2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2011 was the 18th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Denmark between 11 and 25 June 2011.

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
UEFA U21-EM 2011 (in Danish)
Tournament details
Host country Denmark
Dates11–25 June
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Spain (3rd title)
Runners-up  Switzerland
Third place Belarus
Fourth place Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored36 (2.25 per match)
Attendance101,955 (6,372 per match)
Top scorer(s) Adrián (5 goals)
Best player(s) Juan Mata

The Danish bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 10 December 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland.[1] This bid defeated the other bid from Israel.

Qualification for the final tournament took place between March 2009 and October 2010.

This competition also acted as a qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics, as 3 teams qualified.

Spain won their third title after defeating Switzerland 2–0 in the final.[2][3]

Host selection
Sign in Viborg

The organisation of the event was initially contested by only two bids: Denmark and Israel. The bids were submitted on 15 June 2008.[4]

The bids were inspected between June and September 2008, and a report was given to the National Team Competition Committee in October. The committee discussed the bids on 27 November 2008 and issued a recommendation to the UEFA Executive Committee, who decided on 10 December 2008 that Denmark would host the finals.[1][4]

Qualification
Main article: 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

The draw for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying round took place in Århus on 4 February 2009. The qualifying draw determined the makeup of ten groups. Ten groups were formed in the qualifying draw including two sections of six sides and eight of five, as teams chase 7 finals places alongside host Denmark. The seeding pots are formed on the basis of former performance in the tournament. All groups contained one nation from the first five pots and two sections also included a team from Pot 6. The six European federations that have qualified for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup (Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain and England) were each drawn in one of the six groups of five teams.

2012 Summer Olympics and Great Britain team
Main article: Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team

The tournament was used as the European qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with the top teams qualifying for London 2012. The four British federations entered the qualification process as single entities, but are not eligible to qualify for the Olympics. If one or more British teams had qualified for the Championship, and to pass the first round, play-off games would be played (like in 2007 when Italy and Portugal faced for the last place in the Olympics). As Great Britain is the host nation for the 2012 Olympics, it is entitled to an automatic place in the competition. This caused controversy as in the Olympics, Great Britain competes as a single unified country, as opposed to the four individual nations in football. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all logged public objections to the idea of a GB team at the Olympics, fearing that it would jeopardise their independent status in UEFA and FIFA. A compromise was reached in 2009 whereby England would field a team for the tournament, while the other three would not participate, but not object to England's involvement.[5]

List of qualified teams

The following 8 teams qualified for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Venues

The tournament venues were all located in Jutland, at already existing stadiums in Aarhus, Aalborg, Herning and Viborg.

On 20 September 2010 it was announced that Aarhus Stadion would host the final. Further Aalborg Stadion was confirmed as the venue for the opening match and the eventual Olympic qualifying play-off. The semifinals were played at Herning Stadium and Viborg Stadion.[6] It was also published that Denmark would play all of its matches in Aalborg and Aarhus.[7]

Aarhus Aalborg Herning Viborg
Aarhus Stadion Aalborg Stadion Herning Stadium Viborg Stadion
56°7′55″N 10°11′47″E 57°3′5.4″N 9°53′56.76″E 56°7′1″N 8°57′6″E 56°27′21.23″N 9°24′7.43″E
Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 10,500 Capacity: 9,600 Capacity: 9,566

Format
Andy, the mascot

The final tournament consisted of two groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the semifinals where it becomes a knockout competition. In the finals held a year before a summer Olympic Games the championship also serves as qualification for the Olympic Football Tournament.

Players were eligible for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship if they were born on or later than 1 January 1988.[8]

Seeding

The draw for the final tournament took place on 9 November 2010 at Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre in Aalborg.[9]

Similar to former tournaments, the games in each group are to be held at just two stadia. For the draw, the finalists were divided into three seeding pots, based on average points per game in the qualifying phase, with each group having one team from pot 1 and 2, and two teams from pot 3. Denmark, as hosts, were seeded first automatically.[10]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3

Squads
Further information: 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Squads for the 2011 Euro U-21 Championship consisted of 23 players, as in the previous tournament in 2009. Only players born on or after 1 January 1988 were eligible to play.

