2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 national teams of Europe. The final tournament was hosted by Italy (and some matches by San Marino) in mid-2019, after their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee on 9 December 2016 in Nyon, Switzerland.[2][3]

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Campionato europeo di calcio Under-21 2019
Tournament details
Host countriesItaly
San Marino
Dates16–30 June 2019[1]
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Spain (5th title)
Runners-up Germany
Tournament statistics
Matches played21
Goals scored78 (3.71 per match)
Attendance214,637 (10,221 per match)
Top scorer(s) Luca Waldschmidt (7 goals)
Best player(s) Fabián Ruiz

A total of 12 teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1996 eligible to participate.[4]

Same as previous Under-21 Championships that were held one year prior to the Olympics, this tournament served as European qualifying for the Olympic football tournament, with the top four teams of the tournament qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in Japan, where they will be represented by their under-23 national teams with maximum of three overage players allowed. The four teams that qualified for the Olympic Games were the ones that qualified for the knockout stages of this championship.[5] For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system was used at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[6]

Germany were the defending champions.

Hosts

The Italian Football Federation confirmed that Italy would bid to host the tournament in 2019,[7] which also involved the San Marino Football Federation. Italy and San Marino were appointed as hosts at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Nyon on 9 December 2016.[2][8]

Qualification

All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Italy qualifying automatically (the other co-hosts San Marino would not qualify automatically), the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining 11 spots in the final tournament.[9] The qualifying competition, which took place from March 2017 to November 2018, consisted of two rounds:[4]

  • Qualifying group stage: The 54 teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams. Each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners qualified directly for the final tournament, while the four best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) advanced to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The four teams were drawn into two ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last two qualified teams.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).

Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
 ItalyHosts9 December 201620th2017 (semi-finals)Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 SpainGroup 2 winners6 September 201814th2017 (runners-up)Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013)
 FranceGroup 9 winners7 September 20189th2006 (semi-finals)Champions (1988)
 EnglandGroup 4 winners11 October 201815th2017 (semi-finals)Champions (1982, 1984)
 SerbiaGroup 7 winners12 October 201811th[SRB]2017 (group stage)Champions (1978) (as Yugoslavia)[SRB]
 GermanyGroup 5 winners12 October 201812th2017 (champions)Champions (2009, 2017)
 CroatiaGroup 1 winners15 October 20183rd2004 (group stage)Group stage (2000, 2004)
 DenmarkGroup 3 winners16 October 20188th2017 (group stage)Semi-finals (1992, 2015)
 BelgiumGroup 6 winners16 October 20183rd2007 (semi-finals)Semi-finals (2007)
 RomaniaGroup 8 winners16 October 20182nd1998 (quarter-finals)Quarter-finals (1998)
 PolandPlay-off winners20 November 20187th2017 (group stage)Quarter-finals (1982, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994)
 AustriaPlay-off winners20 November 20181stDebut
Notes
  1. ^ a b
    Appearances include 4 as Yugoslavia and 2 as Serbia and Montenegro. Their previous best performance as Serbia was runners-up (2007).

Final draw

The final draw was held on 23 November 2018, 18:00 CET (UTC+1), at the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese,[10][11][12] hosted by Mia Ceran and conducted by tournament ambassador Andrea Pirlo, who won the tournament in 2000.[13]

The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. Italy, the host country, was assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying stage, calculated based on the following:[14]

Each group contained either the hosts or one team from Pot 1 (which were drawn to position B1 or C1), and one team from Pot 2 and two teams from Pot 3 (which were drawn to any of the positions 2–4 in the groups). The draw pots were as follows:[15]

Hosts
Team
 Italy
Pot 1
TeamCoeff
 Germany39,913
 England37,946
Pot 2
TeamCoeff
 Spain37,774
 Denmark35,533
 France35,182
Pot 3
TeamCoeff
 Serbia33,083
 Croatia32,952
 Belgium32,122
 Austria31,767
 Poland30,946
 Romania29,259

Venues

On 9 December 2016, Italian Football Federation pre-selected venues (including one inside San Marino territory):[16]

Bologna Reggio nell'Emilia Cesena
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore Stadio Dino Manuzzi
Capacity: 31,000 Capacity: 21,500 Capacity: 20,194
Trieste Udine Serravalle (San Marino)
Stadio Nereo Rocco Dacia Arena San Marino Stadium
Capacity: 20,500 Capacity: 25,151 Capacity: 4,778

Match officials

Country Referee 1st assistant referee 2nd assistant referee
 BelarusAleksei KulbakovDzmitry ZhukAleh Maslianka
 BulgariaGeorgi KabakovMartin MargaritovDiyan Valkov
 IsraelOrel GrinfeldRoy HassanIdan Yarkoni
 LatviaAndris TreimanisHaralds GudermanisAleksejs Spasjonņikovs
 NetherlandsSerdar GözübüyükCharles SchaapJan de Vries
 RomaniaIstván KovácsMihai Ovidiu ArteneVasile Florin Marinescu
 ScotlandBobby MaddenFrancis ConnorDavid Roome
 SerbiaSrđan JovanovićUroš StojkovićMilan Mihajlović
 SwedenAndreas EkbergMehmet CulumStefan Hallberg

Video Assistant Referees (VAR)

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least 10 full days before the opening match. If a player was injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could be replaced by another player.[4]

Group stage

The group winners and the best runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria would be applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 18.01 and 18.02):[4]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above would be reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
  8. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  9. Position in the UEFA under-21 national team coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).[17]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 6[lower-alpha 1] Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2  Italy (H) 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6[lower-alpha 1]
3  Poland 3 2 0 1 4 7 3 6[lower-alpha 1]
4  Belgium 3 0 0 3 4 8 4 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head goal difference: Spain +3, Italy +1, Poland –4.
Poland 3–2 Belgium
Report
Italy 3–1 Spain
Report

Spain 2–1 Belgium
Report
Italy 0–1 Poland
Report

Belgium 1–3 Italy
Report
Spain 5–0 Poland
Report

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 3 2 1 0 10 3 +7 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2  Denmark 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6
3  Austria 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
4  Serbia 3 0 0 3 1 10 9 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Serbia 0–2 Austria
Report
Germany 3–1 Denmark
Report
Attendance: 7,131[25]

Denmark 3–1 Austria
Report
Attendance: 7,297[26]
Germany 6–1 Serbia
Report

Austria 1–1 Germany
Report
Attendance: 9,100[28]
Denmark 2–0 Serbia
Report

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Romania 3 2 1 0 8 3 +5 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2  France 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7
3  England[lower-alpha 1] 3 0 1 2 6 9 3 1
4  Croatia 3 0 1 2 4 8 4 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. England were ineligible for the Olympics.
Romania 4–1 Croatia
Report
England 1–2 France
Report

England 2–4 Romania
Report
France 1–0 Croatia
Report

Croatia 3–3 England
Report
France 0–0 Romania
Report

Ranking of second-placed teams

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 C  France 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2 A  Italy 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6
3 B  Denmark 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient (Regulations Article 18.03).[4]

The match-ups of the semi-finals depend on which runners-up qualifies (Regulations Article 17.02):[4]

  Scenario according to the best runners-up
Best runners-up fromBest runners-up playOther semi-final
Group AWinners of Group BWinners of Group A vs Winners of Group C
Group BWinners of Group AWinners of Group B vs Winners of Group C
Group CWinners of Group AWinners of Group B vs Winners of Group C

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winners if necessary.[4]

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 June – Reggio Emilia
 
 
 Spain4
 
30 June – Udine
 
 France1
 
 Spain2
 
27 June – Bologna
 
 Germany1
 
 Germany4
 
 
 Romania2
 

Semi-finals

Germany 4–2 Romania
Report

Spain 4–1 France
Report

Final

Spain 2–1 Germany
Report
Attendance: 23,232[38]

Goalscorers

There were 78 goals scored in 21 matches, for an average of 3.71 goals per match.

7 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Team of the tournament

After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[41]

Position Player
Goalkeeper Alexander Nübel
Defenders Lukas Klostermann
Jonathan Tah
Jesús Vallejo
Benjamin Henrichs
Midfielders Fabián Ruiz
Mahmoud Dahoud
Dani Olmo
Luca Waldschmidt
Dani Ceballos
Forward George Pușcaș

Qualified teams for 2020 Summer Olympics

The following four teams from UEFA qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
 Spain22 June 2019[42]10 (1920, 1924, 1928, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2012)
 Germany23 June 2019[43]9 (1912, 1928, 1936, 1952, 19562, 19722, 19842, 19882, 2016)
 Romania24 June 2019[44]3 (1924, 1952, 1964)
 France24 June 2019[44]12 (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1984, 1996)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
2 The team represented the United Team of Germany in 1956, and the Federal Republic of Germany (i.e., West Germany) in 1972, 1984 and 1988.

