Young Lions learn U19 EURO draw

 

The draw for the group stage of the finals was made in Samorin-Cilistov on Thursday morning, with former Liverpool defender and Slovakia international Martin Skrtel pulling out the teams.

 

Ian Foster’s Young Lions secured their place in the finals after finishing top of their elite round group in March, with victories over Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Portugal. 

And they were the first nation to be placed in Group B in the draw, where they were joined by Israel and Austria.

 

When the draw was first made, they had to wait until early June to find out who the fourth nation would be, when the Netherlands, Serbia, Ukraine and Norway played their elite qualifying round games, after being postponed in March due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

 

But Serbia have now finished top of the group to ensure they will be progressing to the Finals.

In Group A, hosts Slovakia were joined by Romania, Italy and France for the competition which takes place between 18 June and 1 July at five venues across Slovakia.

 

England will provisionally kick-off against Austria on Sunday 19 June at the Banska Bystrica Stadium, before facing Serbia at the same venue on Wednesday 22 June. The final group match with Israel will take place at the Ziar nad Hronom Stadium on Saturday 25 June, with all three games provisionally scheduled to kick-off at 7pm BST.

 

The U19 EURO Finals format will see the top two from each group progress into the semi-finals which take place on 28 June.

 

With five European slots available at the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia, the semi-finalists will also qualify for that tournament and then the two third-place teams from each group will be involved in a play-off game for the fifth and final spot.

 

The Final will then be held at the Trnava Stadium on 1 July.