Two months after finishing their group fixtures, the Under 19s can now finally celebrate a passage through to the second round of Euro qualification. After finishing in third spot, due to an inferior head to head goal difference record against Poland and Estonia, the Azzurrini were forced to wait to know their fate until the group stages had been completed. The announcement came late yesterday evening that they had finished as the best third-placed team, after France had beaten Scotland in Group 8, leaving the French top with maximum points and Iceland second with six points; Scotland finished third with three. The draw is set to take place in Nyon on 8 December at 13:00 CET.

"Qualification is thoroughly deserved," - said Coach Alberto Bollini, "because we showed great character to come back after the defeat to Estonia and end the group as we did. Since we started our journey, I've seen the group's togetherness and their development grow stronger every day; playing our group games in September definitely penalised us, also because these lads have lost opportunities to measure themselves at this level. For example, they weren't able to play the Euro Under-17 tournament because it was postponed due to COVID. Now we move forward and continue to trust in our work knowing that we have something to aim towards in March."

A similar situation to Italy's group was also found in Group 11 that saw Croatia, Israel and Finland all finish on six points yesterday. Finishing third, the Finnish had an inferior goal difference of -3 in their head to head record against first and second in the group, having been beaten 4-0 by Israel but beating Croatia 2-1. Italy, meanwhile, ended with a -1 goal difference against Poland and Estonia, having lost 2-0 to the Estonians but beating the Poles 1-0, thanks to Vignato's penalty in the dying stages of the game played on 27 September. The third-placed teams in Groups 3 and 10, who will conclude their fixtures today, cannot reach either first or second place, nor can they draw level with Italy's goal difference, meaning that the Azzurrini will take part in the next phase in March for a place in the Finals in Malta from 3 to 16 July 2023.