WU19 EURO Group B preview

• Fixtures (CEST)

19 July: Austria v Switzerland (18:00, Myjava), Spain v Germany (18:00, Senica)
22 July: Spain v Austria (18:00, Myjava), Germany v Switzerland (18:00, Senica)
25 July: Switzerland v Spain (18:00, Myjava), Germany v Austria (18:00, Senica)

• Austria
  

Best performance: first final tournament
Qualifying round: Albania 8-1, Ukraine 1-0, Scotland 1-2 (Group 11 runners-up)
Elite round: England 0-1, Sweden 1-0, Belgium 2-0 (Group 2 winners)
Top scorers: Sarah Lackner, Nina Wasserbauer 3

Irene Fuhrmann, coach: "It's a really tough group, but it's an opportunity for our players to develop. It will be a great chance to play at this level. It's clear that other teams are favourites in this tournament, but we will try our best and enjoy the games. I hope we'll do a good job and be satisfied with ourselves at the end of the day. It's the first time Austria have qualified for these finals, but we're lucky because the girls also qualified for the 2013/14 Women's Under-17 finals in England, so they have some experience at this level. But still it remains a challenge."

• Germany

©Gábor Baricsa

Best performance: winners 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2011
Qualifying round: Hungary 2-0, Kazakhstan 7-0, Serbia 6-1 (Group 5 winners)
Elite round: Republic of Ireland 1-0, Poland 3-1, Azerbaijan 5-1 (Group 1 winners)
Top scorers: Stefanie Sanders 5

Kim Kulig, team manager: "It's a big challenge for us, but we want to accept it and take it step by step. Group B is very strong indeed, but if you want to have a big success, you have to beat them all in the end. In this group, I think there are no favourites. Anything can happen. Our goal is to reach the semi-finals first of all. Then we can think of the next step."

• Spain

Best performance: winners 2004
Qualifying round: bye
Elite round: Italy 3-0, Northern Ireland 7-1, Denmark 3-1 (Group 4 winners)
Top scorers: Maite Oroz, Nahikari García, Sandra Hernández 3

Francisco José Noguera, team manager: "We play an exciting opening game against Germany. It's very important to qualify and keep the continuity. Girls can learn a lot at this age from big tournaments like this one. It's very difficult to talk about our ambitions. All the qualified teams have their strengths. We set ourselves small goals, we take it match by match and we will see how we deliver.

It's crucial to gain experience from tournaments like this one. The girls are on the verge; the next category for them is the senior team. We would be happy to win the trophy, but it's not always possible. Both our girls' and boys' U17 teams lost on penalties in the finals this year. Sometimes you need luck as well."

• Switzerland

©Gábor Baricsa

Best performance: semi-finals 2009, 2011
Qualifying round: Greece 7-0, Georgia 23-0, Iceland 2-0 (Group 1 winners)
Elite round: Norway 2-2, Hungary 4-0, Russia 1-0 (Group 6 winners)
Top scorers: Julia Glaser 7

Nora Häuptle, coach: "We are a small country, excited to play these bigger countries in our group. We of course have our dreams. If we want to win the trophy, we have to beat everyone, so it's better to beat these big teams in the group stage. I have a very young squad with experience from last year's Women's U17 finals. We always say we are limitless. We have a pretty strong team, so yes, we are confident ahead of the finals."