Malta U-21 will face Georgia in the 2006-2007 UEFA Championship preliminary round. As one of the 16 lowest-ranked European nations, Malta must win their two-legged match to advance to the group stages as a new format comes into effect from this year.

The winner of the Malta-Georgia play-off will qualify to play in Group Three which comprises Serbia and Montenegro and Lithuania.

Preliminary round matches, eight in all, are to be played before July 15 while the group stages will begin in August.

Mark Miller has mixed feelings about Malta's pairing with Georgia.

"It could have been better but it could have been worse," he said. "The bad aspect of this fixture is the travelling.

"I'm always optimistic that the U-21 team can get something from international matches. If we hit top form as we did last year when we met Italy U-20 and Norway in friendly matches, we can aspire to do well against Georgia, I'm sure.

"Ideally, the two games will be played in the space of a week or 10 days so that our players can stay together in between the two legs."

Preliminary round: Estonia vs Wales; Malta vs Georgia; San Marino vs Armenia; Liechtenstein vs N. Ireland; Kazakhstan vs Moldova; Luxembourg vs Macedonia; Andorra vs Iceland; Azerbaijan vs Ireland.

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