UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the competition also serves as the UEFA qualification tournament for the Summer Olympics.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Organising bodyUEFA
Founded1978 (1978)
RegionEurope
Number of teams55 (total)
16 (finals)
Current champions England (3rd title)
Most successful team(s) Italy
 Spain
(5 titles each)
WebsiteOfficial website
2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Italy and Spain are the most successful teams in this competition, having won five titles each. England are the current champions, having beaten Spain 1–0 in the 2023 final.

History

Trophy of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The competition has existed in its current form since 1978. It was preceded by the Under-23 Challenge Cup which ran from 1967 to 1970. From the teams that applied for participation, two teams were selected by lot. These teams in the match between themselves revealed the winner of the main trophy. The winner was obliged to play with those teams that called him to the next meeting. These matches were initially held no more than once every three months, starting from the fourth tournament - in spring and autumn. In the event that several teams challenged the winner, the order of opponents was determined by lot. The cup holder was allowed to play games at home. Only two teams held that trophy: Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. In 1970, the tournament was replaced by the European Youth Championship.

A true Under-23 championship was then formed, starting in 1973. The tournament ran parallel to already existing main UEFA youth tournament that existed after the World War II (today the under-19 competitions). Around 1980, the UEFA has been reforming its junior squad competitions and reorganized them based on age limit only.

The age limit was reduced to 21 for the 1978 championship and it has remained so since. To be eligible for the campaign ending in 2025, players must be born in 2002 or later. Many may actually be 23 years old by the time of the final tournament; however, when the qualification process began (2023), all players would have been 21 or under.

Under-21 matches were typically played on the day before senior internationals and where possible, the same qualifying groups and fixtures were played out. This has changed since the 2006 edition.

The tournament's record attendance was set during the knockout stage of the 2023 edition, when 44,338 spectators gathered for the match between hosts Georgia and Israel.[1]

Format

Up to and including the 1992 competition, all entrants were divided into eight qualification groups, the eight winners of which formed the quarter-finals lineup. The remaining fixtures were played out on a two-legged, home and away basis to determine the eventual winner.

For the 1994 competition, one of the semi-finalists, France, was chosen as a host for the (single-legged) semi-finals, third-place playoff and final. Similarly, Spain was chosen to host the last four matches in 1996.

For 1998, nine qualification groups were used, as participation had reached 46, nearly double the 24 entrants in 1976. The top seven group winners qualified automatically for the finals, whilst the eighth- and ninth-best qualifiers, Greece and England, played-off for the final spot. The remaining matches, from the quarter-finals onward, were held in Romania, one of the eight qualifiers.

The 2000 competition also had nine groups, but the nine winners and seven runners-up went into a two-legged playoff to decide the eight qualifiers. From those, Slovakia was chosen as host. For the first time, the familiar finals group stage was employed, with the two winners contesting a final, and two runners-up contesting the third-place playoff. The structure in 2002 was identical, except for the introduction of a semi-finals round after the finals group stage. Switzerland hosted the 2002 finals.

In 2004, ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and six best runners-up going into the playoff. Germany was host that year. For 2006, the top two teams of eight large qualification groups provided the 16 teams for the playoffs, held in November 2005. Portugal hosted the finals.

Then followed the switch to odd years. The change was made because the senior teams of many nations often chose to promote players from their under-21s team as their own qualification campaign intensified. Staggering the tournaments allowed players more time to develop in the under-21 team rather than get promoted too early and end up becoming reserves for the seniors.

The 2007 competition actually began before the 2006 finals, with a qualification round to eliminate eight of the lowest-ranked nations. For the first time, the host (Netherlands) was chosen ahead of the qualification section. As hosts, Netherlands qualified automatically. Coincidentally, the Dutch team had won the 2006 competition – the holders would normally have gone through the qualification stage. The other nations were all drawn into fourteen three-team groups. The 14 group winners were paired in double-leg play-off to decide the seven qualifiers alongside the hosts.

From 2009 to 2015, ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and four best runners-up going into the two-legged playoffs.

