On March 24 the Armenian Under-17 national football team suffered 2-0 defeat from England in the s econd qualifying round of the UEFA European U-17 Championships that will be taking place this May in France .

England took its early lead at 18 minutes on a penalty goal by Mark Noble. It secured victory at minute 69 on a goal by Paul Shane.

The Under-17s are trying to get to France.

Qualification for the eight-team final tournament consists of two rounds.

There were 12 groups of four teams in the first qualifying round. Teams were playing between August and December and the top two teams from each group, and the best third-placed country, joining the three sides with the highest coefficients began their road trips in the second round.

Armenia has successfully reached the second qualification round after it took first place with six points in the Group 7 of the first qualifying round where it was competing with Serbia and Montenegro , Netherlands and Bulgaria .

In the first qualifying round Armenia won two matches and lost one. Armenia suffered 1-2 defeat from Serbia and Montenegro (last year October 20) and beat Netherlands 2-0 (last year October 22) and Bulgaria 4-1 (last year October 24).

In the second qualifying round there are seven groups of four teams. Armenia is in Group 2 with England , Iceland and Norway .

Teams will be playing until the end of March and the winner of each group as well as France (hosts) will enter the final tournament.

Tonight (March 26) Armenia faces Norway and will play Iceland Sunday.