UEFA has appointed FIFA Assistant Referee Edward Spiteri for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship 2016 taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan between the 5th and 21st May. He was included in a group consisting of eight referees, twelve assistant referees and four fourth officials from 23 different European countries.

The successor to the UEFA European Under-16 Championship, the Under-17 event has been running annually since 2001/2002. It consists of a qualifying round, an elite round and from 2014/2015, a sixteen-team final tournament split into four groups, with the leading two from each going into the knockout phase.

The groups are formed as follows:
Group A: Azerbaijan (hosts), Portugal, Belgium, Scotland.
Group B: Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group C: France (holders), Denmark, England, Sweden
Group D: Italy, Serbia, Netherlands, Spain

The tournament will be the first UEFA youth finals staged by Azerbaijan, though Baku was the venue for the 2014 UEFA Futsal Cup finals and has also been selected to hold four UEFA EURO 2020 fixtures, including a quarter-final. Azerbaijan also hosted the 2012 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

The Azerbaijan Under-17 team is the first to represent the nation in any UEFA football final tournament. Azerbaijan did play at UEFA Futsal EURO 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.