Irish underage teams handed tough draws
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The draws for the UEFA U17 and U19 Elite Qualifying Phase where made on Tuesday at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland and both Irish teams have been handed tough groups.
U19 Ireland manager Paul Doolin will travel to Portugal to face Israel, Portugal and Ukraine from May 23-28. Only the top team will progress to the finals which take place in Estonia in July. The eight team finals will also act as a qualifier for the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup in Turkey.
Elsewhere, John Morling's U17 team will face a stern challenge in their bid to qualify for the eight team finals in Slovenia in May 2012. They have been drawn against the European Champions Netherlands, Serbia and Albania. The Elite Qualifying phase will take place in the Netherlands from March 22-27 and again only one team will progress to the finals.
Meanwhile, the draw for the 2012/13 first qualifying phase for the U17 and U19 UEFA Championships were also made in UEFA headquarters today. The Irish U17 team will begin their campaign in October 2012 and will travel to Macedonia where they will face Romania, Sweden and hosts Macedonia while the U19 team will travel to Luxembourg where they will meet Germany Macedonia and Luxembourg which will also take place on October 2012. The top two teams in each first qualifying group will advance to the elite qualifying phase.
UEFA U19 elite qualifying phase – Group 4
Portugal (Hosts)
Ukraine
Republic of Ireland
Israel
(To be played 23-28 May)
UEFA U17 elite qualifying phase – Group 5
Serbia
Netherlands (Hosts)
Republic of Ireland
Albania
(To be played 22-27 March)
