Slovakia, Spain and Romania. These will be the opponents of the Italy Under-21 team in Group A of the finals of the Under-21 European Championship scheduled in Slovakia from 11 to 28 June. Italy, who started in the second group in the draw in Bratislava, has therefore drawn the hosts, in addition to the European runners-up, Spain, and Romania, who will be the first opponent of Carmine Nunziata's team on Wednesday, June 11 in Trnava. The Azzurrini's path will continue at the Anton Malatinský Stadium on Saturday 14 against Slovakia and on Tuesday 17 against Spain (timings will be released in the next few hours), with two places up for grabs for the quarter-finals.

The draw was conducted by two familiar names in Italian football: former Inter and Parma player Vratislav Greško, and another former Gialloblù, AC Milan and Genoa player, Juraj Kucka.

‘We knew we would draw a top team, and perhaps we drew the worst, Spain,' said Nunziata. 'For the rest, I believe that at this point of the competition there are no easy opponents: we will face the hosts Slovakia, which will be supported by the whole stadium, and we will open our campaign against a dangerous team like Romania. The positive element is certainly that we can play the three group matches in the same stadium, thus limiting travel.’

SLOVAKIA Slovakia will host the finals of the Under-21 European Championship as it did in 2000, when Italy won the title beating the Czech Republic in the final thanks to Andrea Pirlo's double. Coached by Jaroslav Kentos, they have a fourth-place finish in 2000 as their best result; their last appearance in the finals was in 2017 (eliminated in the group stage). As the host country, they did not play in the qualifying round.

SPAIN Coached by Santi Denia, Spain qualified by winning Group B with 28 points, the result of nine wins and one draw, 28 goals scored and five conceded. Five-time European Under-21 champions (the last in 2019), they were defeated by England in the final in 2023, in their ninth final, which was at least two more than any other national team. Their top-scorer in the qualifiers was Porto striker Samu Omorodion (6 goals). Their last call-ups included, among others, Rafa Marin (Napoli) and Iker Bravo (Udinese), former Lazio player Raul Moro (now at Valladolid) and former Juventus and Roma player Dean Huijsen (now at Bournemouth).

ROMANIA Romania are in their fourth finals in a row, even though their only qualification before that was in 1998. Coached by Daniel Pancu, their best result was making the semi-final in 2019 and they qualified for EURO 2025 by finishing first in Group E with seven wins, one draw, two defeats, 23 goals scored and 10 conceded. The top-scorer in the qualifiers was Louis Munteanu (Cluj), with five goals. Also among the goalkeepers called-up was Razvan Sava (Udinese).

 

UEFA UNDER-21 EURO 2025 - Slovakia, 11-28 June

Group A

Slovakia

Spain

ITALY

Romania

 

Group B

Czech Republic

England

Germany

Slovenia

 

Group C

Portugal

France

Poland

Georgia

 

Group D

Finland

The Netherlands

Ukraine

Denmark

 

ITALY'S FIXTURES IN GROUP A (in Trnava, times to be determined)

Wednesday 11: Italy vs Romania

Saturday 14: Slovakia vs Italy

Tuesday 17: Spain vs Italy