The 2015 finals was to be the last eight teams edition, as UEFA expanded the tournament to twelve teams starting from the 2017 edition.[2]

On 6 February 2019, UEFA's Executive Committee increased the number of participants in the finals to sixteen teams, starting from the 2021 edition.[3]

Results

Edition Year Hosts Final Losing semi-finalists Number of teams
Winner Score Runner-up
1972–1976: Under-23 championships
1 1972 Home-and-away basis
Czechoslovakia
2–2 / 3–1
5–3 on aggregate

Soviet Union
 Bulgaria and  Greece 8 (23)
2 1974 Home-and-away basis
Hungary
2–3 / 4–0
6–3 on aggregate

East Germany
 Poland and  Soviet Union 8 (21)
3 1976 Home-and-away basis
Soviet Union
1–1 / 2–1
3–2 on aggregate

Hungary
 Netherlands and  Yugoslavia 8 (23)
Since 1978: Under-21 championships
Edition Year Hosts Final Losing semi-finalists
(or third place match)
Number of teams
Winner Score Runner-up
1 1978 Home-and-away basis
Yugoslavia
1–0 / 4–4
5–4 on aggregate

East Germany
 Bulgaria and  England 8 (24)
2 1980 Home-and-away basis
Soviet Union
0–0 / 1–0
1–0 on aggregate

East Germany
 England and  Yugoslavia 8 (25)
3 1982 Home-and-away basis
England
3–1 / 2–3
5–4 on aggregate

West Germany
 Scotland and  Soviet Union 8 (26)
4 1984 Home-and-away basis
England
1–0 / 2–0
3–0 on aggregate

Spain
 Italy and  Yugoslavia 8 (30)
5 1986 Home-and-away basis
Spain
1–2 / 2–1
3–3 on aggregate
(3–0 p)

Italy
 England and  Hungary 8 (29)
6 1988 Home-and-away basis
France
0–0 / 3–0
3–0 on aggregate

Greece
 England and  Netherlands 8 (30)
7 1990 Home-and-away basis
Soviet Union
4–2 / 3–1
7–3 on aggregate

Yugoslavia
 Italy and  Sweden 8 (30)
8 1992 Home-and-away basis
Italy
2–0 / 0–1
2–1 on aggregate

Sweden
 Denmark and  Scotland 8 (32)
9 1994  France
Italy
1–0
(a.e.t.)

Portugal

Spain
2–1
France
8 (32)
10 1996  Spain
Italy
1–1
(4–2 p)

Spain

France
1–0
Scotland
8 (44)
11 1998  Romania
Spain
1–0
Greece

Norway
2–0
Netherlands
8 (46)
12 2000  Slovakia
Italy
2–1
Czech Republic

Spain
1–0
Slovakia
8 (47)
13 2002   Switzerland
Czech Republic
0–0
(3–1 p)

France
 Italy and   Switzerland 8 (47)
14 2004  Germany
Italy
3–0
Serbia and Montenegro

Portugal
3–2
(a.e.t.)

Sweden
8 (48)
15 2006  Portugal
Netherlands
3–0
Ukraine
 France and  Serbia and Montenegro 8 (51)
16 2007  Netherlands
Netherlands
4–1
Serbia
 Belgium and  England 8 (51)
17 2009  Sweden
Germany
4–0
England
 Italy and  Sweden 8 (52)
18 2011  Denmark
Spain
2–0
Switzerland

Belarus
1–0
Czech Republic
8 (53)
19 2013  Israel
Spain
4–2
Italy
 Netherlands and  Norway 8 (53)
20 2015  Czech Republic
Sweden
0–0
(4–3 p)

Portugal
 Denmark and  Germany 8 (53)
21 2017  Poland
Germany
1–0
Spain
 England and  Italy 12 (53)
22 2019  Italy
Spain
2–1
Germany
 France and  Romania 12 (55)
23 2021  Hungary
 Slovenia

Germany
1–0
Portugal
 Netherlands and  Spain 16 (55)
24 2023  Romania
 Georgia

England
1–0
Spain
 Israel and  Ukraine 16 (54)
25 2025  Slovakia 16 (53)

