The top two teams, Belgium and Russia, qualified directly for the finals. Unlike previous editions, the participants of the play-offs were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage, but instead based on their performance in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League.
Belgium won all ten of their matches, becoming the seventh national side to qualify for a European Championship with a 100% record, and the eighth instance, after France (1992 and 2004), Czech Republic (2000), Germany, Spain (both 2012), England (2016), and Italy (2020).
The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in Dublin.[4][5] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[3]
Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
Receiving three yellow cards in three different matches, as well as after fifth and any subsequent yellow card (yellow card suspensions were not carried forward to the play-offs, the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches: