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.
Confirmed | #IRLU21 have been draw in Group F for the 2021-2023 Under-21 Qualifiers against:
▪️Italy 🇮🇹
▪️Sweden 🇸🇪
▪️Bosnia & Herzegovina 🇧🇦
▪️Montenegro 🇲🇪
▪️Luxembourg 🇱🇺
The games will take place between March 2021 and June 2022#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/jCQRvGkHnr— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) January 28, 2021
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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