England and Germany meet again
Friday 8 September 2006
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
The UEFA European Under-21 Championship trophy (©uefa.com)
Today's draw for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs in Nyon threw up some fascinating ties, not least Italy against Spain and England versus Germany.
Five-time winners
The draw saw the seven seeded teams paired with seven unseeded nations by UEFA's director of professional football, Giorgio Marchetti, in Nyon. Despite failing to make it beyond the group stage at the 2006 finals in Portugal, Italy have an outstanding pedigree in this competition having lifted the trophy five times, most recently in 2004. Spain have twice been champions, as have England whose last success came in 1984 against West Germany.
Past masters
The 2002 winners the Czech Republic face Bosnia-Herzegovina, while the 1988 title-winners France drew Israel. Serbia were paired with Sweden, Russia meet the top seeds Portugal and Belgium tackle Bulgaria in two-legged matches scheduled for 7/8 and 10/11 October.
Final in Groningen
The seven victors from these ties will join the hosts and title-holders, the Netherlands, in the hat for the final tournament at the City Hall in Arnhem - one of four finals venues along with Heerenveen, Groningen and Nijmegen - starting at 18.00CET on 24 November. Group matches will provisionally be played between 10 and 17 June 2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem staging a semi-final apiece three days later. The final will be on Saturday 23 June at FC Groningen's 20,000-capacity Euroborg.
Olympic qualification
The finals will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic football tournament, with four European teams set to progress to China.
| ||||||||||
©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
