U-19 European Football Championship 2020

This article is about the men's championship. For the Women's European Championship, see U-19 Women's European Football Championship 2020 .

U-19 European Football Championship 2020
Number of nations	8  (of 53 applicants)
venue	Northern Ireland
Opening game	open
Endgame	open

The finals of the 36th European Under-19 Championship should take place in Northern Ireland from July 13th to 26th, 2020 . In light of the COVID-19 pandemic , the tournament was postponed indefinitely on April 1, 2020. A total of eight teams are to take part. The nominated players must have been born on January 1, 2001 or later. The five best participants will qualify to participate in the U20 World Cup in 2021 .

Award

In December 2016, the Executive Committee of the UEFA European Association awarded Northern Ireland the contract to host a European Under-19 Championship for the second time since 2005 .

qualification

The qualification for the tournament takes place in two stages. The first qualifying round, which will take place in autumn 2019, will be followed by a second round, known as the elite round, which will take place in spring 2020. Northern Ireland qualifies as a host directly.

First round

The draw for the first round took place on December 6, 2018 in Nyon . As the team with the best points in the three-year standings, Portugal received a bye for the elite round in advance, but European champions Spain did not. The remaining 52 participants were divided into 13 groups of four teams. The group first and second reached the elite round in spring 2020, as did the best group third.

Germany met Scotland , Belarus and Andorra in qualifying and were able to qualify for the elite round before the last matchday. Austria had to play against Ireland , Gibraltar and Switzerland , both Austria and Switzerland advanced. Luxembourg , however, fought unsuccessfully against England , Bosnia and North Macedonia for a ticket for the next round. Liechtenstein did not take part in the qualification.

Elite round

The draw for the elite round took place on December 3, 2019 in Nyon . In the elite round, the remaining teams are divided into seven groups of four teams. Each group plays a mini-tournament in one country. The seven group winners of the elite round qualify for the final round. The elite round should have taken place from March 25 to 31, 2020, but had to be postponed to a previously unknown period due to the global COVID-19 pandemic . In Group 1, which plays in Wales, Germany will face Austria and Serbia alongside the hosts. Switzerland plays in Group 7 against hosts Netherlands as well as the Czech Republic and Finland.

The draw resulted in the following groups:

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7
Austria	Spain 1	Georgia	England	Italy 1	Portugal	Netherlands 1
Wales 1	Belgium	Scotland	Ukraine	Norway	Turkey	Czech Republic
Germany	Bulgaria	France 1	Denmark 1	Iceland	Croatia 1	Switzerland
Serbia	North Macedonia	Russia	Latvia	Slovenia	Slovakia	Finland

¹ Host of the group tournament

Attendees

Host Northern Ireland is automatically seeded to head Group A for the final tournament. The other seven places go to the seven group winners of the elite round, which is still being played. The final round draw will take place after the elite qualifying round has been completed.

Web links

• UEFA EURO 2020 official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: U19 finals postponed
2. ↑ Armenia and Northern Ireland host U19 euros , de.uefa.com, accessed October 14, 2019
3. ↑ U19 qualifying round 2018/19 drawn , de.uefa.com, accessed on October 14, 2019
4. ↑ Under-19 elite round draw made , uefa.com, accessed December 11, 2019
5. ↑ Postponement of Youth tournaments , uefa.com, accessed April 9, 2020