European Championship qualifying begins for U17 and U19 teams
AGONAsport takes a closer look at the 2020 European Championship qualifying campaigns for both the U17 and U19 Greek national teams.
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GREECE U19 (ETHNIKI NEON)
The under 19 Greek national team will compete in Group 4 of European Championship qualifying alongside Albania, Belgium and Iceland. Belgium will probably expect to win the group, however Greece will fancy their chances of seeing off the challenge of the Albanian and Icelandic national teams. All countries are battling to compete at the competition which will take place in Northern Ireland between July 19 and August 1 2020.
Here is the qualifying format for the 2020 UEFA U19 European Championship:
The top two in every group, along with the third-placed team with the best record against the leading pair, will follow top seeds Portugal into the elite round in spring 2020, draw on 3 December;
The seven elite round group winners will join hosts Northern Ireland in the finals from 19 July to 1 August 2020;
The finals will act as Europe's qualifier for the 2021 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia.
These following players have been called up by head coach Nikos Kechagias:
Goalkeepers: Christos Mandas (Atromitos), Christos Talichmanidis (PAOK).
Defenders: Nikos Gkotzamanidis (Olympiacos), Stylianos Kokovas (Bochum), Vasilis Zagaritis (Panathinaikos), Giorgos Liavas (Panetolikos), Apostolos Martinis (Olympiacos), Giorgos Vagiannidis (Panathinaikos), Konstantinos Thymianis (Xanthi).
Midfielders: Nikos Michelis (AC Milan), Kyriakos Giaxis (PAOK), Konstantinos Roukounakis (AEK), Andreas Athanasakopoulos (Panathinaikos), Sotiris Alexandropoulos (Panathinaikos), Giorgos Vrakas (Napoli), Panagiotis Tzimas (Asteras Tripolis).
Forwards: Christos Tzolis (PAOK), Vasilis Sourlis (Olympiacos), Spyridon Tzavidas (Panathinaikos), Giannis Fakkis (Xanthi).
Group 4 schedule:
November 13, Greece - Albania, 20:30
November 16, Greece - Iceland, 20:30
November 19, Belgium - Greece, 15:30
GREECE U17 (ETHNIKI PAIDON)
Greece will play all of their three Group 9 games in Nafpaktos, with the host nation looking to make home advantage count and advance to the Elite Round of U17 European Championship qualifying. All other group matches will take place in Patras.
While the Greeks should certainly have enough to defeat Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on home soil, it will be a tough test against Germany who are the clear favourites to win the group. The Germans were knocked out in the group stage of the 2019 U17 European Championship in the Republic of Ireland.
Here is the qualifying format for the 2020 UEFA U17 European Championship:
The top two in every group, along with the four third-placed sides with the best records against the leading pair, will follow top seeds Spain and England into the elite round in March 2020, drawn on 3 December;
The eight elite round group winners and seven runners-up with the best records against the teams first and third in their pool will join Estonia in the finals from 21 May to 6 June.
Head coach Anastasios Theos has called up these following players for the first qualifying competition:
Goalkeepers: Angelos Angelopoulos (AEK), Nikos Psimopoulos (Ergotelis).
Defenders: Vasilis Kitsakis (PAOK), Emmanouil Smpokos (OFI), Charalampos Katsogiannis (Olympiacos), Athanasios Karamanis (Atromitos), Ilias-Panagiotis Christopoulos (Asteras Tripolis), Konstantinos Koulierakis (PAOK), Giorgos Koutsias (PAOK).
Midfielders: Titos Koutentakis (PAOK), Emmanouil Tsiokris (AEK), Ioannis Karakoutis (PAOK), Fotios Kitsos (Olympiacos), Andreas-Richardos Ntoi (Olympiacos), Zisis Tsikos (PAOK), Christos Liatsos (Olympiacos), Giorgos Syrmis (Olympiacos).
Forwards: Thomas Kastanaras (VfB Stuttgart), Apostolos Christopoulos (AEK), Sofoklis Michopoulos (AEK).
Group 9 schedule:
November 13, Azerbaijan - Greece, 15:00
November 16, Greece - Kazakhstan, 15:00
November 19, Greece - Germany, 14:00
