[1] A total of 43 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.

The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:[2] If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[2] To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round and the best runner-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded.

The following criteria were applied:[2] The draw for the qualifying round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 20 November 2013 at 09:00 CET (UTC+1).

The draw for the elite round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 19 November 2014 at 12:15 CET (UTC+1).

[9][10] Germany, France and Spain, which received byes to the elite round, were automatically seeded into Pot A.