England MU19s learn EURO draws

England men's under-19s will play Portugal, Poland and Serbia in the UEFA U19 EURO elite round in March, following the draw in Nyon, Switzerland on Wednesday morning.

Will Antwi's Young Lions will travel to Portugal for the games, which will take place between 25 and 31 March, with the team who tops the group progressing to the U19 EURO Finals 2026, which are being hosted in Wales next summer.

The full elite round draw is below, with the seven group winners joining hosts Wales in the 2026 Finals.

Group 1: Germany, Austria, Greece, Sweden
Group 2: England, Portugal, Poland, Serbia
Group 3: Croatia, France, Norway, Switzerland
Group 4: Czechia, Denmark, Belgium, Latvia
Group 5: Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland
Group 6: Italy, Türki̇ye, Slovakia, Hungary
Group 7: Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia

It was also the first draw for the next UEFA U19 EURO tournament for 2027, as the competition switches to a new format that will take place over the course of two seasons.

The Young Lions were drawn out to play Croatia, Spain and Bulgaria in round one as part of the new system which sees nations split into two leagues featuring seven groups in each. Croatia will host the games, which will take place between 25-31 March. The squad who travels to Croatia will be made up of this season's MU18s group ahead of them moving into the MU19s age group for 2026-27.

The new format of the competition will see a system of promotion and relegation ahead of round two in the autumn and then round three in spring 2027 before the final eight will head to Czechia for the finals in the summer of 2027.

The nations who finish fourth in their League A groups will be relegated to League B, while the teams who win their League B groups will be promoted into League A for round two.

The draw in full is below

League A

Group A1: Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden, Cyprus
Group A2: Italy, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Scotland
Group A3: Czechia, Finland, Ukraine, Estonia
Group A4: Germany, Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group A5: England, Croatia, Spain, Bulgaria
Group A6: Portugal, Serbia, Greece, Kazakhstan
Group A7: France, Switzerland, Hungary, Wales

League B

Group B1: Denmark, Romania, Andorra, Liechtenstein
Group B2: Türkiye, Kosovo, Armenia, Gibraltar
Group B3: Slovakia, Belarus, Latvia, San Marino
Group B4: Norway, Albania, Luxembourg, Malta
Group B5: Netherlands, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Moldova
Group B6: Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Azerbaijan
Group B7: Iceland, Montenegro, Georgia