England get U21 ball rolling

The 42-game qualifying round for the 2006/07 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands begins tonight as two-time winners England tackle Moldova.

Home and away
Eight nations negotiated a preliminary round which concluded in June, swelling the qualifying round to 42 teams subsequently divided into 14 groups of three. Each side will play one home match and one away in their section, scheduled for 15/16 August, 1/2 September and 5/6 September. If two or more teams are level at the completion of the fixtures, goal difference will come into play followed by goals scored, away goals scored, higher number of coefficient points (from 2004/06 qualifying) and drawing of lots.

Nyon draw
The 14 section winners will advance to the final tournament play-offs. The draw for those seven ties takes place on 8 September at UEFA headquarters in Nyon (13.00CET) with the games arranged for 7/8 and 10/11 October. Should the matches be level after 180 minutes, away goals will come into effect. If they fail to produce a result, extra time (with away goals continuing to count double) and penalty kicks will.

Four venues
The draw for the eight-team final tournament will be held in Arnhem - one of four host cities for the finals along with Heerenveen, Groningen and Nijmegen - starting at 18.00CET on 24 November. Group games will provisionally be played at all four venues between 10 and 17 June 2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem staging a semi-final apiece three days later. The final will be on Saturday 23 June at FC Groningen's Euroborg, a stadium with a 20,000 capacity.

Olympic qualifying
This year's final round - which will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic football competition, with four European teams set to qualify for Beijing via the finals - is the first to fall in an odd year, with UEFA having decided to move the U21 showpiece to avoid clashes with the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship. The Netherlands will take the field in Heerenveen on Sunday 10 June as both hosts and holders, having defeated Ukraine 3-0 in the 2006 final in Porto.