The qualifying groups for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where possible, matched the 7- and 6-team World Cup 2006 qualifying groups of the senior European teams. The exceptions were where Andorra, Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, and Northern Ireland were involved; none of whom entered an under-21 team. Germany, whose seniors did not need to qualify for the World Cup (as they will be hosts) were added to one of the 5-team groups created by the absence of the aforementioned nations.

Europe's 48 national under-21 teams entering were divided into eight groups (six groups of 6 + one group of 5 + one group of 7). The eight group winners played off against the eight group runners-up on a two-legged home-and-away basis to decide the eight qualifying teams.

Qualifying Groups

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

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

This was the last time when this grouping schema was applied for U21 qualifying groups.

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Netherlands 10 7 2 1 21 7 +14 23  Czech Republic 10 6 3 1 26 8 +18 21  Romania 10 6 1 3 17 8 +9 19  Macedonia 10 2 3 5 9 18 −9 9  Finland 10 2 1 7 7 16 −9 7  Armenia 10 1 2 7 2 25 −23 5

Armenia  — 0–4 0–1 0–0 1–3 0–5 Czech Republic  6–0 — 3–0 2–0 2–4 4–1 Finland  0–1 1–3 — 2–0 1–2 0–1 Macedonia  4–0 2–2 1–1 — 0–2 1–0 Netherlands  0–0 0–0 4–1 4–0 — 2–0 Romania  2–0 0–0 1–0 5–1 2–0 —

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Denmark 12 9 2 1 30 12 +18 29  Ukraine 12 7 2 3 22 7 +15 23  Greece 12 6 2 4 18 9 +9 20  Turkey 12 5 4 3 15 9 +6 19  Georgia 12 3 2 7 7 22 −15 11  Albania 12 2 3 7 9 27 −18 9  Kazakhstan 12 2 1 9 8 23 −15 7

Albania  — 1–2 0–1 1–1 3–1 1–1 1–1 Denmark  7–0 — 1–0 2–1 5–1 1–1 3–2 Georgia  2–1 2–4 — 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–3 Greece  2–0 0–1 3–0 — 5–0 2–1 0–1 Kazakhstan  0–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 — 2–1 0–1 Turkey  4–0 3–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 — 1–0 Ukraine  5–0 0–1 6–0 1–0 2–1 0–0 —

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Portugal 10 10 0 0 29 3 +26 30  Russia 10 6 1 3 24 6 +18 19[a]  Slovakia 10 6 1 3 12 9 +3 19[a]  Latvia 10 3 3 4 10 16 −6 12  Estonia 10 0 3 7 4 24 −20 3  Luxembourg 10 0 2 8 4 25 −21 2

Estonia  — 1–3 0–0 0–5 1–5 0–2 Latvia  0–0 — 2–1 1–2 0–4 0–0 Luxembourg  1–1 1–2 — 1–6 0–4 0–2 Portugal  3–0 3–0 4–0 — 2–0 2–1 Russia  3–0 1–1 3–0 0–1 — 4–0 Slovakia  2–1 3–1 1–0 0–1 1–0 —

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  France 8 6 1 1 13 5 +8 19   Switzerland 8 4 3 1 15 8 +7 15[a]  Israel 8 4 3 1 11 7 +4 15[a]  Republic of Ireland 8 1 2 5 10 14 −4 5  Cyprus 8 0 1 7 2 17 −15 1

Cyprus  — 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–5 France  2–0 — 1–0 1–0 1–1 Republic of Ireland  3–0 1–2 — 2–2 0–1 Israel  1–0 3–2 3–1 — 1–1 Switzerland  3–0 0–3 4–2 0–0 —

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 10 8 1 1 16 3 +13 25  Slovenia 10 4 3 3 13 13 0 15  Norway 10 4 2 4 14 13 +1 14  Belarus 10 4 1 5 20 19 +1 13  Moldova 10 3 2 5 8 12 −4 11  Scotland 10 1 3 6 6 17 −11 6

Belarus  — 1–1 2–3 2–3 3–2 1–2 Italy  2–1 — 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 Moldova  1–0 0–1 — 1–3 0–0 1–3 Norway  2–3 1–0 1–2 — 0–1 0–0 Scotland  2–3 0–3 0–0 0–2 — 1–1 Slovenia  1–4 0–3 1–0 2–2 3–0 —

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Germany 10 7 3 0 24 5 +19 24  England 10 6 3 1 21 7 +14 21  Poland 10 3 4 3 18 18 0 13  Austria 10 3 2 5 9 14 −5 11  Wales 10 3 1 6 9 21 −12 10  Azerbaijan 10 0 3 7 1 17 −16 3

Austria  — 3–0 0–2 0–3 0–3 2–0 Azerbaijan  0–0 — 0–0 0–2 1–1 0–1 England  1–2 2–0 — 2–2 4–1 2–0 Germany  2–0 2–0 1–1 — 1–1 4–0 Poland  2–2 3–0 1–3 1–3 — 3–2 Wales  1–0 3–0 0–4 0–4 2–2 —

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Belgium 10 7 3 0 25 6 +19 24  Serbia and Montenegro 10 7 1 2 29 11 +18 22  Spain 10 6 2 2 37 8 +29 20  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 3 1 6 17 20 −3 10[a]  Lithuania 10 3 1 6 9 16 −7 10[a]  San Marino 10 0 0 10 4 60 −56 0

Belgium  — 2–1 3–0 4–0 5–0 1–0 Bosnia and Herzegovina  1–1 — 2–0 1–3 5–1 0–2 Lithuania  1–2 1–0 — 0–2 2–0 1–1 Serbia and Montenegro  1–1 5–1 3–2 — 9–0 1–0 San Marino  0–4 1–4 1–2 0–5 — 1–10 Spain  2–2 4–2 2–0 2–0 14–0 —

Group 8

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Croatia 10 8 1 1 14 6 +8 25  Hungary 10 6 1 3 12 7 +5 19  Sweden 10 6 0 4 16 12 +4 18  Iceland 10 4 1 5 15 11 +4 13  Bulgaria 10 2 1 7 9 17 −8 7  Malta 10 1 2 7 3 16 −13 5

Bulgaria  — 2–1 1–2 1–3 2–1 1–2 Croatia  1–0 — 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 Hungary  1–0 2–2 — 1–0 2–0 0–1 Iceland  3–1 1–2 0–1 — 0–0 3–1 Malta  1–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 — 0–1 Sweden  2–0 0–2 2–1 1–4 6–0 —

Play-offs

Group winners played at home in the second leg.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
England	2–3	France	1–1	1–2
Czech Republic	0–3	Germany	0–2	0–1
Hungary	1–2	Italy	1–1	0–1
Serbia and Montenegro	5–2	Croatia	3–1	2–1
Ukraine	5–4	Belgium	2–3	3–1
Russia	1–4	Denmark	0–1	1–3
Switzerland	2–3	Portugal	1–1	1–2
Slovenia	0–2	Netherlands	0–0	0–2