U-21 European Football Championship
| U-21 European Football Championship | |
 |
|
| abbreviation | U21 European Championship |
| Association | UEFA |
| First edition | 1972 (U-23) |
| Teams | 12 |
| Game mode |
Round tournament (3 groups of 4 teams each) / knockout system (from semi-finals) |
| Title holder |
 Spain (5th title)
|
| Record winner |
 Italy and Spain (5 titles each)
|
| Record player | ? |
| Record scorer |
 Marcus Berg and Luca Waldschmidt (7 goals each)
 |
| Website | uefa.com |
| Qualification for | Olympic football tournament |
The UEFA European Under-21 Championship ( English UEFA Under21 Championship ), shortly even U-21 Championship called, is one of the UEFA oriented tournament for national teams whose players have not completed 21 years of age at the start of qualifying. Since the period between the start of qualification and the final round lasts two years, footballers up to 23 years old can still be in the squad of an U-21 national team at the final round. The U-21 European Football Championship has been held since 1978 and is the successor to the U-23 European Football Championship, which was held from 1972 to 1976. A tournament extends over two years and also serves as qualification for the soccer competition of the Olympic Games every four years.
mode
From 1972 to 1992, the entire competition, including the final, was played in a two-legged manner. The preliminary round was contested in qualifying groups. From the quarter-finals onwards, the knockout system was used .
In 1994 and 1996, the preliminary round was contested in qualifying groups with a return leg, from which the participants had to qualify in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played back and forth. The four winning teams were qualified to take part in the finals. The final round (from the semi-finals), which was carried out in the knockout system, took place in one of the host countries. In 1998 the quarter-finals took place in one of the host countries.
From 2000 to 2015 the qualification consisted of a group stage and play-offs , which was followed by a final round with two groups. Since 2007, the host country has been determined before the qualification and thus the host saves the qualification. The top 14 teams in the group stage qualified for the playoffs (first and second leg). The remaining seven teams and the host country qualified for participation in the finals. In the final round, the group stage started. Four teams each formed two groups. The group winners and runners-up were qualified for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals contested the final.
Since qualifying for the 2017 European Championship , in addition to the hosts, the group winners of nine qualifying groups as well as two of the four best runners-up in the group have qualified in playoff games. The now 12 participating teams will be drawn into three groups, from which the three group winners and the best runners-up qualify for the semi-finals, from which the procedure as before.
At every second event, UEFA determines the four associations that represent Europe in the Olympic football tournament (three associations at the Olympic Games in Europe).
Attendees
All national associations that belong to UEFA are eligible to participate in the U-21 European Championship. Smaller associations did not participate, especially in the early years, for financial reasons. Nevertheless, the number of participants increased steadily. While only 24 teams took part in the U-21 European Championship in 1978, a total of 52 national selections fought for the title at the U-21 European Championship in 2009. For the first time, all member associations - 53 at the time - took part in the 2011 U-21 European Championship. On the qualification for the European Championship in 2019 54 teams take part.
Finals first participations
Up until 2011, there was always at least one national soccer team that took part in a U-21 European soccer championship finals for the first time. The highest number of first-time participants was reached in 1998 when the number of participants increased from four to eight. For the first time in 2013 there were no first-time participants. Below is a list of the first-time participants, each with the flags and names valid at the time. Serbia initially entered as Serbia and Montenegro. UEFA's statistics summarize the results of these teams.
- Teams in bold won the tournament when they first entered a final tournament.
- Teams in italics were the hosts when they first entered a final tournament. Until 1992 there was no final round in a country, but the competition was played back and forth until the final.
| year | First time participant | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 |
 France
|
 Italy
|
 Portugal
|
 Spain
|
| 1996 |
 Scotland
|
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| 1998 |
 Germany
|
 Greece
|
 Netherlands
|
 Norway
|
 Romania
|
 Russia
|
 Sweden
|
||
| 2000 |
 England
|
 Croatia
|
 Slovakia
|
 Czech Republic
|
 Turkey
|
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| 2002 |
 Belgium
|
 Switzerland
|
||
| 2004 |
;_Flag_of_Serbia_and_Montenegro_(2003%E2%80%932006).svg){kind=small} Serbia and Montenegro
|
 Belarus
|
||
| 2006 |
 Denmark
|
 Ukraine
|
||
| 2007 |
 Israel
|
( Serbia )
 |
||
| 2009 |
 Finland
|
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| 2011 |
 Iceland
|
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| 2013 | No first-time participants | |||
| 2015 | No first-time participants | |||
| 2017 |
 Macedonia
|
 Poland
|
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| 2019 |
 Austria
|
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- ↑ a b Serbia is rated by UEFA as the successor to the following three countries: 1. Yugoslavia (no final round), 2. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (no final round) and 3. Serbia and Montenegro (debut 2004). The results of all these teams will be allocated to Serbia in UEFA statistics. As a debut of Serbia thus applies in 2004. Under his own name could Serbia for the first time in 2007 to qualify for the final round.
