2019 European Under-21 Championship

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The **2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship** (also known as **UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019**) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 national teams of Europe. The final tournament was hosted by Italy (and some matches by San Marino) in mid-2019, after their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee on 9 December 2016 in Nyon, Switzerland.

A total of twelve teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1996 eligible to participate.

Same as previous Under-21 Championships that were held one year prior to the Olympics, this tournament served as European qualifying for the Olympic football tournament, with the top four teams of the tournament qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in Japan, where they will be represented by their under-23 national teams with maximum of three overage players allowed. The four teams that qualified for the Olympic Games were the ones that qualified for the knockout stage of this championship. For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system was used at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Germany were the defending champions.

## Hosts

The Italian Football Federation confirmed that Italy would bid to host the tournament in 2019, which also involved the San Marino Football Federation. Italy and San Marino were appointed as hosts at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Nyon on 9 December 2016.Template:Failed verification

## Qualification

Main article: 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Italy qualifying automatically (the other co-hosts San Marino would not qualify automatically), the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining eleven spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition, which took place from March 2017 to November 2018, consisted of two rounds:

* **Qualifying group stage**: The 54 teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams. Each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners qualified directly for the final tournament, while the four best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) advanced to the play-offs.
* **Play-offs**: The four teams were drawn into two ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last two qualified teams.

### Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

*Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).*

Notes
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### Final draw

The final draw was held on 23 November 2018, 18:00 CET (UTC+1), at the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese, hosted by Mia Ceran and conducted by tournament ambassador Andrea Pirlo, who won the tournament in 2000.

The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. Italy, the host country, was assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying stage, calculated based on the following:

* 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (20%)
* 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament and qualifying competition (40%)
* 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition (group stage only) (40%)

Each group contained either the hosts or one team from Pot 1 (which were drawn to position B1 or C1), and one team from Pot 2 and two teams from Pot 3 (which were drawn to any of the positions 2–4 in the groups). The draw pots were as follows:

Hosts

Pot 1
  England | 37,946

Pot 2
  France | 35,182

Pot 3
  Romania | 29,259

## Venues

On 9 December 2016, Italian Football Federation pre-selected venues (including one inside San Marino territory):

* Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in Bologna, Italy
* Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia, Italy
* Stadio Dino Manuzzi in Cesena, Italy
* Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste, Italy
* Dacia Arena in Udine, Italy
* San Marino Stadium in Serravalle, San Marino

## Match officials

**Video Assistant Referees (VAR)**

* Template:Fbaicon Stuart Attwell & Paul Tierney (England)
* Template:Fbaicon Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea & Xavier Estrada Fernández (Spain)
* Template:Fbaicon Ruddy Buquet & François Letexier (France)
* Template:Fbaicon Christian Dingert & Tobias Stieler (Germany)
* Template:Fbaicon Michael Fabbri & Marco Guida (Italy)
* Template:Fbaicon Jochem Kamphuis & Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)
* Template:Fbaicon Luís Godinho & João Pinheiro (Portugal)

## Squads

Main article: 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least 10 full days before the opening match. If a player was injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could be replaced by another player.

## Group stage

The group winners and the best runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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Tiebreakers
In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria would be applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 18.01 and 18.02):

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above would be reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
8. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
9. Position in the UEFA under-21 national team coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

### Group A

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 * Żurkowski  26'
* Bielik  52'
* Szymański  79'
* Cools  84'

 * Chiesa  36', 64'
* Pellegrini  82' (pen.)

 * Olmo  7'
* Fornals  89'

 * Verschaeren  79'
* Cutrone  53'
* Chiesa  89'

 * Fornals  17'
* Oyarzabal  35'
* Fabián  39'
* Ceballos  71'
* Mayoral  90'

### Group B

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* Horvath  78'

 * Richter  28', 52'
* Waldschmidt  65'

 * Mæhle  33', 77'
* Olsen  90+3'

 * Richter  16'
* Waldschmidt  30', 37', 80'
* Dahoud  69'
* Maier  90+2'

 * Danso  24' (pen.)

 * Bruun Larsen  21'
* Rasmussen  51'

### Group C

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 * Pușcaș  11' (pen.)
* Hagi  14'
* Băluță  66'
* Petre  90+3'

 * Foden  54'
* Wan-Bissaka  90+4' (o.g.)

 * Gray  79'
* Abraham  87'
* Hagi  85'
* Coman  89', 90+3'

 * Dembélé  8'

 * Brekalo  39', 82'
* Vlašić  62'
* Maddison  48'
* Kenny  70'

### Ranking of second-placed teams

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The match-ups of the semi-finals depended on which runners-up qualified (Regulations Article 17.02):

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 **Group C** | Winners of Group A | Winners of Group B vs Winners of Group C

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.

### Bracket

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### Semi-finals

 * Amiri  21', 90+4'
* Waldschmidt  51' (pen.), 90'

 * Roca  28'
* Oyarzabal  45+5' (pen.)
* Olmo  47'
* Mayoral  67'

### Final

Main article: 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

* **Player of the Tournament:**  Fabián
* **Golden Boot:**  Luca Waldschmidt

### Team of the tournament

After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.

## Qualified teams for 2020 Summer Olympics

The following four teams from UEFA qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.

