U19 eyes on Polish prize

The eight countries who have qualified for the finals of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship will discover their opponents in the July tournament this afternoon when the draw takes place in the Polish city of Poznan.

Spain return
The host nation are joined in the finals by Spain, who were European champions at this level in 2002 and 2004, although they missed out on the 2005 finals in Northern Ireland. The Spanish were one of three teams to win all three fixtures in the Elite round, along with Group 2 winners Turkey - runners-up to the Spanish two summers ago and European U17 champions in 2005 - and Austria. Those three countries, together with Portugal, all reached the U17 finals in France two years ago.

Scottish delight
The country who went on to take the trophy in that competition, the French, were widely fancied to become the first team to complete a U17-U19 double, but lost out to Scotland in Group 3. The Scots therefore reach the final tournament for the first time since 1986, when it was a U18 event. Belgium and the Czech Republic also progressed to the draw, which will start at 13.45CET.

Poznan procedure
The draw will be held at the Działyńskich palace in Poznan and will be conducted by Milo Corcoran, a member of the UEFA Youth & Amateur Football Committee, together with former Polish international Grzegorz Lato.

Finals format
The eight qualifiers will be divided into two groups of four, with the four sides in each section then playing each other once in a round-robin format between 18 and 23 July. The top three in each section will qualify for next year's FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, but only the first two sides will reach the semi-finals, with the winners of one section playing the runners-up in the other on 26 July. The final will be held three days later at the Miejski stadium in Poznan.