2011 European Under-21 Football Championship

2011 European Under-21 Football Championship
UEFA Under 21 Championship
Number of nations	8  (of 53 applicants)
European champion	Spain (3rd title)
venue	Denmark
Opening game	June 11, 2011
Endgame	June 25, 2011
Games	16
Gates	36  (⌀: 2.25 per game)
spectator	101,000  (⌀: 6,313 per game)
Top scorer	Adrián López (5 goals)
Best player	Juan Mata
yellow cards	79  (⌀: 4.94 per game)
Yellow-red cards	2  (⌀: 0.13 per game)
Red cards	2  (⌀: 0.13 per game)

EM mascot "Andy"

Advertising for the tournament in Viborg (Image: Lars Schmidt)

The finals of the U-21 European Football Championship 2011 took place for the first time in Denmark from June 11th to 25th. Players born on or after January 1, 1988 were allowed to participate. All UEFA member associations took part in the 21st European Under-21 Football Championship for the first time - 53 nations at the time. As the organizer, Denmark was automatically set for the final round of the last eight teams. The other seven finalists had to qualify first.

The Spanish U-21 team emerged victorious from the tournament, defeating Switzerland 2-0 (1-0) in the final. For Spain this meant the third title after 1986 and 1998, while Switzerland was able to qualify for the final for the first time.

The tournament also served as the European qualifier for the men's soccer tournament at the London 2012 Olympics.

qualification

→ Main article : 2011 European Under-21 Football Championship / qualification

mode

The teams were divided into two groups. The group winners and the runners-up reached the semi-finals, the winners of the semi-finals reached the final. In the event of a tie, the direct comparison decided.

Attendees

The following U-21 national teams had qualified for the tournament:

•  Denmark (host)
•  England
•  Iceland
•  Switzerland
•  Spain
•  Czech Republic
•  Ukraine
•  Belarus

→ For the team squad, see the sub-article U-21 European Football Championship 2011 / squad

Venues

Aarhus	Aalborg	Herning	Viborg
Aarhus Stadium	Aalborg Stadium	Herning Stadium	Viborg Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 10,500	Capacity: 11,809	Capacity: 9,566
Aalborg Aarhus Viborg Herning Venues

Preliminary round

Group A

While Switzerland could confidently take the group victory with three convincing victories, behind these dramatic scenes played out. At the end of the preliminary round, three teams were tied with three points each, so that, according to the regulations, direct encounters had to be used for the decision. Belarus had the better end for themselves with a goal difference of 3: 2 against Iceland (3: 3) and organizers Denmark (3: 4). While Iceland's coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson was quite satisfied despite the elimination and praised the "perfect attitude" of his players, Danish coach Keld Bordinggaard was disappointed and complained about having failed because of the lack of chances.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Switzerland	3	3	0	0	006-000	+6	09
2.	Belarus	3	1	0	2	003: 500	−2	03
3.	Iceland	3	1	0	2	003: 500	−2	03
4th	Denmark	3	1	0	2	003: 500	−2	03

Sat, June 11, 2011, in Aarhus
Belarus	-	Iceland	2: 0 (0: 0)
Goal scorers: 1-0 Andrej Warankou (77th, penalty ), 2-0 Maksim Skavysh (87th) Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev
Sat, June 11, 2011, in Aalborg
Denmark	-	Switzerland	0: 1 (0: 0)
Goal scorers: 0: 1 Xherdan Shaqiri (48th) Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer
Tue., June 14, 2011, in Aalborg
Switzerland	-	Iceland	2: 0 (2: 0)
Goal scorers: 1: 0 Fabian Frei (1st), 2: 0 Innocent Emeghara (40th) Referee: Marijo Strahonja
Tue., June 14, 2011, in Aarhus
Denmark	-	Belarus	2: 1 (1: 1)
Goalscorers: 0: 1 Dsmitry Baha (20th), 1: 1 Christian Eriksen (22nd, penalty margin), 2: 1 Nicolai Jørgensen (71st) Referee: Paolo Tagliavento
Sat, June 18, 2011, in Aalborg
Iceland	-	Denmark	3: 1 (0: 0)
Goal scorers: 1-0 Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (58th), 2-0 Birkir Bjarnason (60th), 2: 1 Bashkim Kadrii (81st), 3: 1 Hjörtur Valgarðsson (90th + 2 ') Referee: Milorad Mažić
Sat., June 18, 2011 in Aarhus
Switzerland	-	Belarus	3: 0 (2: 0)
Goal scorers: 1-0 Admir Mehmedi (6th, penalty), 2-0 Admir Mehmedi (43rd), 3-0 Frank Feltscher (93rd) Referee: Markus Strömbergsson

