The draw is a tough one for John Peacock's side, who doubtless would have preferred to avoid the hosts, whilst the Turks were one of the strongest sides in qualifying.

England's first opponents, Belarus, qualified for the tournament for the first time in some style, winning their opening two matches against Russia and Bulgaria and booking their place in the finals with a game to spare.

Turkey, like England, hosted their qualifying mini-tournament and won all three of their games, beating 2003/04 champions France, Scotland and Azerbaijan in impressive fashion.

After the draw, Peacock spoke to TheFA.com: "I think of the two groups ours will be the tougher but you expect that at this level of competition," he said.

"The eight sides that are here are here on merit - they are all quality sides and deserve to be at the Finals. If you want to win this competition then you have to beat the best sides.

"There are no easy games at this level but we are confident that we can do well and we are all looking forward to the challenge."

The group stage fixtures will be played on 03, 05 and 08 May. The top two from each group will go through to the semi-finals on 11 May, with the victors competing for the trophy in the final in Pontedera three days later.

Those teams will also advance to the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Peru from 16 September to 02 October along with the winner of the third-place play-off, which is played on the same day as the final.

UEFA European Under-17 Championship - Draw

Group A
 

Team
Italy

Turkey

Belarus

England


Group B

Team
Israel

Switzerland

Croatia

Holland