2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 competition, which allowed the change to odd-numbered years. Sweden hosted the final tournament in June 2009; therefore, their under-21 team qualified automatically. Players born on or after 1 January 1986 were eligible to play in this competition.[1]

2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship
2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
U21-Europamästerskapet för herrar 2009
Tournament details
Host country Sweden
Dates15–29 June
Teams8 (finals)
51 (qualifying)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Germany (1st title)
Runners-up England
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored38 (2.53 per match)
Attendance163,090 (10,873 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sweden Marcus Berg (7 goals)
Best player(s)Sweden Marcus Berg

Qualification
Main article: 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

The qualifying draw split the nations onto 10 groups of 5 or 6 teams. The seeding pots are formed on the basis of former performance in the tournament. Ten group winners along with four best-ranked runners-up advanced to the play-offs. Seven winners of the play-off pairs qualified for the final tournament.

Qualified teams

The finals' tournament draw took place on 3 December 2008 at the Svenska Mässan exhibition centre, Gothenburg.[2] Prior to the final draw, Sweden had been seeded first in Group A as hosts of the tournament, while Spain were seeded first in Group B.[3]

Final draw

Pot A

Pot B

Pot C

The first pot contained the top seeds, these would have been host nation Sweden and the reigning champions, The Netherlands. However, The Netherlands did not qualify meaning that the team with the best qualifying record, Spain, took their place. Sweden and Spain were then automatically assigned to A1 and B1 respectively. The second pot contained the teams with the next two best records in qualifying: these were England and Italy. England were drawn into position B3 and Italy into A3. The final pot contained the other four qualified teams: Serbia, Finland, Germany and Belarus. Belarus were drawn first into position A2, Germany went into B2, Serbia into A4 and Finland into B4.

Venues
Örjans Vall, seen from the entrance

The following venues were chosen to hold the final tournament matches:[4]

Stadium Location Normal capacity Tournament capacity
Swedbank Stadion Malmö 24,000 21,000
Gamla Ullevi Gothenburg 18,800 16,700
Olympia Helsingborg 17,000 12,000
Örjans Vall Halmstad 15,500 8,000

Sponsorship issues
The Max restaurant at Borås Arena.
Swedbank Stadion without the Swedbank Stadion logo.

Following the refusal of the Swedish hamburger chain Max to close their restaurant at Borås Arena during the tournament (as they are not an official UEFA sponsor), UEFA disqualified Borås Arena from hosting games during the tournament. There is a contract between UEFA and the city and between UEFA and its sponsors saying that the UEFA sponsors shall have monopoly around the arena. A city cannot force Max to close down even if it happened to sign a contract with someone saying so, as Max have a tenancy agreement with the city.[5][6][7]

On 2 September 2008, the Swedish Football Association nominated Örjans Vall in Halmstad as a replacement venue for Borås Arena,[8] and they officially became the fourth host city a few days later.[9] They were awarded the three group stage games that were to be hosted by Borås Arena, while the second semi-final was moved from Borås to Helsingborg and Olympia.[10]

Swedbank Stadion was referred to as Malmö New Stadium during the tournament, as Swedbank – which owned the naming rights to the stadium at the time – were not official UEFA sponsors.[11]

Squads
Main article: 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Matches

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).

Group A
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Italy 321042+27
 Sweden 320194+56
 Serbia 302113−22
 Belarus 301227−51
Sweden 5–1 Belarus
Martynovich 34' (o.g.)
Berg 38', 44', 81'
Svensson 89'		 Report Kislyak 33'
Attendance: 14,623
Italy 0–0 Serbia
Report
Attendance: 7,158
Sweden 1–2 Italy
Toivonen 89' Report Balotelli 23'
Acquafresca 53'
Attendance: 11,618
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)
Belarus 0–0 Serbia
Report
Attendance: 3,313
Serbia 1–3 Sweden
Kačar 27' Report Berg 7', 15' (pen.)
Toivonen 29'
Attendance: 19,820
Belarus 1–2 Italy
Kislyak 45' Report Acquafresca 45+3' (pen.), 75'
Attendance: 3,014

Group B
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 England 321052+37
 Germany 312031+25
 Spain 31112204
 Finland 300316−50
England 2–1 Finland
Cattermole 15'
Richards 53'		 Report Sparv 33' (pen.)
Attendance: 6,828
Spain 0–0 Germany
Report
Attendance: 15,827
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)
Germany 2–0 Finland
Höwedes 59'
Dejagah 61'		 Report
Attendance: 6,011
Spain 0–2 England
Report Campbell 67'
Milner 73'
Attendance: 16,123
Finland 0–2 Spain
Report Torrejón 29'
León 55'
Attendance: 8,093
Germany 1–1 England
Castro 5' Report Rodwell 30'
Attendance: 7,414