Performances by countries

Team Winners Runners-up Third place
 Spain 5 (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019) 4 (1984, 1996, 2017, 2023) 2 (1994, 2000)
 Italy 5 (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004) 2 (1986, 2013)
 Germany[lower-alpha 1] 3 (2009, 2017, 2021) 2 (1982, 2019)
 England 3 (1982, 1984, 2023) 1 (2009)
 Russia[lower-alpha 2] 2 (1980, 1990)
 Netherlands 2 (2006, 2007)
 Serbia[lower-alpha 3] 1 (1978) 3 (1990, 2004, 2007)
 France 1 (1988) 1 (2002) 1 (1996)
 Czech Republic 1 (2002) 1 (2000)
 Sweden 1 (2015) 1 (1992)
 Portugal 3 (1994, 2015, 2021) 1 (2004)
 East Germany 2 (1978, 1980)
 Greece 2 (1988, 1998)
 Ukraine 1 (2006)
  Switzerland 1 (2011)
 Norway 1 (1998)
 Belarus 1 (2011)
  1. Includes West Germany
  2. Includes the Soviet Union
  3. Includes Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro

Comprehensive team results by tournament

Legend
Teams 19781980198219841986198819901992
1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019


2021


2023

2025
Total
 Albania ×××QF× 1
 Austria ×GS 1
 Belarus Part of USSR×GSGS3rd 3
 Belgium GSSFGSGS 4
 Bulgaria SFQF 2
 Croatia Part of Yugoslavia××GSGSGSQFGS 5
 Czech Republic1 QFQFQFQFQFQFQF2nd1stGS4thGSGSGSGS 15
 Denmark QFQFSFGSGSSFGSGSQF 9
 East Germany 2nd2ndPart of Germany 2
 England SFSF1st1stSFSFGSGSSF2ndGSGSGSSFGSGS1st 17
 Finland GS 1
 France QFQFQF1st4th3rd2ndSFSFQFQF 11
 Georgia Part of USSR××QF 1
 Germany2 ××2ndQFQFQFQFGSGS1stGSSF1st2nd1stGS 14
 Greece 2ndQF2ndGS 4
 Hungary QFQFSFQFGS 5
 Iceland ×××GSGS 2
 Israel Member of OFCGSGSSF 3
 Italy QFQFQFSF2ndQFSF1st1st1st1stSF1stGSGSSF2ndGSSFGSQFGS 22
 Netherlands ×SFQF4thGS1st1stSFSFGS 9
 North Macedonia Part of Yugoslavia××GS 1
 Norway 3rdSFGS 3
 Poland QFQFQFQFQFGSGS 7
 Portugal ×2ndQFGS3rdGSGS2ndGS2ndQF 10
 Romania QFSFGSGS 4
 Russia3 1stSF1stQFQFGSGS×× 7
 Scotland QFSFQFQFSF4th 6
 Serbia4 1stSFSF2nd××2ndSF2ndGSGSGSGS 11
 Slovakia Part of Czechoslovakia4thGSq 3
 Slovenia Part of Yugoslavia××GS 1
 Spain QF2nd1stQFQF3rd2nd1st3rdGS1st1st2nd1stSF2nd 16
 Sweden QFSF2ndQF4thSF1stGS 8
  Switzerland SFGS2ndGSQF 5
 Turkey GS 1
 Ukraine Part of USSR×2ndGSSF 3
Total888888888888888888881212161616
Notes

Awards

Player of the Tournament

The Player of the Tournament award, formerly known as the Golden Player, is awarded to the player who plays the most outstanding football during the tournament. Since 2013, an official Player of the Tournament has been selected by the UEFA Technical Team.[4]

Year Golden Player Ref.
1978 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vahid Halilhodžić [5]
1980 Soviet Union Anatoliy Demyanenko [6]
1982 West Germany Rudi Völler [7]
1984 England Mark Hateley [8]
1986 Spain Manolo Sanchís [9]
1988 France Laurent Blanc [10]
1990 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Davor Šuker [11]
1992 Italy Renato Buso [12]
1994 Portugal Luís Figo [13]
1996 Italy Fabio Cannavaro [14]
1998 Spain Francesc Arnau [15]
2000 Italy Andrea Pirlo [16]
2002 Czech Republic Petr Čech [17]
2004 Italy Alberto Gilardino [18]
2006 Netherlands Klaas-Jan Huntelaar [19]
2007 Netherlands Royston Drenthe [20]
2009 Sweden Marcus Berg [21]
2011 Spain Juan Mata [22]
2013 Spain Thiago [23]
2015 Portugal William Carvalho [24]
2017 Spain Dani Ceballos [25]
2019 Spain Fabián [26]
2021 Portugal Fábio Vieira [27]
2023 England Anthony Gordon [28]

Top Scorer

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship Top Scorer award, formerly known as the Golden Boot, is handed to the player who scores the most goals during the tournament. Since the 2013 tournament, those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot awards as the second and third top goalscorers in the tournament, respectively.

