2021/22 Women's U19 round 1 draw made

The draw for round 1 of the new UEFA Nations League-style UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship has been made, with a record 52 teams involved including debutants Andorra.

The new format replaces the old qualifying and elite rounds, still featuring one-venue mini-tournaments but now including two leagues with promotion and relegation leading to the 2022 finals in the Czech Republic (who will compete in the two rounds before automatically progressing to the final tournament). The competition returns after the 2019/20 and 2020/21 editions were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• HOW THE NEW SYSTEM WORKS

Round 1 draw

LEAGUE A

Group A1: Netherlands, Scotland, Austria, Ukraine

Group A2: France (holders), Sweden, Iceland, Serbia

Group A3: Germany, Belgium, Russia, Slovenia

Group A4: Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Turkey

Group A5: Switzerland, England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland

Group A6: Spain, Czech Republic (finals hosts), Portugal, Slovakia

Group A7: Norway, Italy, Poland, Azerbaijan

LEAGUE B

Group B1: Belarus, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Cyprus

Group B2: Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Kazakhstan

Group B3: Wales, Albania, Moldova, Andorra

Group B4: Israel, Romania, Georgia, Malta

Group B5: Croatia, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein

Group B6: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Estonia, Armenia

Group dates/hosts tbc: matches between 14 and 21 September or 19 and 26 October.

Competition system

Round 1 will decide which teams are promoted and relegated ahead of round 2 in spring 2022.

Promotion

• From League B to A: the six group winners plus best runner-up.

Relegation

• From League A to B: the seven teams ranked fourth in their groups.

The round 2 draw will be held in late 2021, with the seven League A group winners in the spring joining the Czechs in the finals from 27 June to 9 July 2022. There will also be promotion and relegation between Leagues A and B ahead of round 1 for the 2022/23 edition. Seedings for the round 2 draw will be determined by the positions in which each team finishes in round 1.

Draw procedure

In Round 1, the 52 entrants were split into League A (28 teams) and League B (24 teams) based on the Women's U19 coefficient rankings determined by performances in the competition from 2015/16–2018/19. All teams were drawn into groups of four within their leagues (seven groups in League A, six in League B).

Within each league, teams were allocated to four pots (League A – seven in each, Pots 1 to 4; League B – six in each, Pots 5 to 8). Every group contained one team from each of the relevant pots.

As decided by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, the following pairs of countries could not be drawn into the same group: Russia and Ukraine; Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Hosts will be appointed after the draw for each mini-tournament, to be played between 14 and 21 September or 19 and 26 October.

Round 1 draw: Leagues and seeding pots

League A

Pot 1: Spain, France (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark

Pot 2: England, Italy, Finland, Scotland, Belgium, Czech Republic (finals hosts), Sweden

Pot 3: Republic of Ireland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, Russia

Pot 4: Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Ukraine, Azerbaijan

League B

Pot 5: Greece, Belarus, Wales, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia

Pot 6: Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Kosovo

Pot 7: Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Georgia, Estonia

Pot 8: Malta, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Liechtenstein, Andorra