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

[2] 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 28 September and 30 October 2010.

The draw was held in Bucharest on 8 June 2011, when hosts Romania and the seven elite-round qualifiers divided into two groups of four.

Tie-break criteria for teams even on points: All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) The match was scheduled to be played on 20 July, but was abandoned after 15 minutes due to adverse weather conditions while Spain was leading 1–0 after a goal from Álvaro Morata.