Knockout stage
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
26 June – Helsingborg
 
 
 Italy0
 
29 June – Malmö
 
 Germany1
 
 Germany4
 
26 June – Gothenburg
 
 England0
 
 England (p)3 (5)
 
 
 Sweden3 (4)
 

Semi-finals
England 3–3 (a.e.t.) Sweden
Cranie 1'
Onuoha 27'
Bjärsmyr 38' (o.g.)		 Report Berg 68', 81'
Toivonen 75'
Penalties
Milner soccer ball with red X
Hart soccer ball with check mark
Cattermole soccer ball with check mark
Johnson soccer ball with check mark
Walcott soccer ball with check mark
Gibbs soccer ball with check mark		 5–4 soccer ball with red X Berg
soccer ball with check mark Elm
soccer ball with check mark Bjärsmyr
soccer ball with check mark Lustig
soccer ball with check mark R. Bengtsson
soccer ball with red X Molins
Attendance: 16,385
Italy 0–1 Germany
Report Beck 48'
Attendance: 8,094

Final
Germany 4–0 England
Castro 23'
Özil 48'
Wagner 79', 84'		 Report
Attendance: 18,769
Germany
England
Germany
GERMANY:
GK1Manuel Neuer
RB2Andreas Beck
CB4Benedikt Höwedes
CB5Jérôme Boateng
LB3Sebastian BoenischYellow card 65'
DM15Mats Hummelsdownward-facing red arrow 83'
RM14Fabian Johnsondownward-facing red arrow 69'
CM20Gonzalo Castro
CM8Sami Khedira (c)
LM10Mesut Özildownward-facing red arrow 89'
CF13Sandro WagnerYellow card 84'
Substitutions:
MF16Daniel Schwaabupward-facing green arrow 69'
MF6Dennis Aogoupward-facing green arrow 83'
DF19Marcel Schmelzerupward-facing green arrow 89'
Coach:
Germany Horst Hrubesch
England
ENGLAND:
GK22Scott Loach
RB2Martin Craniedownward-facing red arrow 79'
CB17Micah Richards
CB6Nedum Onuohadownward-facing red arrow 46'
LB19Kieran Gibbs
DM12Fabrice Muambadownward-facing red arrow 78'
CM4Lee Cattermole
CM10Mark Noble (c)
RW7James Milner
LW11Adam Johnson
CF14Theo Walcott
Substitutions:
DF18Michael Mancienneupward-facing green arrow 46'
MF15Jack Rodwellupward-facing green arrow 78'
MF8Craig Gardnerupward-facing green arrow 79'
Coach:
England Stuart Pearce

Man of the Match:
Mesut Özil (Germany)

Assistant referees:
Joël De Bruyn (Belgium)
György Ring (Hungary)
Fourth official:
Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Goalscorers

Match ball

The match ball for the competition is called the Adidas Terrapass, which was unveiled at the tournament draw in Gothenburg on 3 December. The ball is bright blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag. It features 12 watermarks including one containing a map of Europe and one of the tournament logo. It is composed of 14 thermally bonded panels, which are claimed to improve the ball's accuracy and swerve.

References
  1. "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007/09" (PDF). uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  2. "Lineup complete for 2009 Under-21 finals". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  3. "Spanien, England och Italien blev seedade". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Svenska Fotbollförbundet. 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  4. "Sweden's five cities fit for 2009". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  5. "Borås loses Under-21 European Football Championships because of Sponsorship Conflict". Sveriges Radio International. Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  6. "MAX hamburgers vs. McDonald's at football championship". The Local. The Local Europe. 19 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  7. "Borås loses out in Uefa burger battle". The Local. The Local Europe. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. "U21-EM 2009: Halmstad föreslås bli värdstad". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Svenska Fotbollförbundet. 2 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  9. "UEFA U21-EM: Klartecken för Halmstad". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Svenska Fotbollförbundet. 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  10. "U21-semifinal till Helsingborg". helsingborg.se (in Swedish). Helsingborgs Stad. 5 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  11. Taxén, Mats (6 October 2008). "Malmö: Tre kilometer EM-stråk mitt i stan". svenskfotboll.se. Svenska Fotbollförbundet. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.

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