England U21s will face Italy, Portugal and Sweden next summer
England will face Italy, Portugal and Sweden in the group stages of next summer's European U21 Championship finals in the Czech Republic.
Italy are five times winners of the competition and they reached the final in 2013, while Portugal and Sweden are both former finalists.
Portugal were the only team to have a perfect record in qualifying, collecting a maximum 24 points from their eight qualifiers and winning both legs of their play-off against Holland.
The other group will contain the hosts, plus Germany, Denmark and Serbia, and the tournament will take place in Prague, Olomouc and Uherske Hradiste between June 17 and 30.
Asked what he thought of England's opposition, U21 head coach Gareth Southgate said: "They are all good sides.
"We actually play Portugal next week, so we have done a bit of homework on them already and we know how good they are.
"Italy were finalists last time and Sweden knocked France out but we are effectively in the quarter-finals now so whoever we drew it was going to be a difficult game and I'm sure they will feel the same about playing against us."
England dropped only two points in qualification, topping Group One and then securing their place at the finals with home and away play-off victories over Croatia.
Southgate is pleased with his side's progress and said: "Part of the challenge is to get some boys into the senior team and we have got probably eight who are eligible for us playing in the seniors at the moment.
"Every time somebody moves up, somebody else comes through, and we seem to have great depth of talent at the moment.
"What we now have to do is to deliver at a tournament."
England will face Portugal in a friendly at Turf Moor next Thursday, before they head to Brest for a game against France the following Monday.
The squad will meet up at St George’s Park at the start of next week but they will be without forward Saido Berahino, who has been called into the senior England squad.
Southgate has therefore selected Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson for the first time and Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli has also been handed a first call-up.
And Southgate is able to welcome back the Burnley pair Danny Ings and Nathaniel Chalobah, who both missed last month’s win over Croatia due to injury.
England U21 squad:
Goalkeepers: Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), Jonathan Bond (Watford), Jack Butland (Derby County, loan from Stoke City).
Defenders: Luke Garbutt (Everton), Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough), Carl Jenkinson (West Ham United, loan from Arsenal), Michael Keane (Burnley, loan from Manchester United), Jamaal Lascelles (Nottingham Forest, loan from Newcastle United), Liam Moore (Leicester City), Jack Robinson (Huddersfield Town, loan from QPR).
Midfielders: Tom Carroll (Swansea City, loan from Tottenham Hotspur), Nathaniel Chalobah (Burnley, loan from Chelsea), Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion), Will Hughes (Derby County), Thomas Ince (Nottingham Forest, loan from Hull City), Alex Pritchard (Brentford, loan from Tottenham Hotspur), Nathan Redmond (Norwich City).
Forwards: Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough, loan from Chelsea), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Danny Ings (Burnley), Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth), Cauley Woodrow (Fulham).