Contenders digest Brussels draw

The UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournament draw has thrown up two fascinating groups. In Group A three of the traditional forces of European football, France, Germany and Spain, will come up against a tough Ukraine side who qualified with a win in Italy. Meanwhile, Group B opens with a showdown between hosts Belgium and neighbours the Netherlands, and England and surprise finalists Iceland will also be involved. uefa.com rounds up the reaction to the draw.

GROUP A
François Blaquart, France coach
It's an unbalanced draw with our group being a very tough nut but very interesting to watch. The two places in the next round will be hard won but we'll play for that. We have as much chance of going through as the others, especially if we come [to Belgium] well prepared.

Paul Schomann, Germany coach
I think this is the stronger group. All the teams in this group are strong and skilful. If we want to reach the semi-finals we have to play good football.

Yuriy Kalitvintsev, Ukraine coach

GROUP B
Bob Browaeys, Belgium coach
We can be very satisfied! My top three were Spain, France and Germany, they are in the same group and we are in the other group. But I know that the Netherlands have a very strong team, England as well, and we have respect for Iceland. Quite a strong group too but I’d rather be in this group!

John Peacock, England coach
Group A looks a very tough group, I have to say. I am not making light of the fact that our group is not going to be easy, there are some tough teams as well, but when you get three of the top nations - France, Germany and Spain... As another top nation we could have gone into that one as well, so I am quite pleased with the draw.

Lúkas Kostic, Iceland coach
I like it. This is a good group. It is strong and we know the teams and have some information. We will just go to our next match, enjoy every kick and have fun. One can never know about results but we will be better than we were in [the Elite round in] Portugal.

Albert Stuivenberg, Netherlands coach
[Opening against Belgium] is a nice match to play. We were also play them in a [cancelled] friendly the week before in Belgium - we already had this planned.