Under-17 entrants seek Serbia ticket

Serbia will host the 2010/11 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and the eight-month road to the final begins with the opening qualifying round games on Friday.

While Serbia are assured of their finals place, the 52 other UEFA members compete in two rounds of qualifying for the other seven berths. For the initial qualifying round they are split into 13 groups of four, played as one-venue mini-tournament. The first starts on Friday in Luxembourg, when the hosts joined by Scotland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Switzerland, one of the eight 2010 finalists.

England won the tournament in Liechtenstein in May and begin their title defence on 18 October in Group 3, taking on Poland, Sweden and hosts Georgia. The round concludes on 1 November with Group 9, staged by Cyprus and involving Italy, Slovenia and 2010 semi-finalists France.

The winners and second-placed sides from each section, together with the two third-placed sides with the best record against the leading pair in their pool, will qualify for the elite round draw on 30 November, beginning at 11.15CET. Scheduled for March 2011, the elite round  comprises seven groups of four with the winners joining Serbia in the finals scheduled for 3 to 15 May.