Italy’s Under 17s officially kick off their European adventure tomorrow, with the aim of reaching the final phase of the European Finals that are taking place in Cyprus from 20 May next year. Tomorrow (kick-off at 15:00 CEST and live streaming on the ficg.it website). Favo’s boys take on San Marino in their debut in the first round of qualification. 

Romagna will host the Azzurrini's group in this Qualifying Round: a four-team group including Greece, Northern Ireland and San Marino. It will be important to win the group "and do so by winning as many points as possible.” as coach Massimiliano Favo has already stressed because final positions in the group will determine the draw for the second qualifying round, scheduled for early 2024. 

Maurizio Viscidi, co-ordinator of the National Youth team said, “This U17 team has a lot of quality on paper, both in terms of players and play. But of course, it is only the performance on the pitch that matters,  because quality must be matched by intensity, competitiveness and the ability to step up in an official UEFA competition, not just in friendlies. I hope this experience lasts as long as possible for the boys and they make it to the final phase in Cyprus.” 

“This will be the last edition of the Under 17 European Championships in this format, with sixteen teams in the final phase before it returns to the old format of eight participants, to which Italy has always made it… “It is a positive statistic,” continued Viscidi, “- but it is not the most important one as far as we are concerned, because we have to look at the ranking and we are third in Europe. When I started this job, in 2010 as Sacchi's deputy, we were 16th...'

But what kind of game will tomorrow’s be in Santarcangelo? Facing San Marino, in what will be a first-ever official match in a UEFA competition for many of these boys, will it be an advantage or a disadvantage? 

“When you face teams of inferior quality,” concluded Maurizio Viscidi, “the risk is to get nervous, perhaps because a lot of time has passed and you haven’t managed to score yet, despite dominating the game. But matches in Europe come in two different ways: those where the opponents wait for you very deep and try to hit on the counter, or those against the very high-level teams, where they don’t give you any space to breathe, always pressing high.” 

The format of the tournament. This first round will see the top two in each group progress to the Elite Round (early 2024), along with the five best third-placed teams from the 13 groups. From there, the 32 teams that have qualified will be split into eight new groups of four, from which the first-placed team, as well as the seven best second-placed teams, can join hosts, Cyprus in the final phase.