WOMEN'S EURO race begins

Sunday, 1 April 2007
by Paul Safferfrom London
The UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ qualifying round began on Sunday with the Republic of Ireland's 2-1 win at home to Hungary at Dublin's Tolka Park, with 30 sides hoping to join hosts Finland in the 12-team finals the following summer. The winners of all six groups will earn an automatic place in Finland, while the runners-up and best four third-place teams will play off in October 2008 for the remaining five berths. uefa.com marks your cards ahead of the kick-off in each pool.
Group 1England, spared qualifying as UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ hosts, last year earned a place in their own right as one of Europe's five FIFA Women's World Cup representatives, and with their young team based around Arsenal LFC's UEFA Women’s Cup finalists are the team to beat. They begin the group on 13 May at home to Northern Ireland, but their main rivals look to be the Czech Republic, who took Sweden to the final day in World Cup qualifying, and Spain, who challenged Denmark and Finland hard in the same competition. Belarus took a point off the Czechs in their World Cup group, while Northern Ireland - one of five survivors from November's preliminary round - are back in top-level competitive women’s football after a long absence.
Group 2Sweden finished four points clear of Italy in 2005 qualifying, while the Azzurre came through the play-offs, and these two are the likely contenders in this group. The retirements of the experienced Malin Moström and Anna Sjöström ahead of September’s World Cup are a blow to Sweden, but they can still field the likes of new captain Victoria Svensson and Hanna Ljungberg. Italy, meanwhile, would have been cheered by the recent Algarve Cup where they beat Iceland, Ireland, Portugal and, impressively, Germany. Ireland and Hungary kicked off the group and are both improving as shown by the narrow Irish win, while Romania had a perfect preliminary round record.
Group 3The one group without a World Cup contender after France were pipped by England begins on 11 April with Les Bleues taking on Greece. Bruno Bini recently succeeded long-time France coach Elisabeth Loisel and can call on several players from his victorious 2003 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship squad as they come to terms with life without striker Marinette Pichon, but Sandrine Soubeyrand and Hoda Lattaf still provide experience. Iceland stage the U19 finals this year and reached the 2005 play-offs, when only eight finals berths were available, but Serbia and Greece finished a long way back in World Cup qualifying while Slovenia have been in the now abolished second level in recent years.
Group 4The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Wales all heard the name everyone was wanting to avoid in the qualifying draw -Germany. The world champions' bid for a fifth straight European title begins on 12 April at home to the Dutch, but their 2007 form has been unusually poor, and stalwart defender Steffi Jones has retired while goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg is out until autumn with a knee injury. Vera Pauw's improving Dutch began their World Cup campaign with a win in France and recently gained revenge for two qualifying defeats against England with a friendly win in Swindon. Switzerland and Belgium have had useful results at youth level in the last few years, while preliminary round qualifiers Wales boast Arsenal midfielder Jayne Ludlow in an otherwise young team.
Group 5Denmark have been consistent qualifiers in recent times and reached the Algarve Cup final this month after defeating Norway and France, but do not start their campaign until after the World Cup. Ukraine may fancy their chances of a breakthrough after beating Italy to second place behind Norway in World Cup qualifying, a big improvement from their 2005 fortunes. Then they finished behind Scotland, who will rely on the goals of Julie Fleeting who is approaching 100 international caps. Portugal won in Ukraine in 2005 qualifying but otherwise lost all their games, including two defeats against Scotland, while Slovakia will hope to continue their preliminary round form when they scored 15 goals without reply in three games.
Group 6Norway, runners-up in England, have perhaps their strongest team since winning this tournament in 1993 and the World Cup two years later. Russia, surprised in the 2005 play-offs by Finland, will hope to make the most of young talents Elena Danilova and Elena Terekhova, newly arrived at ambitious American club FC Indiana. Poland secured a useful win against Spain in World Cup quallifying, and begin the group on 5 May in Austria, who will also be aware that fifth seeds Israel showed good form in the preliminary round.
Opening games team-by-team
Group 1England: v Northern Ireland (h) 13 MayCzech Republic: v Northern Ireland (a) 26 MaySpain: v Belarus (a) 30 MayBelarus: v Spain (h) 30 MayNorthern Ireland: v England (a) 13 May
Group 2Sweden: v Italy (a) 5 MayItaly: v Sweden (h) 5 MayHungary: v Republic of Ireland (a) 1 AprilRepublic of Ireland: v Hungary (h) 1 AprilRomania: v Hungary (a) 5 May
Group 3France: v Greece (h) 11 AprilIceland: v Greece (a) 31 MaySerbia: v Slovenia (a) 5 MayGreece: v France (a) 11 AprilSlovenia: v Serbia (h) 5 May
Group 4Germany: v Netherlands (h) 12 AprilNetherlands: v Germany (a) 12 AprilSwitzerland: v Belgium (h) 5 MayBelgium: v Switzerland (a) 5 MayWales: v Germany (h) 10 May
Group 5Denmark: v Portugal (h) 27 OctoberUkraine: v Scotland (h) 30 MayScotland: v Portugal (h) 6 MayPortugal: v Slovakia (a) 14 AprilSlovakia: v Portugal (h) 14 April
Group 6Norway: v Israel (a) 17 JuneRussia: v Israel (a) 30 MayPoland: v Austria (a) 5 MayAustria: v Poland (h) 5 MayIsrael: v Poland (h) 10 May
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