Nordic nations in exciting opener

By Kevin Ashby

Two of this continent's great women's football nations, Sweden and Denmark, will meet when 2005/06 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship qualifying gets under way today.

Ten groups
While the hosts Switzerland are guaranteed a place and three of the four previous winners at U19 level - France, Germany and holders Spain - had a bye to the second qualifying round, the other 40 entrants were split into two seeding pots and drawn into ten groups, each containing a pair of teams from each pot.

Mini-tournaments
Among the 20 top seeds were Hungary, the 2004/05 hosts who found themselves in Group 1 along with Belgium, Greece and Bulgaria. In addition to the Sweden-Denmark fixture in Group 3, there were a number of other derbies, with England facing Scotland in Group 4 and Serbia and Montenegro and F.Y.R. Macedonia drawn in Group 8.

Holders Russia
There will also be plenty of interest in Group 6 where the holders Russia will tackle Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Georgia. Once the first qualifying round groups are played between 27 September-1 October, the top two from each section plus the five best third-placed sides will join France, Germany and Spain in being drawn into seven pools of four.

Spring date
The winners of these groups, to be contested in spring 2006, will take a place in Switzerland the following summer.