Iceland kick off against Belarus

Iceland make their UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals debut in Group A against a Belarus side who won plenty of admirers at the 2009 final tournament in Sweden.

• While this is Iceland's first finals fixture, Belarus are making their third appearance in the final phase. In 2004 they were third in Group A with four points, facing Italy (2-1), Croatia (1-1) and Serbia and Montenegro (1-2); two years ago they finished bottom of Group A, drawing 0-0 with Serbia but losing to hosts Sweden (1-5) and Italy (1-2).

• The two sides have never met before at U21 level; nor have they played in a competitive U17 or U19 game.

• Their only senior international men's game finished 2-0 to Belarus in a friendly at Ta' Qali, Malta, on 2 February 2008.

• Belarus are also unbeaten in competitive U16 and U18 matches between the countries. After emerging 3-2 winners from the only U16 game in September 2000, they recorded two draws in U18 qualifying, 1-1 in October 1998 and 0-0 in October 1995.

• Five two-legged ties have been played between clubs representing the two nations in UEFA club competition. The Belarusian side won the last four after KR Reykjavík had got the better of FC Slavia Mozyr in the first, a 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round tie.

• At the start of this season, FC Torpedo Zhodino eliminated Fylkir from the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League; two weeks later, FC BATE Borisov knocked FH Hafnarfjördur out of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

• BATE's Pavel Nekhaychik, Maksim Skavysh and Dmitri Baga came up against Iceland strikers Kolbeinn Sigthórsson and Johann Gudmundsson when the Belarusian champions met AZ Alkmaar in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Sigthórsson scored AZ's goal as they lost 4-1 in Belarus on 30 September 2010 and registered twice on 15 December as his side won 3-0 in the return fixture in Alkmaar.

Belarus news

• Belarus arrived on Wednesday in the Aarhus suburb of Carbo, their base for the tournament. They will train 15km away in Lynseng.

• Belarus concluded their tournament preparations with a training camp in Germany, where they enjoyed 8-1 and 8-0 victories against local amateur sides. However, they lost Vladimir Yurchenko to a knee injury, prompting Aleksandr Perepechko's addition to the squad.

• Midfielders Pavel Nekhaychik and Mikhail Gordeychuk are recovering from injuries but are hopeful of being fit for kick-off.

• Striker Andrei Voronkov joined up with the U21 side having featured in two UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers in the past week. He played for 90 minutes in the 1-1 draw against France before coming off at half-time in the 2-0 win against Luxembourg.

• Belarus coach Georgi Kondratyev feels well prepared having studied his team's Group A opponents in great detail. "They are like my relatives now, as I know almost everything about them," he said.

Iceland news

• The Iceland squad gathered on Tuesday following club and senior international commitments before flying to Copenhagen and taking a bus to Aalborg.

• Their arrival was delayed due to airline strikes, meaning Wednesday training was cancelled. Thursday morning's scheduled session was also called off due to heavy rain.

• Coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson remained upbeat despite the early disruptions to his plans. "There is no point moaning about that, we just keep being positive," he said.

• Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthórsson have been suffering from mild flu, while Rúrik Gíslason has picked up a knock, but all three are expected to have recovered by Saturday.