The Olympic flag and the logo of the Tokyo 2020 Games (AFP Photo/KAZUHIRO NOGI)

Rome (AFP) - The 2019 European under-21 Championship will be held in Italy and San Marino, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced on Friday.

The 12-team tournament, which will serve as Europe's qualifying competition for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will see matches played in four Italian towns -- Bologna, Cesena, Reggio Emilia and Udine -- as well as in the tiny republic of San Marino.

UEFA said the tournament is "likely to be played in June 2019".

Italy has won the most European titles at under-21 level -- five -- but has never hosted the finals.

The 2017 competition in Poland will be the first to feature 12 countries, expanded from the old format of eight teams.