Six teams through opening women’s Under-19 stage

Six countries have reached the second qualifying round of the 2001/02 European Women’s Under-19 Championship. Scotland, Wales, Turkey and Iceland (group-winners), and Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel (best group runners-up) have successfully come through qualifying mini-tournaments held this month, and now take part in a 16-team second qualifying round in October.

Mini-tournaments
In Group C1, which was held in Austria, Scotland won all three matches against Austria, Belarus and Greece, finishing with a goal tally of 14-1. Wales defeated mini-tournament hosts Slovenia and Estonia in Group C2, and Turkey finished top of Group C3, equal on points with hosts Bosnia- Herzegovina, but with a better goal difference. The Faroe Islands and Lithuania were eliminated. Iceland finished up with a 100 per cent record in Group C4, scoring 13 goals in their three matches against Israel, Hungary and hosts Bulgaria, and conceding only one. Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a coefficient of 2.3333, and Israel (2.00) made it into the second qualifying round with the best group runners-up records. 

Second qualifying round draw
The draw for the second qualifying round has resulted in the following groups:
Group B1: Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Scotland
Group B2: Netherlands, Slovakia, Poland, Wales
Group B3: Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Israel
Group B4: Belgium, Russia, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Final round in Sweden
The winners and runners-up in each group go through to the third qualifying round. They will join Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Spain at this stage of the competition. The final round, which will feature eight teams, takes place in Sweden at the beginning of May 2002.