In the first round of qualification, 16 teams who were not participating at the 2018 European Championship were split into four groups. Each winner from the four groups and the best 2nd-placed team joined the remaining 12 teams from the European Championship and Austria as the second-best third-ranked team from the 2018 European Championship qualification and played play-offs to determine the nine qualifiers.
Qualification phase 1
Seeding
The draw was held on 24 June 2016.[2] The winner from each group and the best second-ranked team advanced to the play-off round. Each group played their matches in a mini-tournament at a pre-selected location.[3]