The tournaments at a glance
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Leaderboards
Ranking of the U-23 / U-21 European champions
| rank | country | title | Year (s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Italy
|
5 | 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
|
Spain
|
5 | 1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019 | |
| 3 |
 Soviet Union
|
3 | 1976, 1980, 1990 |
| 4th |
Germany
|
2 | 2009, 2017 |
 England
|
2 | 1982, 1984 | |
 Netherlands
|
2 | 2006, 2007 | |
| 7th |
 Czechoslovakia
|
1 | 1972 |
 Hungary
|
1 | 1974 | |
.svg){kind=small} Yugoslavia
|
1 | 1978 | |
 France
|
1 | 1988 | |
 Czech Republic
|
1 | 2002 | |
|
Sweden
|
1 | 2015 |
Ranking list of final round participation
From 1972 to 1992 the game was played back and forth until the final. A real finals in one country first took place in 1994 with four teams.
Status: including 2015
| rank | country | Final round participation |
First participation in the
finals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Italy
|
10 | 1994 |
| 2 |
Spain
|
7th | 1994 |
|
England
|
7th | 2000 | |
| 4th |
 Portugal
|
6th | 1994 |
|
Germany
|
6th | 1998 | |
| 6th |
Netherlands
|
5 | 1998 |
|
Czech Republic
|
5 | 2000 | |
| 8th |
France
|
4th | 1994 |
|
Sweden
|
4th | 1998 | |
| 10 |
 Switzerland
|
3 | 2002 |
 Belarus
|
3 | 2004 | |
 Denmark
|
3 | 2006 | |
 Serbia
|
3 | 2007 | |
| 14th |
 Greece
|
2 | 1998 |
 Russia
|
2 | 1998 | |
 Croatia
|
2 | 2000 | |
|
Serbia and Montenegro
|
2 | 2004 | |
 Belgium
|
2 | 2004 | |
 Ukraine
|
2 | 2006 | |
| 20th |
 Scotland
|
1 | 1996 |
 Romania
|
1 | 1998 | |
 Slovakia
|
1 | 2000 | |
 Turkey
|
1 | 2000 | |
 Israel
|
1 | 2007 | |
 Finland
|
1 | 2009 | |
 Iceland
|
1 | 2011 | |
 Norway
|
1 | 1998 |
Top scorer / awards
|
The "Golden Shoe" has been awarded since 2000.
|
The "Golden Player" was named for every tournament
|
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Varia
| competition | places | Stages | Messages 1 | Teams | Games |
|
⌀
|
spectator | viewers ⌀ |
|
⌀
|
|
⌀
|
|
⌀
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 4th | 4th | 6th | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 1996 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 4th | 4th | 7th | 1.75 | ||||||||
| 1998 | 4th | 4th | 46 | 8th | 12 | 22nd | 1.83 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 4th | 4th | 47 | 8th | 14th | 40 | 2.86 | ||||||||
| 2002 | 4th | 4th | 47 | 8th | 15th | 35 | 2.33 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 4th | 4th | 48 | 8th | 16 2 | 52 | 3.25 | ||||||||
| 2006 | 6th | 6th | 48 | 8th | 15th | 34 | 2.27 | ||||||||
| 2007 | 4th | 4th | 51 | 8th | 16 2 | 34 | 2.27 | 192.186 | 12,012 | ||||||
| 2009 | 4th | 4th | 52 | 8th | 15th | 38 | 2.53 | 163.090 | 10,873 | 63 | 4.20 | 2 | 0.13 | 3 | 0.20 |
| 2011 | 4th | 4th | 53 | 8th | 16 2 | 36 | 2.25 | 101,000 | 6.313 | 79 | 4.94 | 2 | 0.13 | 2 | 0.13 |
| 2013 | 4th | 4th | 53 | 8th | 15th | 45 | 3.00 | 170,432 | 11,362 | 56 | 3.73 | 0 | 0.00 | 4th | 0.27 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4th | 53 | 8th | 15th | 37 | 2.47 | 162.994 | 10,866 | 45 | 3.00 | 2 | 0.13 | 2 | 0.13 |
| 2017 | 6th | 6th | 53 | 12 | 21st | 65 | 3.10 | 244.085 | 11,623 | 97 | 4.62 | 3 | 0.14 | 2 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 6th | 6th | 55 | 12 | 21st | 78 | 3.71 | 191,405 | 9.115 | 92 | 4.38 | 1 | 0.05 | 3 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 8th | 8th | 55 | 16 | 31 | ||||||||||
| Respective record | |||||||||||||||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ A stage for the stars of tomorrow. In: uefa.com. UEFA, accessed January 2, 2009 .
- ↑ The trip to the U21 European Championship 2011 starts in Aarhus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , December 18, 2008, accessed January 2, 2009 .