Year First place Goals Second place Goals Third place Goals Ref.
2000 Italy Andrea Pirlo 3         [29]
2002 Italy Massimo Maccarone 3 [29]
2004 Italy Alberto Gilardino 4 [29]
2006 Netherlands Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 4 [29]
2007 Netherlands Maceo Rigters 4 [29]
2009 Sweden Marcus Berg 7 [29]
2011 Spain Adrián 5 [29]
2013 Spain Álvaro Morata 4 Spain Thiago 3 Spain Isco 3 [30]
2015 Czech Republic Jan Kliment 3 Germany Kevin Volland 2 Sweden John Guidetti 2 [29]
2017 Spain Saúl 5 Spain Marco Asensio 3 Portugal Bruma 3 [31]
2019 Germany Luca Waldschmidt 7 Romania George Pușcaș 4 Germany Marco Richter 3 [32]
2021 Germany Lukas Nmecha 4 Italy Patrick Cutrone 3 Portugal Dany Mota 3 [33]
2023 Spain Sergio Gómez
Spain Abel Ruiz
Ukraine Heorhiy Sudakov
3         [34]

Euro Under-21 dream team

On 17 June 2015, UEFA revealed an all-time best XI from the previous Under-21 final tournaments.[35]

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Germany Manuel Neuer Serbia Branislav Ivanović
Germany Mats Hummels
Italy Alessandro Nesta
Italy Giorgio Chiellini
England Frank Lampard
Italy Andrea Pirlo
Spain Xavi
Germany Mesut Özil
Italy Francesco Totti
Spain Raúl

See also

References

  1. "Under-21 EURO finals attendance record broken". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  2. "U21 final tournament expanding to 12 teams". UEFA.com. 24 January 2014.
  3. "Aleksander Čeferin re-elected UEFA President until 2023". UEFA.com. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  4. UEFA.com (21 June 2013). "Thiago leads all-star squad dominated by Spain". UEFA.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. "1978: Vahid Halilhodžić". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  6. "1980: Anatoliy Demyanenko". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  7. "1982: Rudi Völler". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  8. "1984: Mark Hateley". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  9. "1986: Manuel Sanchís". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  10. "1988: Laurent Blanc". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  11. "1990: Davor Šuker". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  12. "1992: Renato Buso". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013.
  13. "1994: Luís Figo". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  14. "1996: Fabio Cannavaro". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  15. "1998: Francesc Arnau". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  16. "2000: Andrea Pirlo". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  17. "2002: Petr Čech". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  18. "2004: Alberto Gilardino". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  19. "2006: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  20. "2007: Royston Drenthe". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  21. "2009: Marcus Berg". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  22. "2009: Juan Mata". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  23. "2013: Thiago Alcântara". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  24. "William named U21 EURO player of the tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  25. "Spain's Dani Ceballos named Player of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
  26. "Fabián Ruiz named SOCAR Player of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
  27. "2021 Under-21 EURO Player of the Tournament: Fábio Vieira". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  28. "England's Anthony Gordon named 2023 Under-21 EURO Player of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  29. "Czech striker Kliment wins Golden Boot award". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 June 2015.
  30. Adams, Sam (18 June 2013). "Morata wins Golden Boot in Spanish clean sweep". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 1 July 2017. 2013 Under-21 finals top scorers
    Golden Boot: Álvaro Morata, Spain – 4 goals, 1 assist
    Silver Boot: Thiago Alcántara – 3 goals, 1 assist
    Bronze Boot: Isco, Spain – 3 goals
  31. "Saúl Ñíguez wins U21 EURO adidas Golden Boot". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017. Golden Boot: Saúl Ñíguez (Spain) – 5 goals, 1 assist
    Silver Boot: Marco Asensio (Spain) – 3 goals, 1 assist
    Bronze Boot: Bruma (Portugal) – 3 goals
  32. "Spain beat Germany for fifth U21 title". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  33. "Germany's Lukas Nmecha wins U21 Top Scorer award". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  34. "Under-21 EURO Top Scorers: Abel Ruiz, Sergio Gómez and Georgiy Sudakov tie". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  35. "Our all-time Under-21 EURO dream team". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
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