England have been drawn to face Belgium, Iceland, Norway and Azerbaijan in the qualifying stage of the 2013 European Under-21 Championship. England were forced to qualify after their bid to host the tournament failed last week, with Israel preferred by UEFA.

That also scuppered the Football Association's plan to temporarily scrap the under-21 team and replace it with the new Great Britain side in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

Pearce said of the draw: "We're not getting too far ahead of ourselves given we have a finals tournament first in the summer, but this will be another tricky qualifying campaign for us.

"Iceland are at the finals in Denmark and we'll face difficult trips to Azerbaijan, as well as Norway and Belgium.

"As ever, given the play-off finale to the qualifying campaign, anyone who makes it to Israel in 2013 will have worked hard to get there and will deserve their place."

England, who reached the 2009 final and 2007 semi-final, are currently ranked number one in Europe in under-21 football.