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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] A total of twelve 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 stage 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. HostsIn 2015 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][failed verification][8] QualificationAll 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 eleven spots in the final tournament.[9] The qualifying competition, which took place from March 2017 to November 2018, consisted of two rounds:[4]
Qualified teamsThe following teams qualified for the final tournament. Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).
Final drawThe 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]
VenuesOn 9 December 2016, Italian Football Federation pre-selected venues (including one inside San Marino territory):[16]
Match officials
Video Assistant Referees (VAR)
SquadsEach 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 stageThe group winners and the best runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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]
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).[17] Group A
Attendance: 2,534[18] Referee: István Kovács (Romania)
Attendance: 20,075[22] Referee: Srđan Jovanović (Serbia) Group B
Group C
Ranking of second-placed teams
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 depended on which runners-up qualified (Regulations Article 17.02):[4] Scenario according to the best runners-up
Knockout stageIn the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.[4] Bracket
Semi-finalsFinalGoalscorersThere 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
AwardsThe following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Team of the tournamentAfter the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[41]
Qualified teams for 2020 Summer OlympicsThe following four teams from UEFA qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.
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 broadcastersTelevisionAll 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
Non-participating European nations
Outside Europe
RadioParticipating nations
Non-participating European nations
Outside Europe
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. |
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