Slovakia Under-17s will begin their European Under-17 Championship in Tuesday's clash with Sweden Under-17s at the Paralimni Stadium in Cyprus.
Over the next three matchdays, the two nations will battle with Italy and Poland to secure a top-two spot in Group C.
Match preview
Slovakia are set to make their second appearance at the European Under-17 Championship after successfully navigating their way through qualifying.
After progressing from the first stage, Slovakia picked up six points from three matches to finish in the top two of group four in the elite round.
They claimed narrow victories over Switzerland and Greece, before losing 3-0 to group winners in their final qualifier.
Slovakia will now appear at the European Under-17 Championship for the first time since they enjoyed a run to the semi-finals in their home tournament in 2013.
Incidentally, Slovakia faced Sweden in the 2013 competition, playing out a goalless draw to finish level on five points with the Scandinavian country.
Like Slovakia, Sweden also reached the semi-finals 11 years ago, before they experienced penalty-shootout disappointment against eventual winners Russia.
Since that tournament, Sweden have made four tournament appearances, reaching the quarter-finals in 2016 and 2018, before failing to make it out of the group stage in 2019 and 2022.
In qualifying, Roger Franzen's side collected six points from three matches to advance to the second stage, where they picked up seven points to finish top of group two.
They recorded 2-1 victories over Bulgaria and Wales, before they rounded off their qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw against Romania.
Sweden have a good pedigree in group openers, having won the first match in five of their six appearances at the European Under-17 Championship.
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Team News
Slovakia boss Branislav Fodrek could be tempted to select a back three of Matus Pavlik, Dominik Balog and Marek Okal.
At the opposite end of the pitch, David Bukovsky and Jakub Pira are both pushing to start in the Slovakian forward line.
As for Sweden, they are set to line up with Elton Fischerstrom in goal, while Harry Hilvenius and Bleon Kurtulus are expected to operate as the two centre-backs.
Bayern Munich forward Jonah Kusi Asare is likely to be given the responsibility of leading the line against Slovakia.
Slovakia Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Zajac; Pavlik, Balog, Okal; Turansky, Vlna, Strucka, Trello, Lusale; Pira, Bukovsky
Sweden Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Fischerstrom; Nafors Dahlin, Hilvenius, Kurtulus, Antwi; Busuladzic, Lahdo; Jonsson, Andersson, Isaksson; Kusi-Asare
We say: Slovakia Under-17s 1-2 Sweden Under-17s
Sweden have won four of their last five matches, and we think that they will do enough to edge out Slovakia to continue their fine run of form in Tuesday's opening group game.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
