England

In Liechtenstein last year England won the UEFA European Under-17 Championship for the first time with a 2-1 defeat of Spain; they qualified to defend their title by an indentical scoreline against the same nation in their elite round decider in Belgium. That stretched their unbeaten run in the tournament to 17 games, though unlike last year England have actually been denied victory in one match, held 1-1 by Georgia in the qualifying round.

Captain Nathaniel Chalobah, the Chelsea FC defender, remains from last year's squad. Succeeding the likes of Connor Wickham and Joshua McEachran from the class of 2010 are top scorer Hallam Hope, midfielder Raheem Sterling – who travelled with Liverpool FC to their UEFA Europa League tie at AC Sparta Praha – and winger Nathan Redmond, who has already made his Birmingham City FC debut. Manager John Peacock is in his seventh final tournament in nine seasons.

Qualifying round: Sweden 3-0, Georgia 1-1, Poland 1-0 (Group 3 winners)

Elite round: Northern Ireland 3-2, Belgium 2-1, Spain 2-1 (Group 5 winners)

Key players
Nathaniel Chalobah (defender, Chelsea FC), Hallam Hope (forward, Everton), Raheem Sterling (midfielder, Liverpool FC)

Coach: John Peacock

Date of Birth: 27 March 1956
Nationality: English
Playing career: Scunthorpe United FC
Coaching career: England U16, Derby County FC (academy), England U17/U20

Peacock, who led England to their first U17 title last season, was previously a player with Scunthorpe before injury ended his career aged 24 in 1980. He qualified as a coach three years later and spent eight years at the Football Association (FA) in a variety of roles, including with the England U16 team. In 1998 he took charge of Derby's academy, and in four years where the scheme massively expanded in size produced nine first-team players and 14 youth internationals.

It was appropriate he was then appointed by the FA to be the England U17 coach in 2002, later landing the U20 role. He has only twice missed out on the U17 finals since, finishing runners-up in 2007, also qualifying for a FIFA U-17 World Cup debut and making the last eight, and winning in Liechtenstein in 2010. Since 2007 Peacock has also been the FA's head of coaching and is among a very small number of Englishmen to hold the FA Academy Directors' Licence and UEFA Pro Licence.

He is a believer in a holistic approach, interested in educational and welfare provision for young players as well as improving their footballing ability − while at Derby his brightest charges studied for the UK's A-level exams (for 18-year-olds) at the prestigious Repton public school.

Team facts

Qualifying top scorer
Hallam Hope: 4

UEFA European Under-17 Championship best
Winners 2010

Honours in UEFA youth competitions
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Runners-up 2005, 2009
UEFA European Under-18 Championship
Winners 1993
International Youth Tournament (U18)
Winners 1948, 1963, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1980
Runners-up 1958, 1965, 1967