[2][3] A total of 16 teams were originally to play in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2003 eligible to participate.
[4] After initially being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UEFA announced on 1 April 2020 that the tournament had been cancelled.
All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Estonia qualifying automatically, the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining 15 spots in the final tournament.
The hosts Estonia would be assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams would be seeded according to their results in the qualification elite round.
In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner if necessary (no extra time is played).