2020 Elite-round draws: Three Hungary teams involved

2019. december. 14., 22:33 |

The draw for the European Championship Elite-round qualification stages for men's youth national teams has taken place in UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. With Hungary's U19 team not having progressed past the first round, there were three age groups with an interest in the draw. In spring, our U17s will host their qualification group.

First up was the draw for the first qualification stage for the Under-19 European Championships in 2021, which for Hungary will likely feature many of this year's FIFA U17 World Cup squad. Our national team will play their qualifiers in Norway from 7th to 13th October against the hosts as well as Iceland and Andorra.

Our U17 national team was seeded first in the draw based on its performances in recent years, but it still had a tough opponent (Pál Dárdai's middle son, Martin Dárdai, who is a midfielder for Germany, pulled the names out of the hat): This age group, of players born in 2004, will take on their peers from Switzerland, Belarus and hosts Luxembourg.

Before that, the U17 national team led by Antal Németh is due to contest March's qualifying Elite round, where France, Sweden and Norway will be their three opponents. This mini-tournament will take place in Hungary from 25th to 31st March. In addition to the first place finishers in each group, the seven top 2nd-placed teams from the across the eight groups will also qualify for next summer's European Championship in Estonia.

The U19 European Championship will be the last one to feature the current qualification system before the 2022 European Championship competition takes on a new qualification format. The new qualifying system is similar to that of the Nations League at full international level; teams will compete in three leagues (the leagues are based on the UEFA co-efficient of the national teams) - four divisions in League A, three in League B and two in League C. At the end of each set of mini-tournaments, the top-placed teams in leagues B and C will be promoted to the next league up, while those finishing bottom of the divisions in the A and B leagues will be relegated to the next one down. At the end of the fourth set of mini-tournaments, the best teams from League A will secure their places in the European Championship tournament proper (the five group winners and the best two runners-up will join hosts Slovakia in the finals).

There are 20 teams in League A (five groups of four teams), 16 in League B (four groups of four teams) and the rest in League C.

The Hungarian national team (the current U17 team born in 2003 which will compete in the Elite round in March) will start playing in League B next autumn, a campaign which will last a year and a half. Next November, Romania, Cyprus and Iceland will comprise Hungary U19's three opponents with the tournament finals due to be hosted by Cyprus.

The 2020 U19 European Championship Qualifying Dates:

Round 1: by November 2020
Round 2: by June 8th 2020
Round 3: September or October 2021
Round 4: March 2022

Final: July 2022

RESULTS OF THE DRAWS:
U17 European Championship Elite round 2020. Host: Hungary (March 25-31, 2020)

1. France
2. Sweden
3. Norway
4. Hungary

2021 U17 European Championship first qualifying round. Host: Luxembourg (November 11-17, 2020)

1. Hungary
2. Switzerland
3. Belarus
4. Luxembourg

2019 U19 European Championship first qualifying round. Host: Norway (October 7-13, 2020)

1. Norway
2. Hungary
3. Iceland
4. Andorra

2022 U19 European Championship first qualifying group, League B. Host: Cyprus (10-16 November)

1. Hungary
2. Romania
3. Cyprus
4. Iceland