Austria

Austria played all six of their qualifiers at home and took full advantage, eventually topping their elite round group with a final day 2-1 win against 2012 semi-finalists Georgia, all four sides in the section having kicked off level on three points.

VfB Stuttgart's Adrian Grbic scored one and made the other against Georgia, and said: "We are absolutely thrilled to go to the finals in Slovakia! We have given everything and never lost sight of our goal. The team deserves to have made the finals."

Grbic is part of a strong central midfield, the heart of this Austrian side. Next to him is Sascha Horvath, who is already playing for FK Austria Wien. They are hoping that the talented Valentino Lazaro, who has already made Bundesliga appearances for FC Salzburg, recovers in time from a metatarsal fracture.

Qualifying round: Cyprus 0-0, Faroe Islands 6-0, Switzerland 1-1 (Group 6 runners-up)

Elite round: Republic of Ireland 0-1, Serbia 1-0, Georgia 2-1 (Group 2 winners)

Key players
Adrian Grbic (forward, VfB Stuttgart), Sascha Horvath (midfielder, FK Austria Wien), Tobias Pellegrini (forward, FAL Linz)

Coach: Hermann Stadler

Date of Birth: 21 May 1961
Nationality: Austrian
Playing career:  Oberndorfer SK, SV Austria Salzburg (twice), SK Rapid Wien, SK Linz
Coaching career: SV Austria Salzburg (youth), Austria U15-U20

Having started his career at Oberndorfer, aged 18 he moved to Salzburg (then known as FC Salzburg) and four years later to Rapid, where he spent most of the rest of his playing days. He won the 1987/88 double with Rapid and returned to then second-tier Salzburg where he helped win promotion and then two titles. He scored his most important  Salzburg goal in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup semi-final second leg at Karlsruher SC, in a 1-1 draw which which helped them reach the decider, where they lost 2-0 against FC Internazionale Milano.

Ending his career in 1996 with 380 Bundesliga games and 38 goals, he became a youth coach at Salzburg, holding a number of different positions. In 2007 he joined the Austrian national youth setup, initially coaching the hosts at the UEFA European U19 Championship finals of that year. Staying with the squad as U20s until the following summer, he has since led teams at all age groups down to U15s.

Team records

Qualifying top scorer
 Adrian Grbic 4

UEFA European Under-17 Championship best
Third place: 2004

Honours in UEFA youth competitions
UEFA European Under-16 Championship
Runners-up: 1997
International Youth Tournament (U18)
Winners: 1950, 1957
Runners-up: 1951