The play-offs determine the final seven teams that qualify for the final tournament and are played over two rounds.[2][3]
In the first round, the eight teams finishing third and fourth in League A were seeded, and drawn into ties against the five group winners and three best-ranked runners-up in League C. The eight winners progress to the second round.
In addition the group winners, runners-up and third-placed teams in League B (except Switzerland) will participate in the first round (i.e. the 12 best-ranked League B teams). The six higher-ranked of those teams were seeded and drawn into ties against the six lower-ranked teams. The six winners progress to the next round.[3][4]
Switzerland, who competed in League B, are guaranteed a spot in the final tournament as hosts, and therefore will not participate in the play-offs. Since they finished in the top three places in their group, the best-ranked fourth-placed team (i.e. the team ranked 13th in League B) also qualified for the first round.[4]
In the second round, the teams from both paths came together and were drawn into seven ties. The team pairings from the first round ties involving the seven highest-ranked teams, according to the 2024–25 European Qualifiers overall ranking, were seeded in the second round draw[note 1] and drawn against the seven remaining pairings from the first round.[2]
The seven winners of these ties will progress to the final tournament in Switzerland.
Both rounds of the play-offs are played over two legs, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. The team that scores more goals on aggregate is the winner. If the aggregate score is level, extra time is played (the away goals rule is not applied). If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner.[2]
Draw
The play-off draw for both rounds took place on 19 July 2024 at 13:00 CEST in Nyon, Switzerland.[5]
For the first round draw, the League A teams were seeded and drawn into eight ties against the League C teams to form Path 1, and the six best-ranked League B teams were seeded and drawn against the six lower-ranked League B teams to form Path 2.[2][3][5]
For the second round draw, teams from both paths came together. The draw took place before the winners of the first round were known, and the first round pairings involving the seven highest-ranked teams, according to the 2024–25 European Qualifiers overall ranking, were seeded[note 1] and drawn against the seven remaining pairings from the first round.[2][5]
For all three draws, a team from the unseeded pot was drawn first, and placed into the home position in the first tie, followed by a team drawn from the seeded pot placed into the away position, with the process then repeating until each pot was empty. This ensured that all seeded teams will play their second leg ties at home.[5]
The first round matches will take place on 25 and 29 October 2024. Each tie will be played over two legs, with the seeded teams playing the second leg at home.[6]
The second round matches will take place from 22 November to 3 December 2024. Each tie will be played over two legs, with the seeded teams playing the second leg at home.[6]
^ abThe seven highest-ranked teams in the playoffs were all by definition from League A. If one of those teams lost to a League C team in the first round, that League C team would be seeded in the second round, as the winner of the first round tie involving one of the top seven teams. (Regulations Article 27.05b)[2]
^CEST for matches before 27 October 2024, CET for all matches thereafter.