The UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite round draw has set seven groups for the mini-tournaments to be played from 22 to 28 March, with the section winners to join hosts Malta in the finals from 3 to 16 July.

The draw was made by Timotej Jambor, captain of the Slovakia squad in the 2022 finals, who received the Respect Fair Play prize on behalf of his team.

In the elite round, the 27 teams that emerged from the qualifying round join top seeds Portugal, who enter at this stage.

Elite round groups (22–28 March)

Group 1: France (hosts), Romania, Norway, Northern Ireland

Group 2: Germany (hosts), Slovenia, Belgium, Italy

Group 3: Ukraine, Spain (hosts), Denmark, Luxembourg

Group 4: Portugal (hosts), Croatia, Czechia, Sweden

Group 5: Republic of Ireland (hosts), Greece, Estonia, Slovakia

Group 6: Serbia, Poland (hosts), Israel, Latvia

Group 7: England (holders/hosts), Türkiye, Iceland, Hungary

• The group winners qualify to join hosts Malta in the finals.

Meet the teams

• England beat Israel in the 2022 final to win their second U19 title (third including the previous U18 EURO). France and Italy were beaten semi-finalists with hosts Slovakia, Romania, Austria and Serbia also involved in the finals. Israel and Serbia drew 2-2 in the group stage while France beat Romania 2-1.

• Other former U19 champions (since 2001/02) involved are Spain (8 titles), France (3), Germany (2), Italy (1), Portugal (1), Serbia (1) and Ukraine (1).

• France and Spain are aiming to extend their records of qualifying 12 times since the switch to U19 classification.

• Denmark, Iceland, Latvia and Luxembourg are aiming to join Malta in making their U19 finals debut. Estonia and Northern Ireland have only ever previously competed in the finals as hosts.

Draw procedure

• Seeding pots were formed in accordance with the coefficient rankings list (based on qualifying round positions, then results).

• Qualifying round group winners could not in principle be drawn to face the runners-up from the same group. There was no protection with regard to Italy, who finished third in their qualifying round group.

• After the groups were formed, hosts were appointed to stage the mini-tournaments.

Seeding pots

Pot A: Portugal, Germany, Ukraine, England (holders), France, Serbia, Republic of Ireland

Pot B: Spain, Greece, Romania, Croatia, Poland, Türkiye, Slovenia

Pot C: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Iceland

Pot D: Luxembourg, Northern Ireland, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden, Italy