U-19 European Football Championship 2018

This article is about the men's championship. For the Women's European Championship, see the U-19 Women's European Football Championship 2018 .

U-19 European Football Championship 2018
UEFA Under 19 Championship 2018
Number of nations	8  (of 55 applicants)
European champion	Portugal (3rd title)
venue	Finland
Opening game	16th July 2018
Endgame	29th July 2018
Games	16
Gates	58  (⌀: 3.63 per game)
spectator	37,063  (⌀: 2,316 per game)
Top scorer	Jota (5 goals)
yellow cards	59  (⌀: 3.69 per game)
Yellow-red cards	1  (⌀: 0.06 per game)
Red cards	2  (⌀: 0.13 per game)

The final round of the 34th U-19 European Championship will take place from July 16 to 29, 2018 in the Finnish cities of Seinäjoki and Vaasa . A total of eight teams take part.

Award

On January 26, 2015, the Executive Committee of the UEFA European Association awarded Finland the contract to host the 2018 U-19 European Championship. UEFA announced the decision after an Executive Committee meeting in Nyon . After the U-18 European Championships in 1982 and 2001 , Finland is hosting this competition for the third time.

qualification

→ Main article : 2018 U-19 European Football Championship / qualification

The qualification for the tournament took place in two stages. The first qualifying round was followed by a second round, called the elite round . Finland qualified as hosts directly.

First round

The draw for the first round took place on December 13, 2016 in Nyon . Spain and Portugal each received a bye for the elite round in advance. The remaining 52 participants were divided into 13 groups of four teams. The group first and second reached the elite round in spring 2018. In Group 2, which played in Poland from October 4 to 10, 2017, Germany met Northern Ireland and Belarus alongside the hosts. Austria played at home in Group 6 from October 3 to 9, 2016 against Israel, Kosovo and Lithuania. Switzerland and Liechtenstein both played in Group 5, in which they faced Belgium and hosts Macedonia from November 8-14. Both Germany and Austria prevailed as group winners with three wins in three games and qualified for the elite round. Switzerland and Liechtenstein, however, were eliminated. While Switzerland could only win the comparison with Liechtenstein in addition to two defeats, Liechtenstein lost all three games and scored the only goal against Switzerland.

Elite round

The draw for the elite round took place on December 6, 2017 in Nyon . In the elite round, the remaining teams were divided into seven groups of four teams. Each group played a mini-tournament in one country. The seven group winners of the elite round qualified for the final round. The elite round took place from March 21 to 27, 2018.

The draw resulted in the following groups (order according to final placement):

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7
Norway	England	Italy 1	Ukraine	Portugal 1	France	Turkey
Germany 1	Latvia	Poland	Romania 1	Ireland	Spain 1	Denmark 1
Scotland	Hungary	Greece	Serbia	Kosovo	Belgium	Austria
Netherlands	Macedonia 1	Czech Republic	Sweden	Slovakia	Bulgaria	Bosnia a. Herzegovina

¹ Host of the group tournament

The German team of trainer Frank Kramer failed in Group 1 as second in the group because of the Norwegians tied for points. A 3-0 win against Scotland was followed by a 2-5 defeat against Norway. On the last day of the match, all teams had a win and a loss to their credit. Ten minutes before the end of the game, Germany led against the Netherlands 3-1 and Scotland against Norway 4-2, which would have helped Germany to win the group based on a direct comparison. Norway equalized in regular time and then turned the game around with a penalty in added time. With this 5: 4 success with simultaneous 4: 1 victory of the Germans, the Norwegians prevailed as group winners in a direct comparison against Germany.

In Group 7, Austria started with a 2-0 defeat against Turkey. This was followed by a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina (3-0) and a draw against hosts Denmark (2-2). Austria said goodbye to the competition with third place.

Attendees

Host Finland was automatically seeded for the finals. The other seven places went to the seven group winners of the elite round, which was played in March 2018. The draw for the final round took place on May 30th in Vaasa .

Finland (hosts)  Norway (Winner Group 1)  England (Winner Group 2)  Italy (winner group 3)

Ukraine (Winner Group 4)  Portugal (Winner Group 5)  France (Winner Group 6)  Turkey (Winner Group 7)

Venues

Two stadiums in the cities of Seinäjoki and Vaasa were named as the venue . Since both stadiums had no natural grass, all the European Championship matches were played on artificial turf .

Venues of the U-19 European Championship 2018 in Finland
Seinäjoki	Vaasa	Seinäjoki Vaasa Location of the venues
Seinäjoki Stadium	Vaasa stadium
Capacity: 5,672	Capacity: 5,572

Preliminary round

mode

The preliminary round is held in two groups of four teams each. The two group winners and runners-up qualify for the semi-finals.

