Denmark provides new horizon for U21 teams

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals may be less than three months away but qualifying matches for the 2011 tournament in Denmark begin over the next seven days involving 16 sides not travelling to Sweden for this summer's showpiece.

Four venues
The Group 3 contest between Wales and Luxembourg on Friday kicks off the qualifying round, from which 52 nations are striving to reach host venues Arhus, Aalborg, Herning and Viborg for the finals, staged from 12 to 25 June 2011. With Denmark already assured of their place as the home nation, the other countries were drawn into ten qualifying groups – eight with five teams and two with six – in February.

Play-off stage
The ten eventual group winners and four best runners-up at the end of the qualifying round will proceed to the play-offs for the final tournament, with the winners of those seven two-legged ties securing berths for Denmark. Spain, England, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary were allocated to five-team groups and will not play qualifying games in October 2009 as they are competing in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Details of all fixtures taking place in the qualifying round can be found here.