Football: McAuley's Northern Ireland side announce U19 Euros warm-up matches

Northern Ireland’s Men's Under-19s will take on Slovakia in two international challenge matches next month as part of their preparations for the U19 Euros in July.

Gareth McAuley’s side are due to face the Slovakians in a friendly at Seaview in Belfast on Friday June 7th at 6pm.

They will then face the Slovaks again on Monday June 10th at Inver Park in Larne (6pm).

The challenge matches are being staged at two of the grounds being used in the 2024 UEFA Men’s European Under-19 Championship finals, which are being held in Northern Ireland from July 15th to 28th.

Group stage games in the eight-team tournament are scheduled to be played at Seaview and Inver Park, while the semi-finals and final will be played at Windsor Park.

McAuley’s side have been drawn in Group A with Italy, Norway and Ukraine, while Group B features Denmark, Spain, France and Turkiye.

Northern Ireland play their first game of the tournament on Monday July 15th at Inver Park against Ukraine (7pm).

Matchday two for McAuley's youngsters is on Thursday July 18th, when they will be taking on Italy at Larne's Inver Prk stadium. On Sunday July 21st, they play theior final group game at Seaview (7pm) against Norway.

Windsor Park will host the semi-finals on Thursday July 25th, with the winner of Group A facing the Group B runner-up at 2pm, while the winner of Group B and the Group A runner-up are scheduled to meet at 7pm.

Five of the teams competing at this summer’s tournament will go on to represent Europe at the 2025 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile - the four semi-finalists, plus the winner of a play-off game between the teams finishing fifth and sixth overall).

That play-off game is also scheduled to be played on Thursday July 25th at Seaview, with a 4.30pm start.

The winners of the semi-finals will then have two rest days before the final takes place on Sunday July 28th (7pm), again at Windsor Park. the National Football Stadium.

• u19 euros