UEFA U-19 Euro championship draw held
6.6.08, 10:37 by Yordan Tsirov
The draw for the finals of the UEFA U-19 European championship, due to be held in the Czech Republic this summer, was held in Prague on 31 May. Bulgaria was pitted against the lights of Spain, Germany and Hungary in Group "A". The finalists are also going to contest visas for the 2009 U-20 World Cup.



The hosts from the Czech Republic, as well as England, Greece and Italy make up the group "B" line-up. The matches from the group phase of the competition will be played between the 14th and 20th of July 2008. The winners and runners-up of group "A" are going to meet respectively the second and first placed teams from group "B" in the semi-finals on 23 July, the final scheduled for 26 July.

The top 6 teams at the finals are also going to qualify for the 2009 FIFA World Youth Cup in Egypt. Because of this, the third place spots in both groups also become valuable.

The uncontested favourites of group "A", as well as of the whole tournament are the team of Spain. The Spanish side is the reigning champion for a second year running now and has last tasted defeat some 22 matches ago, back in 2005.

Germany is the other obvious favourite in our group, reaching the semi-finals last year. Hungary is one of the surprise packages to reach the finals. They did so however by dispatching traditional powerhouse Portugal, beating them 1:0 in a decisive game, albeit on Hungarian soil.

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