U19 hopefuls head for Prague

There will be a mixture of familiar faces and new names when the draw for the seventh UEFA European Under-19 Championship is held in Prague on Sunday evening.

Experience versus enthusiasm
Joining hosts the Czech Republic, who reached the semi-finals in 2003 and 2006, are four-time winners Spain, the first side to claim the U19 crown in successive seasons following their triumph in Linz, Austria, last July. Also involved are Germany, runners-up in 2002 and twice semifinalists, and 2007 finalists Greece. The last two berths were claimed on Saturday, with England – runners-up in 2005 but who have not qualified since then – drawing with Belarus to win Group 1 while Italy came out on top in the meeting of the only two sides other than Spain to win the U19 crown, defeating France 2-0 to win Group 6 and qualify for the first time since 2004. In contrast Hungary and Bulgaria are both in this final tournament for the first time, although the former did qualify for the European U17 Championship in 2006 and were European champions at U18 level in 1984.

Draw details
The draw, which starts at 20.00CET this evening, will split the eight finalists into two groups of four, with the tournament kicking off on 14 July. The top two teams in each section after all three group games have been played will progress to the semi-finals, to be played in Plzen and Mlada Boleslav on 23 July, with the final taking place in Jablonec three days later. Full coverage of the draw, and the final tournament, will be available on uefa.com.