England qualified for the Under 21 European Championships although the draw for the finals was not kind - England had been drawn in group A with Italy (who had won four out of the last five tournaments including the last one), Portugal (one of the most skilful European countries) and Switzerland (who hosted the finals).

Group A : Italy, Portugal, England, Switzerland
Group B:  Greece, Belgium, France, Czech Republic

David Platt took over the Under 21 England team from Howard Wilkinson in July 2001 and the players selected will be very unlikely to go to the World Cup unless there are injuries to the World Cup squad.

England have already played Italy and Portugal in warm ups (arranged before the draw for the finals) - the results of the warm ups and results for the Championships were:

Friendly:       March 26              England U21: 1 Italy U21: 1 (Bradford City's ground)
                    April 16                 England U21: 0 Portugal: 1 (Stoke City's ground)

Championships:    May 17          England U21: 2 Switzerland U21: 1 (in Zurich)
                            May 20          England U21: 1 Italy U21: 2 (in Basle)
                            May 22          England U21: 1 Portugal U21: 3 (in Zurich)
                            May 25          Semi final:  Italy U21: 2  Czech Republic U21: 3 (Golden goal winner)
                                                                   Group A winner v Group B runner up (Zurich)
                                                                   France U21: 2  Switzerland U21: 0
                                                                   Group B winner v Group A runner up (Basle)
                            May 28          Final: France U21: 0 Czech Republic U21: 0 (in Basle)
                                                  (Czech Republic win 3-1 on penalties after extra time)

In the last Under 21 European Championships in 2000, England lost 2-0 to Italy, beat Turkey 6-0 but then lost 2-0 to Slovakia in their last group game and so did not qualify for the semi finals.
 

                                                             
 
On 9 May 2002, David Platt named the final squad of 22 players that he will take to the European Under 21 Championships - they are:

Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Leeds), Stuart Taylor (Arsenal), Stephen Bywater (West Ham)
Defenders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Luke Young (Charlton), Ledley King (Tottenham), Chris Riggott (Derby), Paul Konchesky (Charlton), Zat Knight (Fulham)
Midfield: Michael Carrick (West Ham), Sean Davis (Fulham), Jermaine Pennant (Arsenal), David Dunn (Captain, Blackburn), Scott Parker (Charlton), Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle), David Prutton (Notts Forest)
Attack: Alan Smith (Leeds), Malcolm Christie (Derby), Jermaine Defoe (West Ham), Shola Ameobi (Newcastle), Bobby Zamora (Brighton), Peter Crouch (Aston Villa) 

Chris Kirkland (Liverpool goalkeeper), Stephen Wright (Liverpool defender) and Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City winger) were ruled out of this squad through injury.

Jonathan Greening (Middlesboro) was later was brought into the squad to replace midfielder Michael Carrick (groin injury), Martin Taylor (Blackburn) replaced defender Ledley King (ankle injury) and Russell Howarth (York City) replaced Stephen Bywater (wrist injury)

After the England Under 21 team beat Switzerland but lost to Italy in the finals, a win against Portugal would have been enough to qualify for the semi finals of the competition. As Italy drew with Switzerland in their final group game, England could have qualified with a draw against Portugal. Unfortunately, England lost 3-1 to Portugal on May 22, 2002 and went out of the competition.
    

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The full 2002 European Under 21 Championship group stage results were:

GROUP 1
 

Date	Venue	Match	Result
May 17	Basle	Italy v Portugal	1-1
May 17	Zurich	England v Switzerland	2-1
May 20	Basle	Italy v England	2-1
May 20	Zurich	Portugal v Switzerland	0-2
May 22	Basle	Switzerland v Italy	0-0
May 22	Zurich	Portugal v England	3-1

GROUP 2
 

Date	Venue	Match	Result
May 16	Lausanne	Greece v Belgium	1-2
May 16	Geneva	France v Czech Rep	2-0
May 19	Lausanne	Greece v France	1-3
May 19	Geneva	Belgium v Czech Rep	0-1
May 21	Lausanne	Czech Rep v Greece	1-1
May 21	Geneva	Belgium v France	0-2