France prevail as Wales equal record

A familiar name came to France's rescue as the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship first qualifying round got under way while Wales equalled a competition record.

Three months after setting France on course for victory against England in the 2010 final, Rose Lavaud struck seven minutes from time as the holders beat Slovenia 1-0 in Group 6. Coach Jean-Michel Degrange will expect an easier afternoon on Monday when his side take on a Georgia team smarting from a massive loss to Wales. Emily Brown and Hannah Keryakoplis both hit four, Josephine Green three to help equal the 21-0 defeat Georgia endured against Russia five years ago.

It was much tighter in Group 5, with Switzerland indebted to a last-minute winner from Cinzia Jörg as they beat the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 3-2. Elsewhere Scotland were surprisingly held 3-3 by Serbia but big wins were the order of the day. Ellen Jansen scored four as last season's semi-finalists the Netherlands started with a 9-1 victory against the Faroe Islands. Their next opponents, Belarus, lost 8-0 to Norway while a hat-trick apiece from Viktória Nagy and Lilla Sipos helped Hungary to a 7-0 win against Latvia.

The top two from each of the 11 first qualifying round groups go through to join top seeds Germany in the next stage along with the third-placed team with the best record against the leading pair in their section. Matches continue on Monday – follow it all live on UEFA.com.