Watch European Under-21 Championship live on Sky Sports as Aidy Boothroyd's side aim for silverware in Italy
Saturday 15 June 2019 08:07, UK
England are among the contenders at the European Under-21 Championship this summer, but when and where is the tournament, which other nations are competing, and who are the players to look out for?
The 2019 tournament is being hosted by Italy and San Marino and runs from June 16 to June 30.
There will be five venues in Italy and one in San Marino.
There will be 12 teams at the tournament - all of whom have qualified, aside from hosts Italy.
England, Spain, France, Serbia, Germany, Croatia, Denmark, Belgium, and Romania all qualified as group winners while Poland and Austria came through play-offs.
Germany are the defending champions after beating Spain in the 2017 final in Poland.
The 12 teams are divided into three groups, with the winners and the best runner-up advancing to the semi-finals.
The group winners and best runner-up will also earn a spot at the 2020 Olympics, although England are not eligible for the tournament, so there will be a play-off for their place between the two other runners-up if they make the semi-finals.
England start with a game against France on June 18 before playing Romania on June 21 and Croatia (in San Marino) on June 24.
The semi-finals are on June 27, and the final is on June 30.
Each nation will have a squad of 23 players.
England lost in the semi-finals of the 2017 edition with a squad that included several players who are now regulars in the Premier League, such as Jordan Pickford, Ben Chilwell, James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond, and Will Hughes.
The 2019 squad will also feature some exciting talent.
Leicester quartet James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Demarai Gray, and Hamza Choudhury could be involved along with Manchester City's Phil Foden, Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon, and Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
England were on an 18-match unbeaten run before losing to Germany in March, and manager Aidy Boothroyd said last summer that he expects a tough tournament.
"When you reel off the teams in our group, we've got a team with the best defensive record in the tournament, a team that has a 100 per cent record, and a team who won their group and are very difficult to play against at any level. It's never going to be easy when you get to this level, and I think it's probably going to be one of, if not the best, Under 21 tournaments we've had for a long time."
All of England's games will be shown live on Sky Sports Football.
If you can't watch live, then you can also follow the action with our live blogs on www.skysports.com and the Sky Sports app, with in-game clips and highlights throughout the matches.
Every game during the UEFA European Under-21 Championship will be shown live on Sky Sports.
Sky Sports subscribers will also be able to stream the games via the Sky Sports app or the Sky Go app.
Non-subscribers can watch all the action through NOW TV. A Sky Sports day pass is available for £8.99, a week pass for £14.99 or a month pass for £33.99. NOW TV can be streamed through a computer or apps.
