IRELAND U21s COULD FACE CHOP IN EUROS SHAKE-UP

UEFA are considering cutting the number of teams in next year’s U21 European Championship finals in an attempt to shoehorn the tournament into a congested summer. Reducing the number of finalists would impact on the Republic of Ireland’s chances of qualifying for the first time — the team is currently top of Group I with three games remaining but visit top seeds Italy in October. The European governing body had been planning to postpone the U21 tournament for 12 months to avoid a clash with the rescheduled senior European Championship — a move they have already announced for the women’s Euros. Now UEFA are thinking of staging the competition next year in what would be a bumper summer of international football.

Sportsmail understands one of the proposals under consideration to enable both tournaments to take place is to reduce the number of teams in the U21 finals, possibly from 16 to 12, which would make it harder for Ireland under new manager Jim Crawford to make the breakthrough. A clash with the deferred Euro 2020 Championship finals could present problems for Stephen Kenny should he steer Ireland through the play-offs. Already, U21 regulars Aaron Connolly, Troy Parrott and Lee O’Connor have been capped at senior level, with Jayson Molumby, Adam Idah and Dara O’Shea pushing for recognition. The issue of the Euro U21 finals is expected to be resolved at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on June 17. European chiefs will be braced for opposition should they move the goalposts at a critical stage of the qualifiers. The finals were fixed for Slovenia and Hungary on June 9-26, 2021, at the ExCo meeting in Dublin in December 2018.