UEFA u-17 and u-19 European Championship draws made

Several Arsenal youngsters were watching on with interest this morning as the draws for the Elite Round Qualification for the 2009 UEFA u-19 and u-17 European Championships were made.

The finals of the u-19 tournament will take place in the Ukraine, and England, who could call upon four Arsenal players for the qualifiers, are in Group 6 along with Scotland, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rhys Murphy, Henri Lansbury and Gavin Hoyte are all regulars in Brian Eastick’s side, whilst Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has also featured this season.

Havard Nordtveit’s Norway are in Group 5 with France, Romania and Latvia, whilst Rui Fonte and Fran Merida have both been promoted to the u-21’s for their respective countries. Nacer Barazite’s Netherlands will take on Russia, Slovenia and Belarus. Francis Coquelin and Gilles Sunu currently represent France at u-18 level but could be promoted in time for these matches.

In the u-17 tournament, Emmanuel Frimpong and Luke Freeman will be looking to represent England, whilst Jack Wilshere could also feature. The Three Lions will face Portugal, Serbia and Hungary in a tough group. Oguzhan Ozyakup will captain the Netherlands side who are in Group 3 with Croatia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.

The draw for the finals of the u-21 finals also took place earlier this week and whilst there are no current Arsenal representatives in the England squad, there has been much speculation that Jack Wilshere could be promoted to Stuart Pearce’s side. He could be up against Fran Merida if he does because the Three Lions are in Group B along with Spain, Germany and Finland. The tournament will take place in Sweden in June.