Sylvain Ripoll’s men have been placed in Group D where they will face Italy, Switzerland and Norway.
The France under-23 team has inherited an affordable group, whose main opponent will be Italy, at Euro-2023 which will take place from June 21 to July 8 in Romania and Georgia, according to the draw made by UEFA on Tuesday in Bucharest.
In Group D, Les Bleuets will challenge the Italians, undefeated in the qualifying phase and five-time Euro U23 winners, Switzerland, who never did better than a semi-final in 2002, and Norway, third of the 2013 edition but absent from the last four editions. The Scandinavians nevertheless finished first in their qualifying pool (8 wins for 2 losses).
Sylvain Ripoll’s men, also undefeated in qualifying with eight wins and two draws, thus escaped Group A, the toughest. It includes the Belgium of Lens striker Loïs Openda, author of seven goals in qualifying, the Netherlands, who scored for the Bleuets in the quarter-finals in 2021, and Portugal, finalist two years ago against Germany.
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The Germans, winners of two of the last three Euro hopefuls (2017 and 2021), will challenge the young English guard, who impressed in qualifying by finishing undefeated.
In Group B, Spain, one of the title contenders, will be the big favourites. She will play against Romania, Ukraine and Croatia.
The top two from each of the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals.
The troop of young French players, led by Maxence Caqueret or Eduardo Camavinga, will try to win a second European title, after that won in 1988 by the generation guided by Eric Cantona.
Les Bleuets have already qualified for the Olympic tournament in Paris in 2024, as the host nation.
The first three of the competition will validate their ticket for the Paris Games. If France takes one of the first three places, the fourth will accompany the two other teams in the top three at the Games.