England confirmed their qualification to this year's championship in style, winning all three of their matches and now they are awaiting the draw to see which of the other seven sides they will meet in May's championship in Italy.

Success over the past few years has seen plenty of stars rise to prominence with various Premiership and League clubs, but none more so than Wayne Rooney, the star of England's campaign in the 2002 edition of the competition.

Rooney has made an amazing start to his international career, becoming England’s youngest-ever goalscorer, scoring four goals at Euro 2004 and already registering nine strikes in 23 internationals.

His short career has been full of milestones. He made his Premiership debut in August 2002 and scored his first top-flight goal against Arsenal two months later, becoming at the time the Premiership's youngest-ever scorer.

Those achievements may have grabbed the nation’s attentions but for a number of years he had been involved in the England youth set-up, playing for various England youth teams.

After scoring twice in four Under-15 matches in 2000/01, Rooney was a key part of the U17 squad the following season and at the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, made the kind of impact that would be mirrored in Portugal two years later, scoring five goals in as many games.

Then England U17 coach Dick Bate remembers the young Rooney well: "Wayne had a very good tournament and in scoring five goals in five games he obviously had a major impact on the tournament.

"He was a terrific lad in a terrific group of players and Wayne was at the soul of what made that group of players get on so well."

Prior to the Finals, which were hosted in Denmark, Rooney had made seven appearances (three starts, four subs) for Dick Bate’s side but had only scored one goal. Crucially, though, that strike came against Lithuania in England’s final match before the championship and no doubt gave the 16-year-old Liverpudlian a little bit of much-need confidence.

In England’s first match of the tournament, Rooney started an U17 match for only the fourth time but, against a well-drilled Finnish defence, he couldn’t find a way through and after 58 minutes was substituted for Dorryl Profitt.

Rooney kept his place for the second game in Group A and Bate was rewarded for putting his faith in the Everton striker when he scored England’s first goal of the game just after the half-hour mark. Stacy Long made it 2-0 in the second half and England were on their way to the quarter-finals.

With a place in the last eight assured, Rooney was rested for the final group game against Denmark (a 0-0 draw) but was drafted back into the side for the last eight match against Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslavs had looked impressive in their wins over the Czech Republic and Moldova and Bate knew it was going to be a tough match: "Yugoslavia were a very good team, technically gifted and very strong in possession," he said. "We knew that they would be a real challenge."

England fielded a strong side and once again were thankful to Rooney for supplying the goal that saw the Three Lions go through to the last four. He knocked home his second of the tournament after seven minutes to settle any nerves and England held firm to qualify.

In the semis, England came up against a very strong Swiss side in Herfolge and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline. Their reward for an excellent run was a Third Place Play-Off against Spain, who had been beaten by France in Farum in the other semi-final.

Defeat to Switzerland could have dampened spirits in the England squad but Bate managed to coax one last effort out of his side as they responded with a great performance to see off the much-fancied Spanish.

After Wayne Routledge had got England off to a good start, finishing well from close range, Rooney scored three times in 32 minutes to steer England to a creditable third place finish.

"The game against Spain was a great performance by the team," says Bate. "They were all a little deflated after the defeat against Switzerland but they picked themselves up really well and beat a very good side 4-1.

"Wayne scored a marvellous hat-trick in that game. His was an exceptional display in a very good team performance."

Since then, Rooney has hardly had time to look back, as nine months and two days later, he made his England debut at Upton Park.

"It is remarkable how quickly he has progressed," Bate says. "From playing in those Finals in May, he made his debut in the Premiership in August 2002 and then was in the England team for the match against Australia in February 2003.

"It is a great achievement to make those big leaps in the game so quickly and sustain and improve performance over such a period of time. To make the progress he’s made in the time he’s made it is an outstanding feat."

Wayne Rooney - England Stats

England U15 (2000/01): 4 caps, 2 goals
England U17 (2001/02): 12 caps, 6 goals
England U19 (2002/03): 1 cap, 0 goals
England Seniors (2003-): 23 caps, 9 goals

For all the news and reaction from the European U17 Championship draw in Pisa, log-on to TheFA.com on Saturday 09 April.