The U17 Euros has long been a breeding ground for emerging talent.

UEFA European U17 Championship
Wednesday 6 May - Monday 18 May 2009
Germany

The future stars of European football will be on show in Germany as UEFA prepares to host the seventh edition of its European U17 Championship.

Eight nations have been split across two groups of four; Group A comprises the holders, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland, while John Peacock's England side have been drawn in Group B alongside the hosts, Germany, Holland and Turkey. The action gets underway on Wednesday 6 May.

In the past, this tournament has showcased the emerging talent of Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres and there are high expectations of a number of this year's crop of youngsters.

In John Bostock and Jack Wilshere, England can boast a duo with European experience courtesy of their appearances in the UEFA Cup and Champions League respectively. Reigning champions, Spain, will be seeking a hat-trick of titles and will be able to call upon the services of Borja Gonzalez, a forward who has scored 50 goals for the Athletico Madrid youth team, as well as three goals in qualifying. Italy’s Giacomo Beretta has been likened to Christian Vieri and also notched three qualifying goals, while other players hoping to make a name for themselves are Germany’s Lennart Thy, Holland’s Oguzhan Ozyakup and Alexandre Coeff from France.

Since its inception in 2002 some of European football’s most famous names have featured in this youth tournament, which was initially an international platform for U16 players. Combining the totals from both age categories Spain have been the dominant force winning eight titles to date, with Portugal not too far behind on five.

England have yet to lift the trophy, but came close in 2007 when they were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the Final. Peacock and his players will hope to go one step further this time around and after qualifying with a 100 per cent record, they arrive in Germany in a rich vein of form. They face Holland on Wednesday morning in their opening Group B match.

You can follow the progress of the England U17 European campaign on TheFA.com...

England squad in full