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	3	2	1	0	006: 100	+5	07th
2.	Czech Republic	3	2	0	1	004: 400	± 0	06th
3.	England	3	0	2	1	002: 300	−1	02
4th	Ukraine	3	0	1	2	001: 500	−4	01

Player of the Czech team after Bořek Dočkals (No. 8) 2-0 against Ukraine

Sun., June 12, 2011, in Viborg
Czech Republic	-	Ukraine	2: 1 (0: 0)
Goalscorers: 1: 0 Bořek Dočkal (49th), 2: 0 Bořek Dočkal (56th), 2: 1 Maksym Bilyi (87th) Referee: Milorad Mažić
Sun June 12, 2011 in Herning
Spain	-	England	1: 1 (1: 0)
Goalscorers: 1: 0 Ander Herrera (14th), 1: 1 Danny Welbeck (87th) Referee: Markus Strömbergsson
Wed., June 15, 2011, in Viborg
Czech Republic	-	Spain	0: 2 (0: 1)
Goal scorers: 0: 1 Adrián López (27.), 0: 2 Adrián López (47.) Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer
Wed., June 15, 2011, in Herning
Ukraine	-	England	0-0
Goal scorers: none Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev
Sun., June 19, 2011, in Viborg
England	-	Czech Republic	1: 2 (0: 0)
Goal scorers: 1: 0 Danny Welbeck (76th), 1: 1 Jan Chramosta (89th), 1: 2 Tomáš Pekhart (90th + 4 ') Referee: Paolo Tagliavento
Sun., June 19, 2011 in Herning
Ukraine	-	Spain	0: 3 (0: 2)
Goalscorers: 0: 1 Juan Mata (10th), 0: 2 Adrián López (27th), 0: 3 Adrián López Juan Mata (72nd, penalty ); Yevhen Konoplyanka missed a penalty for Ukraine (75th) Referee: Marijo Strahonja

Final round

Semifinals

Wed., June 22, 2011, in Viborg
Spain	-	Belarus	3: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 1)
Goal scorers: 0: 1 Andrej Warankou (38th), 1: 1 Adrián López (89th), 2: 1 Adrián (105th), 3: 1 Jeffrén (113th) Referee: Markus Strömbergsson
Wed., June 22, 2011, in Herning
Switzerland	-	Czech Republic	1: 0 a.d.
Goal scorers: 1: 0 Admir Mehmedi (114.) Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer

Playoff game for the Olympic Games

The four British football associations had agreed that England should provide a team and, as an automatically qualified team, represent the host country under the name Great Britain . Of the seven remaining teams at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the three best teams qualified as representatives of Europe for the 2012 Olympic football tournament in London. Since England did not reach the semi-finals, a playoff between the two losing semi-finalists was required.

With the 1-0 win against the Czech Republic, which had to do without Lukáš Vácha from the 75th minute of the game after a yellow-red card , Belarus qualified together with the two finalists for the Summer Olympics.

pairing	Czech Republic - Belarus
Result	0: 1 (0: 0)
date	June 25, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.
Stadion	Aalborg Stadion , Aalborg 817 spectators
referee	Milorad Mažić ( Serbia )
Gates	0: 1 Egor Filipenko (88.)
Warnings	Lukáš Vácha (31st), Libor Kozák (78th), Marcel Gecov (82nd) ​​/ Oleg Veretilo (26th), Andrej Warankou (44th), Maksim Skavysh (60th), Aljaksandr Hutar (90th + 1 ' )
References	Lukáš Vácha (75th)
Czech Republic	Tomáš Vaclík ; Jan Lecjaks (13th Jan Kovařík ), Ondřej Mazuch , Marek Suchý , Ondřej Čelůstka ; Marcel Gecov ; Adam Hloušek (46th Libor Kozák ), Tomáš Hořava , Lukáš Vácha , Bořek Dočkal ; Jan Chramosta (83rd Václav Kadlec ) System 4-1-4-1 Coach: Jakub Dovalil
Belarus	Aljaksandr Hutar ; Siarhei Matveichyk (76th Dsjanis Paljakou ), Sergey Politevich , Egor Filipenko , Oleg Veretilo ; Pavel Nekhaychik , Michail Siwakou , Stanislau Drahun , Aleksandrs Perepecko (34th Dsmitry Baha ); Maksim Skavysh (83rd Dmitriy Rekish ), Andrej Warankou System 4-4-2 coach: Georgiy Kondratiev

