Before a ball is kicked in the of the European U21 Championship in Slovenia and Hungary, which will begin with the group stage at the end of March, the qualification groups for the next EUROs in Romania and Georgia in 2023 have been announced. Stefan Kuntz’s side will be up against some interesting sides in Group B as they will take on Poland, Israel, Hungary, Latvia and San Marino.
“It is an exciting group for our new U21s to look forward to from September. We have the clear goal of asserting ourselves and qualifying or the finals tournaments in Georgia and Romania in 2023,” said Stefan Kuntz. “We’re looking forward to each match-up. It’s a mix of teams like Poland and Israel who we’ve met in the past few years, as well as other teams like San Marino and Latvia who will be new opponents for us. In addition to these teams there’s Hungary, who we’ll be facing in March in the European Championship group stage.”
The draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland and saw eight groups of six teams and one group of five drawn. Romania and Georgia have automatically qualified for the tournaments as host nations. The nine group winders and the best second-placed team will qualify directly for the finals, with the other eight second-placed teams heading into a play-off for the final four tickets. Due to its high coefficient ranking, Germany was seeded first for the group draw.
Qualification Groups
Group A
Croatia
Austria
Norway
Finland
Azerbaijan
Estonia
Group B
Germany
Poland
Israel
Hungary
Latvia
San Marino
Group C
Spain
Russia
Slovakia
Northern Ireland
Lithuania
Malta
Group D
Portugal
Greece
Iceland
Belarus
Cyprus
Liechtenstein
Group E
Netherlands
Switzerland
Bulgaria
Wales
Moldova
Gibraltar
Group F
Italy
Sweden
Ireland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Montenegro
Luxembourg
Group G
England
Czech Republic
Slovenia
Albania
Kosovo
Andorra
Group H
France
Serbia
Ukraine
North Macedonia
Faroe Islands
Armenia
Group I
Denmark
Belgium
Turkey
Scotland
Kazakhstan