Gearing up for Germany

Final in Bochum
The DFB, awarded the Under-21 final round by the UEFA Executive Committee at its meeting in Nyon, Switzerland last week, has earmarked Bochum, Oberhausen, Mainz and Mannheim as the four venues for the tournament. Bochum is scheduled as the venue for the final on 8 June, with Oberhausen staging the third-place play-off the same day.

Eight teams
Eight teams - Belarus, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Serbia and Montenegro - go into the hat for the draw in Frankfurt on 11 February next year. The draw will determine the two groups of four teams at the final round.

Germany and Italy seeded
Hosts Germany and four-times European Under-21 champions Italy will be seeded in the draw. Germany are seeded in Group B, with Mainz and Mannheim as the venues, while four-times European Under-21 champions Italy are the seeds in Group A, to be played in Bochum and Oberhausen.

Olympic qualifiers
Under the tournament format, the first and second-placed teams in each group will contest the semi-finals. The third/fourth place play-off will take place to determine the final European team for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The team finishing third will accompany the two Under-21 finalists and hosts Greece to the Olympics. The DFB says that tickets are likely to go on sale in March.

Great honour
"It's a great honour to be able to stage the final round in Germany," said DFB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder. The DFB has announced that its youth department head Bernd Barutta will be tournament director, with the DFB organising committee comprising treasurer Theo Zwanziger, general secretary Horst R Schmidt, director Bernd Pfaff and German Under-21 team delegation head Harald Strutz.