If two or more teams in the same group have the same number of points at the end of the group matches, the placement is determined according to the following criteria in this order:

a. higher number of points from direct encounters between the teams in question;

b. better goal difference from the direct encounters between the teams in question;

c. higher number of goals scored from direct encounters between the teams in question;

d. If a distinction was made after applying criteria a) to c), but several teams are still tied, criteria a) to c) are reapplied to the direct encounters between the teams in question. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to h) are applied;

e. better goal difference from all group games;

f. higher number of goals scored from all group games;

G. Penalty shoot-out after the last match, if the two teams are tied on the pitch according to the previous criteria and no other team has the same number of points after the end of the last game;

H. lower total number of penalty points based on the yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion after two yellow cards in one game = 3 points);

i. UEFA coefficient at the qualifying draw;

j. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Italy	3	2	1	0	005: 300	+2	07th
2.	Portugal	3	2	0	1	008: 400	+4	06th
3.	Norway	3	1	1	1	005: 600	−1	04th
4th	Finland	3	0	0	3	002: 700	−5	00

Monday, July 16, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Norway	-	Portugal	1: 3 (0: 2)
Monday, July 16, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Finland	-	Italy	0: 1 (0: 1)
Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Finland	-	Norway	2: 3 (1: 1)
Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Portugal	-	Italy	2: 3 (0: 0)
Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Portugal	-	Finland	3: 0 (2: 0)
Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Italy	-	Norway	1: 1 (0: 0)

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Ukraine	3	2	1	0	004: 200	+2	07th
2.	France	3	2	0	1	011: 200	+9	06th
3.	England	3	1	1	1	004: 800	−4	04th
4th	Turkey	3	0	0	3	002: 900	−7	00

Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Turkey	-	England	2: 3 (1: 2)
Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
France	-	Ukraine	1: 2 (1: 1)
Friday, July 20, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Ukraine	-	England	1: 1 (1: 1)
Friday, July 20, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Turkey	-	France	0: 5 (0: 3)
Monday, July 23, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Ukraine	-	Turkey	1: 0 (1: 0)
Monday, July 23, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
England	-	France	0: 5 (0: 2)

Final round

Play for 5th place

In addition to the four semi-finalists, the fifth-placed will also qualify for the 2019 U-20 World Cup in Poland .

Thursday, July 26th, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium)
Norway	-	England	3: 0 (0: 0)

Semifinals

Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Italy	-	France	2: 0 (2: 0)
Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CEST) in Vaasa (Hietalahti Stadium)
Ukraine	-	Portugal	0: 5 (0: 5)

final

Italy		Portugal
	final Sunday, July 29, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. CEST) in Seinäjoki (OmaSP Stadium) Result: 3: 4 n.v. (2: 2, 0: 1) Referee: Juan Martinez Munuera ( Spain )
	Alessandro Plizzari - Alessandro Tripaldelli (65th Antonio Candela ), Gianmaria Zanandrea , Davide Bettella , Raoul Bellanova - Nicolò Zaniolo , Filippo Melegoni (59th Christian Capone ), Davide Frattesi - Andrea Pinamonti (46th Moise Kean ), Gianluca Scamacca , Sandro Tonali (92. Andrea Marcucci ) Trainer: Paolo Nicolato	João Virginia - David Carmo , Romain Correia , Rúben Vinagre , Thierry Correia - Florentino Luís , Domingos Quina (91st Nuno Santos ), Nuno Nunes - Jota (120th Francisco Moura ), José Gomes (83rd Mesaque Dju ), Francisco Trincão ( 101. Pedro Correia ) Coach: Hélio Sousa
	1: 2 Moise Kean (75th) 2: 2 Moise Kean (76th) 3: 3 Gianluca Scamacca (107th)	0: 1 iota (45th + 1 ') 0: 2 Francisco Trincão (72nd) 2: 3 iota (104th) 3: 4 Pedro Correia (109th)
	Nicolò Zaniolo (67th), Moise Kean (76th), Gianmaria Zanandrea (79th), Sandro Tonali (90th + 2 '), Andrea Pinamonti (109th), Davide Frattesi (115th)	José Gomes (71.), Nuno Santos (115.), Jota (120.)

Best goal scorers

Listed below are the top scorers in the final round. The sorting takes place according to the number of goals scored, if the number of hits is the same, the templates and then the game minutes are decisive.

rank	player	Gates	templates	Game minutes
01	Iota	5	3	384
02	Francisco Trincão	5	3	443
03	Amine Gouiri	4th	0	183
04th	Moise Kean	4th	0	286

Team of the tournament

On August 1, 2018, the team of the tournament was published. The two finalists Portugal and Italy are represented by four players each.

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker	Best player
Alessandro Plizzari	Raoul Bellanova Davide Bettella Romain Correia Rúben Vinagre	Mickaël Cuisance Florentino Luís Sandro Tonali	Moussa Diaby Jota Wladyslaw Suprjaha

Web links

• Official website of UEFA for Euro 2017
• Regulations of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2017/18 Official Rules (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ U19 EURO to Georgia and Finland. In: uefa.com. UEFA , January 15, 2015, accessed March 28, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Draw for the 2017/18 U19 qualifying round. In: uefa.com. UEFA, December 13, 2016, accessed March 29, 2018 . 
3. ↑ U19 elite round drawn. In: uefa.com. UEFA, December 6, 2017, accessed March 29, 2018 . 
4. ↑ # U19EURO final round complete: Draw on May 30th. In: uefa.com. UEFA, March 27, 2018, accessed March 29, 2018 . 
5. ↑ 2018 # U19EURO final draws made , uefa.com (English), accessed on June 6, 2018
6. ↑ ^{a b} Venues. In: uefaprogrammes.com. UEFA , accessed October 18, 2018 . 
7. ↑ U19 EURO: Team of the tournament. In: uefa.com. UEFA , March 1, 2018, accessed August 3, 2018 .