The qualification matches began in September 2012 and concluded in June 2013, with seven teams joining the Lithuanian hosts in the final tournament.

Spain were the two-time defending champions, after defeating Greece in the final of the previous edition, but were eliminated by France in the semi-finals.

On 4 October 2010, Lithuania were announced as the hosts in a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Minsk, Belarus.

The draw took place on 5 December 2012 at the UEFA headquarters and allocated the 28 teams – previously arranged into four seeding pots according to their qualifying round coefficient (teams with bye were automatically seeded in the first pot)[10] – into seven groups of four.

The draw for the group stage was held on 14 June 2013 in Kaunas, at the Town Hall, and was conducted by the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee chairman, Jim Boyce, who was assisted by final tournament ambassadors Vaida Česnauskienė and Marius Stankevičius.