England were ineligible for the Olympics as they are not an Olympic nation (while an agreement was reached between the four British football associations to enter the Great Britain women's team, no agreement was reached for the men's team).[45] Had they reached the semi-finals, the last Olympic spot would have gone to the winner of an Olympic play-off match, scheduled to be played at Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena on 28 June 2019, 21:00 CEST, between the two group runners-up which did not qualify for the semi-finals.[15][46] However, when England failed to advance out of the group stage, this match was cancelled.

International broadcasters

Television

All 21 matches were live streamed for the unsold markets via UEFA.tv and highlights were also available for all territories around the world via the UEFA YouTube channel.[47]

Participating nations

Country Broadcaster
Free Pay
 Italy (host) RAI
 Austria ORF
Sport1
 Germany
ARD
ZDF
 Belgium VRT (Dutch)
RTBF (French)
 Croatia HRT
 Denmark DR
 France M6 beIN Sports
 Poland TVP
 Romania TVR
 Serbia RTS
 Spain Mediaset
 United Kingdom Sky Sports

Non-participating European nations

Country/Region Broadcaster
Free Pay
 Albania RTSH
 Andorra Mediaset (Spanish) beIN Sports (French)
M6 (French)
 Luxembourg
RTBF (French)
VRT (Dutch)
 Armenia APMTV
 Belarus Belteleradio
 Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT
 Bulgaria BNT
 Czech Republic ČT
 Estonia ERR
 Faroe Islands DR
 Finland Yle
 Greece ERT[48]
 Hungary MTVA
 Ireland RTÉ Sky Sports
 Israel Charlton
 Kosovo RTK
 Latvia LTV
 Liechtenstein SRG SSR
(German, French, and Italian)
  Switzerland
Sport1 (German)
 Lithuania LRT
 Malta PBS
 Montenegro RTCG
 Netherlands NOS
 Norway NRK
 Portugal RTP
 Russia Match TV
 San Marino RAI
  Vatican City
 Slovakia RTVS
 Slovenia RTV SLO
 Sweden SVT
 Turkey TRT
 Ukraine UA:PBC

Outside Europe

Country/Region Broadcaster
Free Pay
 China CCTV Super Sports
 Indonesia Super Soccer TV[49]
 Japan Wowow[50]
 United States
  • PSN
  • ESPN
  • TSN
  • Sportsnet
 Canada
African Television beIN Sports

Participating nations

Country Broadcaster
 Italy (host) RAI
 Austria ORF
Sport1
 Germany
ARD
 Belgium VRT (Dutch)
RTBF (French)
 Croatia HRT
 Denmark DR
 Poland PR
 Romania RR
 Serbia RTS
 Spain Marca[51]
 United Kingdom Talksport

Non-participating European nations

Country/Region Broadcaster
 Albania RTSH
 Andorra RTBF (French)
 Luxembourg
 Armenia HR
 Belarus Belteleradio
 Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT
 Bulgaria BNR
 Czech Republic ČR
 Estonia ERR
 Faroe Islands DR
 Finland Yle
 Greece ERT
 Hungary MTVA
 Ireland RTÉ
 Kosovo RTK
 Latvia LR
 Liechtenstein SRG SSR
(German, French, and Italian)
  Switzerland
Sport1 (German)
 Lithuania LRT
 Malta PBS
 Montenegro RTCG
 Netherlands NOS
 Norway NRK
 Portugal RTP
 San Marino RAI
  Vatican City
 Slovakia RTVS
 Slovenia RTV SLO
 Sweden SR
 Turkey TRT
 Ukraine UA:PBC

Outside Europe

Country/Region Broadcaster
 China CRI
  • PSN
  • ESPN
  • Univision (Puerto Rico, USA and Canada only)
  • Telemundo (Puerto Rico, USA and Canada only)
 United States
 Canada

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