Ukraine were the title holders, but failed to qualify for the finals.

Qualification for the final tournament was played over two stages: The final tournament of the Championship was preceded by two qualification stages: a qualifying round and an Elite round.

The qualifying round was played between 1 September and 30 November 2009.

Each group winner and runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.

The top three teams in each group qualified for the 2011 Under-20 World Cup.