It was hosted for the first time in Serbia, following a decision of the UEFA Executive Committee on 20 March 2012.

A total of 46 UEFA nations entered the competition (including Scotland which entered for the first time), and with the hosts Serbia qualifying automatically, the other 45 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining 11 spots in the final tournament.

The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, with the hosts Serbia (assigned to position A1 in the draw) and the title holders Italy automatically placed into Pot 1.

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[3] All times were local, CET (UTC+1).

In the third place match, the extra time would be skipped and the decision would go directly to kicks from the penalty mark.