3 10 7 +3 13  Cyprus 8 3 0 5 9 17 −8 9  Estonia 8 0 0 8 2 28 −26 0

Cyprus  — 3–1 0–1 1–0 0–1 Estonia  0–3 — 0–5 1–3 0–3 Netherlands  4–2 6–0 — 1–1 2–0 Portugal  7–0 4–0 3–0 — 3–1 Republic of Ireland  3–0 1–0 1–1 0–1 —

 Portugal qualify as group winners
 Netherlands qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Czech Republic	10	9	0	1	28	5	+23	27
Bulgaria	10	5	3	2	16	17	−1	18
Denmark	10	4	3	3	18	12	+6	15
Iceland	10	3	2	5	13	17	−4	11
Northern Ireland	10	2	2	6	12	21	−9	8
Malta	10	0	4	6	5	20	−15	4

(*) Match awarded 3-0 to N.Ireland
due to Malta fielding an ineligible player.
 Czech Republic qualify as group winners
 Bulgaria fail to qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Turkey	10	7	2	1	19	6	+13	23
Sweden	10	5	4	1	19	6	+13	19
Slovakia	10	4	4	2	13	7	+6	16
Moldova	10	2	3	5	6	13	−7	9
Azerbaijan	10	2	3	5	4	17	−13	9
Macedonia	10	1	2	7	6	18	−12	5

 Turkey qualify as group winners
 Sweden qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Ukraine 10 6 1 3 14 13 +1 19  Poland 10 5 3 2 20 14 +6 18  Norway 10 6 0 4 21 12 +9 18  Belarus 10 5 1 4 21 14 +7 16  Armenia 10 4 2 4 10 15 −5 14  Wales 10 0 1 9 4 22 −18 1

Armenia  — 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–2 1–0 Belarus  5–0 — 1–0 3–3 1–2 4–1 Norway  5–1 5–1 — 1–2 3–1 2–0 Poland  1–1 0–4 3–0 — 3–0 2–1 Ukraine  1–0 1–0 1–3 2–2 — 1–0 Wales  1–1 1–2 0–2 0–4 0–3 —

 Ukraine qualify as group winners
 Poland qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Belgium 6 4 1 1 8 2 +6 13  Croatia 6 3 2 1 9 6 +3 11  Scotland 6 2 2 2 6 6 0 8  Latvia 6 0 1 5 3 12 −9 1

Belgium  — 2–1 3–0 0–0 Croatia  1–0 — 2–1 3–1 Latvia  0–2 1–1 — 1–3 Scotland  0–1 1–1 1–0 —

 Belgium qualify as group winners
 Croatia qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 7

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	8	6	2	0	16	6	+10	20
Spain	8	5	1	2	13	7	+6	16
Israel	8	4	0	4	16	13	+3	12
Austria	8	2	2	4	7	14	−7	8
Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	0	1	7	5	17	−12	1

 France qualify as group winners
 Spain qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 8

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	8	6	1	1	14	5	+9	19
Romania	8	5	1	2	13	5	+8	16
Hungary	8	5	0	3	12	9	+3	15
Lithuania	8	2	0	6	5	17	−12	6
Georgia	8	1	0	7	9	17	−8	3

(*) Match awarded 3-0 to Romania
due to Lithuania fielding an ineligible player.
 Italy qualify as group winners
 Romania qualify as one of best runners-up

Group 9

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England	8	5	2	1	18	8	+10	17
Greece	8	5	1	2	14	6	+8	16
Germany	8	5	1	2	18	7	+11	16
Finland	8	1	1	6	7	20	−13	4
Albania	8	1	1	6	3	19	−16	4

 England qualify as group winners
 Greece qualify as one of best runners-up
Greece (16pts) Germany (16pts) head-to-head:
2-1 in GER, 2-0 in GRE
.: Greece better (3-2 on aggregate)

Ranking of second-placed teams

Because groups contained different number or teams (six, five and four), matches against the fifth- and sixth-placed teams in each group are not included in the ranking. As a result, six matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second-placed table. The top seven advanced to the play-off.

Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	Greece	6	4	0	2	14	6	+8	12
4	Sweden	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11
5	Poland	6	3	2	1	13	10	+3	11
6	Croatia	6	3	2	1	9	6	+3	11
2	Netherlands	6	3	2	1	9	7	+2	11
8	Romania	6	3	1	2	8	4	+4	10
7	Spain	6	3	1	2	6	6	0	10
3	Bulgaria	6	3	1	2	9	14	−5	10
1	Russia	6	2	3	1	11	9	+2	9

Play-offs

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sweden	3–4	Belgium	3–2	0–2
Greece	4–2	Turkey	3–0	1–2
Netherlands	2–3	England	2–2	0–1
Spain	2–2 (a)	Portugal	2–1	0–1
Croatia	1–1 (a)	Czech Republic	1–1	0–0
Poland	2–5	Italy	2–5	0–0
Romania	0–5	France	0–1	0–4
Ukraine	2–4	Switzerland	1–2	1–2