Referees

In April 2011 UEFA published a list of referees, assistant referees and fourth officials to officiate at the tournament. All of the referees are either Premier Category 1-referees or Category 2-referees, respectively the second highest and third highest tier of international referees. All referees are appointed because they are deemed to be future elite referees, thus they are all between 31 and 38 years old and therefore adhere to the U21 philosophy of being the tournament of the stars of tomorrow.[11]

Referees

Fourth officials

Tiebreakers

As in Under-21 Euro 2009: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
  2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
  4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4 to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1 to 4 will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 and 6 will apply
  5. Results of all group matches:
    1. Superior goal difference
    2. Higher number of goals scored
    3. Fair play conduct
  6. Drawing of lots

Group stage

The draw took place on 9 November 2010 in Aalborg, Denmark.[12] The first round saw the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin, where each teams plays one game against every other team in their group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a defeat. The teams finishing first and second in each group qualified for the semifinals.

Group A

In group A tie-breakers were needed to break down the three-point tie with Belarus, Denmark and Iceland. Belarus advanced due to a better goal difference in the matches between those three.[13]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Switzerland 330060+69
 Belarus 310235−23
 Iceland 310235−23
 Denmark 310235−23

3 Way Tie-Breaker

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Belarus 210132+13
 Iceland 21013303
 Denmark 210134−13

All times are UTC+2.

Belarus 2–0 Iceland
Varankow  77' (pen.)
Skavysh  87'		 Report
Attendance: 2,815
Denmark 0–1  Switzerland
Report Shaqiri  48'
Attendance: 9,678
Switzerland  2–0 Iceland
Frei  1'
Emeghara  40'		 Report
Attendance: 1,903
Denmark 2–1 Belarus
Eriksen  22'
Jørgensen  71'		 Report Baha  20'
Attendance: 18,152
Iceland 3–1 Denmark
Sigþórsson  58'
Bjarnason  60'
Valgarðsson  90+2'		 Report Kadrii  81'
Attendance: 9,308
Switzerland  3–0 Belarus
Mehmedi  6' (pen.), 43'
Feltscher  90+3'		 Report
Attendance: 1,604

Group B
Czech players after Bořek Dočkal's 2–0 goal against Ukraine
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 321061+57
 Czech Republic 32014406
 England 302123−12
 Ukraine 301215−41

All times are UTC+2.

Czech Republic 2–1 Ukraine
Dočkal  49', 56' Report Bilyi  87'
Attendance: 4,251
Spain 1–1 England
Herrera  14' Report Welbeck  88'
Attendance: 8,046
Czech Republic 0–2 Spain
Report Adrián  27', 47'
Attendance: 4,662
Ukraine 0–0 England
Report
Attendance: 3,495
England 1–2 Czech Republic
Welbeck  76' Report Chramosta  89'
Pekhart  90+4'
Attendance: 5,262
Ukraine 0–3 Spain
Report Mata  10', 72' (pen.)
Adrián  27'
Attendance: 3,302

Knockout stage

Knockout map
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
22 June – Herning
 
 
  Switzerland (a.e.t.)1
 
25 June – Aarhus
 
 Czech Republic0
 
  Switzerland0
 
22 June – Viborg
 
 Spain2
 
 Spain (a.e.t.)3
 
 
 Belarus1
 
Olympic play-off
 
 
25 June – Aalborg
 
 
 Czech Republic0
 
 
 Belarus1

Semifinals

Winners qualify for 2012 Summer Olympics.

Spain 3–1 (a.e.t.) Belarus
Adrián  89', 105'
Jeffrén  113'		 Report Varankow  38'
Attendance: 7,521
Switzerland  1–0 (a.e.t.) Czech Republic
Mehmedi  114' Report
Attendance: 5,038

Olympic play-off

Winner qualifies for 2012 Summer Olympics.

Czech Republic 0–1 Belarus
Report Filipenko  88'
Attendance: 870

Final
Main article: 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final
Switzerland  0–2 Spain
Report Herrera  41'
Thiago  81'
Attendance: 16,110

Goalscorers
5 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Team of the Tournament

The UEFA Technical Team was charged with naming a squad composed of the 23 best players over the course of the tournament. The group of nine analysts watched every game at the tournament before making their decision after the final. Spain, with seven, have most players in team.[14]

UEFA Team of the Tournament
Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards
David de Gea Chris Smalling Christian Eriksen Admir Mehmedi
Yann Sommer Kyle Walker Marcel Gecov Xherdan Shaqiri
Tomáš Vaclík Dídac Vilà Ander Herrera Adrián
Timm Klose Javi Martínez Juan Mata
Jonathan Rossini Thiago Kolbeinn Sigþórsson
Yaroslav Rakitskiy Mikhail Sivakov Daniel Sturridge
Nicolai Boilesen
Ondřej Čelůstka

Medal table and Olympic qualifiers
  • Spain, Switzerland and Belarus qualify for the Olympic games finals.

See Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
 Spain 5 4 1 0 11 2 +9 13 Gold Medal
  Switzerland 5 4 0 1 7 2 +5 12 Silver Medal
 Belarus 5 2 0 3 5 8 −3 6 Bronze Medal
4  Czech Republic 5 2 0 3 4 6 −2 6 Fourth place
5  Iceland 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3 Eliminated in
group stage
6  England 3 0 2 1 2 3 −1 2
7  Denmark (H) 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
8  Ukraine 3 0 1 2 1 5 −4 1
Source: [ ]
(H) Host.

Media

Broadcasting
Country/areaBroadcaster(s)Source
 Belarus Belteleradio [15]
 Belgium Telenet [15]
 Brazil Globosat [15]
 Brunei Astro SuperSport [15]
 Bulgaria Nova Sport (Bulgaria) [15]
 Canada TSN (8 matches)
TSN2 (9 matches)		 [16]
 Chile Telecanal (some matches)
 Czech Republic Česká televize [15]
 Denmark TV 2 (5 matches)
TV 2 Sport (8 matches)
TV 2 Zulu (2 matches)		 [15]
 France Direct8 [15]
 Germany Eurosport [15]
 Guatemala Trecevision
Canal 11		 [15]
 Iceland RÚV [15]
 Indonesia RCTI
Indovision		 [15]
 Israel Sport 1
Sport 1 HD		 [15]
 Ireland Sky Sports
 Italy RAI [15]
 Japan TV Asahi [17]
Latin America (except Brazil) Televideo Services [15]
 Malaysia Astro SuperSport [15]
 Mexico OTI [15]
Middle East and North Africa
List of countries
 Al Jazeera Sports +4, +10

Al Jazeera Sports HD1

 [18]
 Norway Viasat Fotball [15]
 Portugal Sport TV [15]
 South Africa Supersport International [15]
 Spain Cuatro (Spain's matches)
La Siete		 [19]
 Sweden Viasat [20]
  Switzerland SRG SSR [15]
 Thailand MCOT/ GMM SPORT
 Ukraine ICTV
Football TV Channel		 [15]
 United Kingdom Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports HD1 [21]
 Venezuela Meridiano [15]

References
  1. "Denmark to host 2011 U21 finals". UEFA. 10 December 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  2. "Spain crowned European Under-21 champions". UEFA. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  3. "Spain win tournament with victory over Switzerland". Daily Telegraph. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  4. "Denmark and Israel bid for U21 finals". UEFA. 15 June 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  5. Fifa approves Team GB compromise – BBC News, 31 May 2009
  6. "Finalen spilles i Aarhus" [Final to be played in Aarhus] (in Danish). Danish Football Association. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  7. "Århus får EM-finalen for U21 landshold" [Århus gets the European Championship final for U21 national teams] (in Danish). Danish Football Association. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  8. Format & regulations – UEFA.COM, 12/10/10
  9. "Final tournament". UEFA. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  10. "Seedningslag fastlagt til UEFA U21-EM 2011" [Seedings for UEFA Under-21 Championship 2011 defined] (in Danish). Danish Football Association. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  11. Dommere
  12. "Agenda set for Under-21 finals draw in Aalborg". uefa.com. 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  13. "Switzerland and Belarus make it through". UEFA. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  14. U21 all-star squad named by UEFA technical team
  15. https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/EuroExperience/competitions/Marketing/01/44/91/72/1449172_DOWNLOAD.pdf
  16. 2011 UEFA Under 21 Broadcast Schedule on TSN
  17. ＵＥＦＡ　Ｕ－２１　欧州選手権（ロンドン五輪欧州予選）
  18. http://www.aljazeerasports.net/
  19. "UEFA Under 21 Broadcast Schedule Mediaset Spain". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  20. "U21-EM: Se morgondagens stjärnor på TV10". Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  21. "Strong broadcast platform delivered for UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2011". UEFA.com. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
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