# 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants. Northern Ireland competed for the first time. For the first time a finals tournament with two groups of four teams was held, with one of those teams, Slovakia, having been chosen as the hosts. The top four teams in this competition qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Italy won the competition for the fourth time, thus qualified for the Olympic Games finals, alongside Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain.

## Qualification

The 47 national teams were divided into nine groups (seven groups of 5 + two groups of 6). The records of the nine group runners-up were then compared. The top seven joined the nine winners in a play-off for the eight finals spots. One of the eight qualifiers was then chosen to host the remaining fixtures.

### Qualified teams

| Country | Qualified as | Date qualification was secured | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Italy | 00 Group 1 and play-off winner | 17 November 1999 | 10 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996) |
| Turkey | 01 Group 3 and play-off winner | 16 November 1999 | 0 (debut) |
| England | 02 Group 5 and play-off winner | 29 March 2000 | 6 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988) |
| Spain | 03 Group 6 and play-off winner | 16 November 1999 | 10 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998) |
| Netherlands | 04 Group 6 runners-up and play-off winner | 17 November 1999 | 3 (1988, 1992, 1998) |
| Slovakia (hosts) | 05 Group 7 and play-off winner | 17 November 1999 | 0 (debut) (7 including Czechoslovakia) |
| Croatia | 06 Group 8 and play-off winner | 17 November 1999 | 0 (debut) |
| Czech Republic | 07 Group 9 runners-up and play-off winner | 17 November 1999 | 1 (1996) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year
    $^2$ Italic indicates host for that year
    $^3$ England were originally scheduled to play two legs against Yugoslavia. However, the first leg which was supposed to have taken place in Belgrade was cancelled due to political tensions. An alternative leg in Luxembourg was also cancelled due to security reasons. A second leg at Mini Estadi in Barcelona was held on 29 March 2000, which England won 3–0.

## Venues

Four venues were selected for the competition.
| Bratislava | Trenčín | Trnava | Bratislava |
| Tehelné pole | Štadión na Sihoti | Štadión Antona Malatinského | Štadión Pasienky |
| 48°09′48.81″N 17°08′12.68″E﻿ / ﻿48.1635583°N 17.1368556°E﻿ / 48.1635583; 17.1368556﻿ (Tehelné pole) | 48°53′55.25″N 18°02′41.06″E﻿ / ﻿48.8986806°N 18.0447389°E﻿ / 48.8986806; 18.0447389﻿ (Štadión na Sihoti) | 48°22′24″N 17°35′30″E﻿ / ﻿48.37333°N 17.59167°E﻿ / 48.37333; 17.59167﻿ (Štadión Antona Malatinského) | 48°09′58.24″N 17°08′33.01″E﻿ / ﻿48.1661778°N 17.1425028°E﻿ / 48.1661778; 17.1425028﻿ (Štadión Pasienky) |
| Capacity: 30,087 | Capacity: 22,079 | Capacity: 18,500 | Capacity: 8,632 |
| BratislavaTrenčínTrnava2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (Slovakia) ||||

## Match officials

Seven match officials and nine assistants were selected for the competition, including two officials representing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Selearajen Subramaniam from Malaysia and Hamdi Al Kadri from Syria.
| Country | Referee | Assistants | Assistants | Fourth officials | Matches refereed |
| France | Stéphane Bré | Egon Bereuter (Austria) | Vincent Texier (France) | Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia) Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland) | Croatia 1–2 Netherlands England 6–0 Turkey |
| Germany | Herbert Fandel | Harald Sather (Germany) | Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria) Egon Bereuter (Austria) | Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia) Stéphane Bré (France) | Czech Republic 3–1 Netherlands England 0–2 Slovakia |
| Malaysia | Selearajen Subramaniam | Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria) | Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria) | Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia) | Czech Republic 3–1 Netherlands |
| Northern Ireland | Leslie Irvine | John McElhinney (Scotland) Egon Bereuter (Austria) | Mikhail Semionov (Russia) Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria) | Valentin Ivanov (Russia) Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia) | Spain 1–1 Czech Republic Spain 1–0 Slovakia |
| Russia | Valentin Ivanov | Mikhail Semionov (Russia) Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria) | Maciej Wierzbowski (Poland) Mikhail Semionov (Russia) | Karl-Erik Nilsson (Sweden) Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia) | Spain 0–0 Croatia Turkey 1–3 Italy |
| Sweden | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Maciej Wierzbowski (Poland) | Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria) Ferenc Székely (Hungary) Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria) | Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland) Dieter Schoch (Switzerland) | Czech Republic 4–3 Croatia Slovakia 2–1 Turkey Czech Republic 1–2 Italy |
| Switzerland | Dieter Schoch | Ferenc Székely (Hungary) | John McElhinney (Scotland) | Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia) Herbert Fandel (Germany) | Netherlands 0–1 Spain Italy 1–1 Slovakia |

## Matches
### Group stage
#### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Czech Republic | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 7 |
| Spain | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 |
| Croatia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 1 |

#### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Italy | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 |
| Slovakia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 3 |
| Turkey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 |

### Final
## Goalscorers

Andrea Pirlo was the top goalscorer of three goals. He was also announced as the UEFA Golden Player award recipient.

### 3 goals

* Andrea Pirlo

### 2 goals

* Igor Tudor
* Lukáš Došek
* David Jarolím
* Roberto Baronio
* Peter Babnič

### 1 goal

* Darko Miladin
* Anthony Šerić
* Milan Baroš
* Tomáš Došek
* Marek Jankulovski
* Adam Petrouš
* Libor Sionko
* Andy Campbell
* Carl Cort
* Francis Jeffers
* Ledley King
* Frank Lampard
* Danny Mills
* Gianni Comandini
* Gionatha Spinesi
* Nicola Ventola
* Anthony Lurling
* Mark van Bommel
* Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink
* Miguel Ángel Angulo
* Jordi Ferrón
* Albert Luque
* Marián Čišovský
* Vratislav Greško
* Szilárd Németh
* Serhat Akın
* Ahmet Dursun

## Medal table and Olympic qualifiers

* Italy, Czechia, Spain and Slovakia qualified for Olympic Games finals.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| | Italy | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 10 | Gold medal |
| | Czech Republic | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 7 | Silver medal |
| | Spain | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 8 | Bronze medal |
| 4 | Slovakia (H) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Fourth place |
| 5 | England | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 6 | Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 7 | Croatia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 8 | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |