Road to 2011 finals starts in Aarhus

The Musikhuset in Aarhus will be the venue for the 2009/11 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying draw on Wednesday 4 February 2009, with teams from all UEFA member nations focused on a place in the finals in Denmark.

Competition structure
With Denmark automatically qualifying for the finals in June 2011 as hosts, the remaining 52 teams will be drawn into ten groups - eight with five teams and two with six - with the nations allocated to five draw pots in accordance with their coefficient ranking. Group stage matches will be played according to a standard, home-and-away, league system, kicking off on 28/29 March 2009 and concluding with the final matches in all ten groups on 7 September 2010.

Play-off stage
The ten group winners and the four best runners-up at the end of the group stage will move on to the play-off for the final tournament, with the winners of those seven two-legged ties joining hosts Denmark in the final tournament. Since they are competing in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup next October, Spain, England, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary will all be allocated to five-team qualifying groups and cannot be forced to play games in the tournament in October 2009.

Draw process
Each pot contains ten teams, apart from Pot E which contains the 12 lowest ranked sides in the competition. One team from each of the five pots will be in each of the ten qualifying groups, with Groups 1 and 2, the ones featuring six teams, both having an additional team from Pot E. The pots will be drawn in reverse alphabetical order, with Pot E first and Pot A last.

Based on the coefficient ranking (see paragraphs 7.02-7.05 of the competition regulations), the teams have been allocated to the five draw pots as follows:-
A: Spain*, England*, Italy*, Germany*, Serbia, France, Austria, Turkey, Israel, Russia.
B: Belarus, Czech Republic*, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Wales, Switzerland, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia.
C: Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland. Hungary*, Greece, Norway, Moldova, Armenia, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland.
D: Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Albania, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Iceland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro.
E: Cyprus, Georgia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Andorra, Faroe Islands, Estonia, Malta, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg.

*Teams to be drawn in five-team groups, and excused from playing competitive games in October 2009