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A few familiar opponents for Republic of Ireland Under-21s

The Republic of Ireland under-21s have been drawn in a qualifying group with Italy, Sweden, Bosni...



A few familiar opponents for R...
Soccer

A few familiar opponents for Republic of Ireland Under-21s

The Republic of Ireland under-21s have been drawn in a qualifying group with Italy, Sweden, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro and Luxembourg for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Ireland were in a group with Italy, Sweden and Luxembourg in the last campaign and finished third behind Italy and Iceland.

The 53 teams will compete from March for 14 places alongside tournament co-hosts Georgia and Romania, who qualify automatically for the finals in the summer of 2023.

Thursday's draw split the teams into eight groups of six and one of five. The nine group winners and the best runner-up (not counting results against sixth-placed teams) will qualify directly for the final tournament.

The other eight runners-up will play off for the remaining four finals berths in September.

Ireland have never qualified for the European Under-21 Championships but were in a strong position to end that run in the last campaign.

Stephen Kenny took charge for the majority of the campaign before Jim Crawford stepped into the role when Kenny became manager of the senior team.

Ireland took maximum points off Sweden and Luxembourg in the group and were beaten 2-0 away to Italy in October 2020 after the two sides played out a scoreless draw in Tallaght earlier in the group.

2021-23 Under-21 EURO qualifying draw

Group A: Croatia, Austria, Norway, Finland, Azerbaijan, Estonia

Group B: Germany, Poland, Israel, Hungary*, Latvia, San Marino

Group C: Spain, Russia, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Malta

Group D: Portugal, Greece, Iceland*, Belarus, Cyprus, Liechtenstein

Group E: Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Moldova, Gibraltar

Group F: Italy, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Luxembourg

Group G: England, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Albania, Kosovo, Andorra

Group H: France, Serbia, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Faroe Islands, Armenia

Group I: Denmark, Belgium, Turkey, Scotland, Kazakhstan

The games will take place between March 2021 and June 2022

 

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2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship FAI Georgia Jim Crawford Republic Of Ireland Romania UEFA