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UNDER 17 CHAMPIONSHIP: Women's U17 qualifying begins in France

/noticias.info/ The second qualifying round of the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship gets under way in France today as the Group 2 hosts do battle with Scotland, Norway and the Republic of Ireland for a place in the inaugural finals.

Nyon finals
Sixteen teams remain in contention after the first qualifying round in the autumn, but only the winners of each four-team pool will progress to the finals in UEFA's Swiss hometown of Nyon from 20-23 May. Once a victor has emerged from Group 2 this week, Denmark will welcome Russia, Iceland and Finland in Group 4 from Monday 24 March, before England, the Netherlands and Belgium travel to the Czech Republic to begin their Group 1 tussle the following day. The last section to get under way, Group 3, sees Germany face Sweden, Poland and Switzerland on home soil from 10-15 April.

French dream
France already boast a fine record at U19 level, and while coach Gérard Sergent is dreaming of transfering that success to the U17 age group, he knows they have a tough qualifying programme to negotiate first. "We start by playing probably our toughest opponent, Norway," Sergent said. "We beat them 1-0 in our last encounter at the Nordic Cup, but a new generation has come through since then. We also defeated Ireland [3-0 in Dublin] in September 2007 and the girls know that against them, just like against Scotland, the games are always fully committed."

Added incentive
With the three best performers earning a place at the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in New Zealand, Sergent knows just how rewarding a good display at this summer's finals could be. "We're only thinking about sealing a place in the finals but we also know that a good campaign there would take us to New Zealand, which would be fabulous," he said.

Norway concern
Scotland, like France, won all their first qualifying round games, and they warmed up for this week's matches with a 0-0 draw against Finland. Norway, meanwhile, lost to Germany in the first stage, and a recent 5-1 defeat by the Netherlands has added to concern in their camp. Ireland, for their part, have been warming up for this week's games in Portugal after registering a 2-1 win, and a defeat by the same score, in their two games against Poland in February. notas_de_prensa_archivo