All set for Under-21 draw

Follows closely senior draw
Europarque in Santa Maria da Feira, Porto will stage the draw and the division of the associations into ten groups for the U-21 event will follow closely the split for the senior qualifying tournament. But where the EURO 2004™ qualifiers will comprise ten groups of five teams each, the U-21 competition will have eight groups of five and two groups of four.

Portugal must be added
The starting point for the U-21 draw will be the ten groups drawn for the senior event. However, as the Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein and Andorra have no U-21 sides these countries will be removed from their respective groups. Then Portugal will be added to one of the three groups reduced to four teams, as their senior side are not in the draw for EURO 2004™ given their direct entry into the final round as the host country.

Drawn from hat
To decide which group the Portuguese will contest, there will be three balls representing the three relevant groups and they will be assigned to whichever one is drawn.

Teams to watch
Italy are Europe's reigning U-21 champions after winning the 2000 final tournament in Slovakia. Switzerland will host the 2002 finals which will be contested from 16-28 May. The eight participating teams are Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Portugal, Greece, Belgium and Czech Republic.