Live

OTB Gold

01:00 PM-02:00 PM

OTB Gold
Advertisement
Soccer

Ireland drawn with Germany Under-21s in Euro 2019 qualification

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 have learned their draw for the 2019 Under-21 qualifying group s...



Ireland drawn with Germany Und...
Soccer

Ireland drawn with Germany Under-21s in Euro 2019 qualification

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 have learned their draw for the 2019 Under-21 qualifying group stage which was made in Nyon this morning.

Noel King's side have been grouped with Germany, Norway, Israel, Azerbaijan and Kosovo. The Kosovans will come to Ireland for the opening fixture in Group 5 on March 25th.

The nine qualifying groups for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Italy and San Marino include a record 54 teams and the nine group winners will qualify automatically for the finals. The four runners-up with the best records against teams first, third, fourth and fifth in their group will go into the play-offs and be drawn into two ties to decide the last pair of qualifiers.

"Germany are a torment for any team but when is it ever an easy draw? In the last qualifiers they played ten and won ten. We have played well against them in the past without getting a point but some of our underage teams over the years have got results against them," said King.

"The rest of the teams in the group are no mugs. Norway are a huge challenge, Israel are an excellent side and Azerbaijan beat Russia 3-0 in the last competition. Kosovo are a new team and I'm sure they will be very patriotic so will be a tough test for everybody. 

"We feel we can be competitive in this group. I feel there are teams we can beat in this group and I include Germany in that - on the right day obviously.

"We've an opening game against Kosovo and that'll be their first ever U21 game so it's going to be tough. It's a new campaign - everybody has to be up for it. We’ve retained a lot of players from the last campaign, six or seven of them have that experience which is a new one, and we've got to be positive going into a campaign."

The fixtures have been provisionally agreed as follows: 

2017

March 25: Ireland v Kosovo

September 5: Azerbaijan v Ireland

October 5: Ireland v Norway

October 9/10 (TBC): Ireland v Israel

November 14: Norway v Ireland

2018

March 27: Ireland v Azerbaijan

September 7: Kosovo v Ireland

September 11: Ireland v Germany

October 11: Israel v Ireland

October 16: Germany v Ireland

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Soccer