UEFA Under 21 Draws on Friday: Malta’s possible opponents in preliminary round known

Malta Independent Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 00:00 Last update: about 22 years ago

Apart from the Euro 2004 draw in Montreux on Friday, there will also be the draw for the Under 21 championship which, as from this year, will have a new format.

Under the new format, Malta will be playing first in the preliminary round where it could be drawn against one of the teams shown in Pot D. If it wins, it will be placed in Pot C as one of the pairings 1-8, winners of a preliminary round tie.

Preliminary round

Of UEFA’s 52 member associations, only the Faroe Islands will be missing from the ceremony at the Raffles Le Montreux Palace. Holland, as hosts, have already qualified and will therefore play no part in a draw that will initially see the 16 lowest-ranked nations divided into eight matches for the preliminary round. The winners of these eight ties, to be contested on a home-and-away basis, will advance to the group stage.

Group stage

Teams in the group stage will be split into three pots: Pot C will contain the eight winners from the preliminary round plus the sides ranked 29-34; Pot B has teams from 15-28 in the coefficient list, including a Ukraine side who will compete in this summer’s finals in Portugal; Pot A contains the top 14 teams, including holders Italy and five other sides who will vie for continental glory in Portugal in June.

Final tournament

The teams will then be divided into 14 groups of three, with the group winners progressing to a play-off series from which seven countries will join the Dutch in the final tournament. Matches in the preliminary round must be played before 15 July, while games in the group stage are scheduled for 16 August, 2/3 September and 5/6 September. After the 2007 finals, the tournament will be played every two years.

Pots for preliminary round

Pot D: Wales, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Georgia, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, N. Ireland.

Pot E: Malta, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Luxembourg, Andorra, Lichtenstein.

Pots for group stage

Pot A: Portugal, France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Norway.

Pot B: Poland, England, Sweden, Hungary, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece, Israel, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, Lithuania.

Pot C: Scotland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Albania, Pairings 1 to 8 from preliminary round matches.