Germany’s Under-21 national team were drawn in Group A for the 2015 European Championship on Thursday evening in Prague and will face hosts Czech Republic, Denmark and Serbia at the tournament next summer.
Horst Hrubesch, who was present during the draw, is happy with the result but showed respect towards all three of Germany’s group-stage opponents. “There are eight favourites to win the title. Serbia prevailed against defending champions Spain. Denmark had a very good qualifying campaign as well and the Czech Republic are playing in front of their home crowd. We are looking forward to the challenge,” said the U21s coach.
Pavel Nedvěd, who will be the tournaments ambassador, assisted the draw which saw Group B made up of England, Italy, Portugal and Sweden. The top two sides in each group will reach the semi-finals.
Despite winning the title in 2009, Germany were not seeded for the draw. Two years ago at EURO 2013, the DFB-Team failed to progress from their group ahead of the Netherlands and eventual winners Spain. They qualified for the 2015 competition, set to be held from 17th to 30th June, by beating Ukraine in the play-offs.
Four of the eight teams taking part will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. England are not eligible to qualify, as they will already be represented by the United Kingdom in Brazil. Should England reach the semi-finals, there will be a play-off between both groups’ third-placed teams on 27th June in Prague. A Germany side has not featured at the Olympic Games since 1988, when the DFB-Team managed to win the bronze medal with eventual World Cup winner and Germany manager Jürgen Klinsmann in their side.
Germany’s Under-21 national team were drawn in Group A for the 2015 European Championship on Thursday evening in Prague and will face hosts Czech Republic, Denmark and Serbia at the tournament next summer.
Horst Hrubesch, who was present during the draw, is happy with the result but showed respect towards all three of Germany’s group-stage opponents. “There are eight favourites to win the title. Serbia prevailed against defending champions Spain. Denmark had a very good qualifying campaign as well and the Czech Republic are playing in front of their home crowd. We are looking forward to the challenge,” said the U21s coach.
Pavel Nedvěd, who will be the tournaments ambassador, assisted the draw which saw Group B made up of England, Italy, Portugal and Sweden. The top two sides in each group will reach the semi-finals.
Despite winning the title in 2009, Germany were not seeded for the draw. Two years ago at EURO 2013, the DFB-Team failed to progress from their group ahead of the Netherlands and eventual winners Spain. They qualified for the 2015 competition, set to be held from 17th to 30th June, by beating Ukraine in the play-offs.
Four of the eight teams taking part will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. England are not eligible to qualify, as they will already be represented by the United Kingdom in Brazil. Should England reach the semi-finals, there will be a play-off between both groups’ third-placed teams on 27th June in Prague. A Germany side has not featured at the Olympic Games since 1988, when the DFB-Team managed to win the bronze medal with eventual World Cup winner and Germany manager Jürgen Klinsmann in their side.
