The play-offs determined the final seven teams that qualified for the final tournament and were 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 progressed to the second round.
In addition the group winners, runners-up and third-placed teams in League B (except Switzerland) participated 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 progressed to the next round.[3][4]
Switzerland, who competed in League B, were guaranteed a spot in the final tournament as hosts, and therefore did 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 2024โ25 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 progressed to the final tournament in Switzerland.
Both rounds of the play-offs were played over two legs, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. The team that scored more goals on aggregate was the winner. If the aggregate score was level, extra time was played (the away goals rule was not applied). If the score remained level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was 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 2024โ25 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 took place on 25 and 29 October 2024. Each tie was played over two legs, with the seeded teams playing the second leg at home.[6]
The second round matches took place on 28/29 November and 3 December 2024. Each tie was 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 had lost to a League C team in the first round, that League C team would have been 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 (UTC+2) for the first leg matches of the first round, CET (UTC+1) for all matches thereafter.