final

While Switzerland was able to qualify for the final for the first time in the history of this competition and thus landed a huge success, Spain was in the final for the fourth time after 1984 , 1986 and 1998 . The Spaniards had more play from the start and so it was not surprising that they were able to use their superiority to lead 1-0 shortly before the break. The Swiss tried in vain to equalize the deficit after the break, as Spain not only neutralized the game, but also managed to add another goal to make it 2-0 in the finish. This is the third time the Spaniards have won the U-21 European Football Championship after 1986 and 1998. With Adrián López , who missed out in the final , the European champion also provides the winner of the Golden Shoe.

pairing	Switzerland - Spain
Result	0: 2 (0: 1)
date	June 25, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Stadion	Aarhus Stadion , Aarhus 16,100 spectators
referee	Paolo Tagliavento ( Italy )
Gates	0: 1 Ander Herrera (41.), 0: 2 Thiago (81.)
Warnings	Fabian Lustenberger (16.), Gaetano Berardi (61.) / Javi Martínez (77.), David de Gea (90. + 4 ')
Switzerland	Yann Sommer ; Gaetano Berardi , Jonathan Rossini , Timm Klose , Philippe Koch ; Fabian Lustenberger ; Innocent Emeghara (53rd Mario Gavranović ), Fabian Frei (54th Amir Abrashi ), Granit Xhaka (67th Pajtim Kasami ), Xherdan Shaqiri ; Admir Mehmedi System 4-1-4-1 Trainer: Pierluigi Tami
Spain	David de Gea ; Dídac Vilà , Álvaro Domínguez , Alberto Botía , Martín Montoya ; Javi Martínez ; Iker Muniain (85th Dani Parejo ), Ander Herrera (90th Diego Capel ), Thiago , Juan Mata ; Adrián López (80th Jeffrén ) System 4-1-4-1 Coach: Luis Milla

Best goal scorers

The top scorer in the final round was awarded the "Golden Shoe" .

space	player	Gates
1	Adrián López	5
2	Admir Mehmedi	3
3	Bořek Dočkal	2
	Other Herrera	2
	Juan Mata	2
	Andrei Varankou	2
	Danny Welbeck	2

Allstar team

UEFA's technical team has appointed an all-star team after the tournament was over.

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker	Best player
David de Gea Yann Summer Tomáš Vaclík	Nicolai Boilesen Ondřej Čelůstka Dídac Vilà Timm Klose Jaroslaw Rakyzkyj Jonathan Rossini Chris Smalling Kyle Walker	Christian Eriksen Marcel Gecov Ander Herrera Javi Martínez Michail Siwakou Thiago	Adrián López Juan Mata Admir Mehmedi Xherdan Shaqiri Kolbeinn Sigþórsson Daniel Sturridge	Juan Mata

referee

Austria's contribution to the U-21 European Championship: FIFA referee Robert Schörgenhofer.

The games of the European Championship were led by six referees . They were assisted by eight line judges and two fourth officials . The oldest referee was the Italian Paolo Tagliavento at the age of 38; The youngest game director of the Macedonians Aleksandar Stavrev with 34 years and youngest assistant referee of the Irish Damien McGrath with 30 years. All 16 referees were from different nations.

referee	vintage	Linesman	vintage	Fourth official	vintage
Robert Schörgenhofer	1973	Michael Soteriou	1979	Know Hansen	1980
Marijo Strahonja	1975	Jukka-Pekka Koskela	1978	Liran Liany	1977
Paolo Tagliavento	1972	Mark Borsch	1977
Aleksandar Stavrev	1977	Christos Akrivos	1976
Milorad Mažić	1973	Damien McGrath	1980
Markus Strömbergsson	1975	Vytautas Simkus	1975
		Marcin Borkowski	1979
		Venâncio Tomé	1974

Web links

Commons : UEFA European U-21 Championship 2011  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• U21 EURO 2011 on uefa.com
• Details about the 2011 tournament on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Regulations for the 2009-11 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
2. ↑ UEFA.com: Emotional Sverrisson is mighty proud (accessed June 22, 2011)
3. ↑ UEFA: U21 all stars named by UEFA technical team , June 29, 2011
4. ↑ UEFA.com: Six referees lead the way (accessed June 12, 2011)