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The 2019/20 qualifying round draw has set the first steps on the road to Northern Ireland.
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The 2019/20 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying round draw has been made, involving 52 of the 54 entrants on the road to Northern Ireland.
The draw was made by John Delaney, chairman of the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee, and Ellery Balcombe,who received the 2018 U19 EURO Fair Play prize on behalf of last season's England team. The finals will act as Europe's qualifier for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Qualifying round draw
Group 1 (13–19 November): Turkey*, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Armenia
Group 2 (8–14 October): Spain, Serbia*, Romania, Lithuania
Group 3 (9–15 October): Germany, Scotland*, Belarus, Andorra
Group 4 (13–19 November): Greece, Belgium*, Iceland, Albania
Group 5 (13–19 November): Russia, Poland, Wales*, Kosovo
Group 6 (13–19 November): Italy*, Slovakia, Cyprus, Malta
Group 7 (9–15 October): Czech Republic*, Norway, Azerbaijan, San Marino
Group 8 (13–19 November): France, Denmark*, Finland, Faroe Islands
Group 9 (13–19 November): Ukraine, Sweden*, Slovenia, Estonia
Group 10 (13–19 November): Austria*, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Gibraltar
Group 11 (13–19 November): England, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia*, Luxembourg
Group 12 (8–14 October): Netherlands, Israel, Latvia*, Moldova
Group 13 (9–15 October): Croatia, Georgia, Hungary*, Kazakhstan
*Hosts
- The top two in every group, along with the third-placed team with the best record against the leading pair, will follow top seeds Portugal into the elite round in spring 2020.
- The seven elite round group winners will join hosts Northern Ireland in that July's finals.
How the draw worked
Draw procedure and seeding pots
Pot A: France, England, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Austria, Spain*, Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Croatia
Pot B: Slovakia, Sweden, Serbia*, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Georgia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Israel
Pot C: Hungary, Finland, Switzerland, Romania, Montenegro, Slovenia, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan*, Wales, Belarus, Iceland
Pot D: Lithuania, Kosovo*, Estonia, Moldova, Luxembourg, Albania, Malta, Armenia*, Andorra, Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar*, San Marino
*Based on previous decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee and UEFA Emergency Panel, these teams cannot be drawn together: Spain and Gibraltar, Serbia and Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Who was involved?
• Hosts Northern Ireland qualify directly for the final tournament in July 2020.
• Top seeds Portugal receive a bye to the elite round.
• The remaining 52 entrants start in the qualifying round where they have been split into 13 groups of four.
The draw
• There were four seeding pots in accordance with the coefficient rankings list, with the 13 countries with the highest ranking in Pot A, the next 13 in Pot B, and so on.
• Each group has one team from each pot, with hosts then appointed to stage the mini-tournaments in autumn 2019.