Strong lineup for Under-17 draw

The UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals draw is made at Leipzig City Hall at 14.00CET on Friday, with hosts Germany joined by holders Spain, Turkey, Switzerland, France, England, Italy and the Netherlands in the competition from 6-18 May. You can follow the draw live on uefa.com.

Qualifiers
Seven Elite round mini-tournaments ran throughout March, and the successes of Turkey and Switzerland in the last two groups to finish on Tuesday means that four former U17 winners are involved in a tournament which will be played in 12 towns in eastern Germany. That number includes Spain, champions in each of the last two seasons, and France, the most recent hosts to succeed in 2004. Of the other contenders, England and the Netherlands have been beaten finalists, while Italy and Germany have each reached the last four.

Draw procedure
In the draw, made by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and German Football Association sporting director Matthias Sammer, the teams will be split into two groups of four teams. The hosts will be team one in Group B; the other seven sides will be drawn without seeding. Two teams from each group will proceed to the semi-finals on 15 May in Grimma and Dessau-Rosslau, with the decider three days later at Stadion Magdeburg, for which a record 16,000 tickets have already been sold. The sides which finish third in each group will progress along with the semi-finalists to the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria between 24 October and 15 November.