Great Britain's U19s preparing for European Qualification challenge

Great Britain’s U19 men’s side are in Trebinje, Bosnia ahead of this week’s European Championships qualifiers.

The 15-strong group flew out on Monday and have been training with local sides ahead of their opening match on Thursday.

They’ll be part of a five-team group which also contains hosts Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czechia, France and Finland.

Four different groups from four locations will make up the qualification phase with all the matches being played from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 March.

Each of the teams are looking to secure the final seven places for the Championships in Bulgaria later this year where they’ll join the hosts and the top seven teams from the 2022 European U19 Championships in Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy and Germany.

Great Britain are in Group A where the top two teams will qualify for the event which takes place at the start of September.

How to watch

Tim Dunsbee’s sides opening match takes place at 4:15pm UK time on Thursday against the Czechia.

Ahead of the match, the team trained at the competition pool on both Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

They’ll then take on both France and hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday before rounding out their competition with a match against Finland on Sunday.

The event gives the group a great opportunity to gain more international competition experience after their recent trips to Barcelona last month and back in November.

14 of the 15 were on the camp in Spain during February half term with Swim England Water Polo Talent Athlete of the Year Felix Monaghan joining the group for the qualifiers in Bosnia.

Worthing’s shot-stopper will join the group that will be captained by Rotherham Metro’s Henry Jackson.

You can see the full squad and fixture list here and each of the matches will be available to watch on the European Aquatics YouTube channel.

Live results from the competition will be available here.

 

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