50 entrants: 14 qualify, plus host France.
Group 1 — Bosnia, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Slovenia.
Group 2 — England, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Poland.
Group 3 — Azerbaijan, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland.
Group 4 — Austria, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Scotland, Sweden.
Group 5 — Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, Luxembourg, Russia.
Group 6 — Czech Republic, Faeroe Islands, Malta, Slovakia, Spain, Yugoslavia.
Group 7 — Belgium, Netherlands, San Marino, Turkey, Wales.
Group 8 — Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania.
Group 9 — Albania, Armenia, Germany, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Ukraine.
The nine group winners, along with the best second-place team, qualify automatically for France ’98. The other eight second-place teams will be drawn for two-leg playoffs from which the winners will advance to France ’98.