 On 4 December 2014 The Netherlands were chosen as hosts for the first time having never previously staged the tournament.A total of 47 UEFA nations entered the competition (including Andorra which entered for the first time at senior women's level), and with the hosts Netherlands qualifying automatically, the other 46 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining 15 spots in the final tournament.The qualifying competition, which took place from April 2015 to October 2016, consisted of three rounds