 Template:Fbo | 02019-06-23-23 June 2019
 Template:Fbo | 02019-06-24-24 June 2019
 Template:Fbo | 02019-06-24-24 June 2019

1 **Bold** indicates champions for that year. *Italic* indicates hosts for that year.
2 The team represented the United Team of Germany in 1956, and the Federal Republic of Germany (i.e., West Germany) in 1972, 1984 and 1988.
England were ineligible for the Olympics as they are not an Olympic nation (while an agreement was reached between the four British football associations to enter the Great Britain women's team, no agreement was reached for the men's team). Had they reached the semi-finals, the last Olympic spot would have gone to the winner of an Olympic play-off match, scheduled to be played at Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena on 28 June 2019, 21:00 CEST, between the two group runners-up which did not qualify for the semi-finals. However, when England failed to advance out of the group stage, this match was cancelled.

## International broadcasters

### Television

All 21 matches were live streamed for the unsold markets via UEFA.tv and highlights were also available for all territories around the world via the UEFA YouTube channel.

### Radio

#### Outside Europe

* Template:Country data Bolivia
* Template:Country data Chile
* Template:Country data Colombia
* Template:Country data Costa Rica
* Template:Country data Dominican Republic
* Template:Country data Ecuador
* Template:Country data El Salvador
* Template:Country data Guatemala
* Template:Country data Honduras
* Template:Country data Mexico
* Template:Country data Nicaragua
* Template:Country data Panama
* Template:Country data Paraguay
* Template:Country data Peru
* Template:Country data Puerto Rico
* Template:Country data Uruguay
* Template:Country data Venezuela

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* ESPN
* Univision (Puerto Rico, USA and Canada only)

## External links

* Template:Official website
* 2019 U21 EURO final tournament: Italy, UEFA.com

Template:UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Template:UEFA under-21 teams
Template:Qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics Football tournament
Template:2018–19 in European football (UEFA)
Template:2019–20 in European football (UEFA)

1. ↑ UEFA Europa League Final 2019 to be played on 29 May. UEFA (4 April 2017).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Italy to host 2019 Under-21 EURO. uefa.com (9 December 2016).
3. ↑ LA UEFA ASSEGNA ALL’ITALIA E SAN MARINO L’EUROPEO UNDER 21 DEL 2019. San Marino Football Federation (9 December 2016).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 2017-19 UEFA European Under-21 Championship regulations. UEFA.
5. ↑ OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. FIFA.com (14 September 2017).
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ ITALY WILL SUBMIT APPLICATION TO HOST U21 2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP TO UEFA. FIGC.it (10 July 2015).
8. ↑ LA UEFA ASSEGNA ALL’ITALIA E SAN MARINO L’EUROPEO UNDER 21 DEL 2019. FEDERAZIONE SAMMARINESE GIUOCO CALCIO. 9 Dicembre 2016
9. ↑ Seedings set for live 2019 U21 qualifying draw. UEFA.com (25 January 2017).
10. ↑ Final tournament draw. UEFA.com.
11. ↑ Alle 18 a Bologna il sorteggio del Campionato Europeo: l’Italia inserita nel Gruppo A. Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (23 November 2018).
12. ↑ U21 EURO 2019 final tournament draw. UEFA.com (23 November 2018).
13. ↑ A tribute to U21 EURO ambassador Andrea Pirlo. UEFA.com (23 November 2018).
14. ↑ Under-21 coefficients: 2019 qualifying draw. UEFA.com.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Draw Press Kit. UEFA.com.
16. ↑ La UEFA assegna all’Italia l’Europeo Under 21 del 2019. Italian Football Federation (9 December 2016).
17. ↑ 2019 Under-21 EURO calendar: all the fixtures. UEFA.com (30 November 2018).
18. ↑ Poland U21 vs. Belgium U21. Soccerway.
19. ↑ Italy U21 vs. Spain U21. Soccerway.
20. ↑ Spain U21 vs. Belgium U21. Soccerway.
21. ↑ Italy U21 vs. Poland U21. Soccerway.
22. ↑ Belgium U21 vs. Italy U21. Soccerway.
23. ↑ Spain U21 vs. Poland U21. Soccerway.
24. ↑ Serbia U21 vs. Austria U21. Soccerway.
25. ↑ Germany U21 vs. Denmark U21. Soccerway.
26. ↑ Denmark U21 vs. Austria U21. Soccerway.
27. ↑ Germany U21 vs. Serbia U21. Soccerway.
28. ↑ Austria U21 vs. Germany U21. Soccerway.
29. ↑ Denmark U21 vs. Serbia U21. Soccerway.
30. ↑ Romania U21 vs. Croatia U21. Soccerway.
31. ↑ England U21 vs. France U21. Soccerway.
32. ↑ England U21 vs. Romania U21. Soccerway.
33. ↑ France U21 vs. Croatia U21. Soccerway.
34. ↑ Croatia U21 vs. England U21. Soccerway.
35. ↑ France U21 vs. Romania U21. Soccerway.
36. ↑ Germany U21 vs. Romania U21. Soccerway.
37. ↑ Spain U21 vs. France U21. Soccerway.
38. ↑ Fabián Ruiz named best player. UEFA.com (1 July 2019).
39. ↑ Waldschmidt goals record. UEFA.com (1 July 2019).
40. ↑ Official Under-21 Team of the Tournament. UEFA.com (1 July 2019).
41. ↑ Five-star Spain seal return to Olympic stage. FIFA.com (22 June 2019).
42. ↑ Germany clinch Olympic berth. FIFA.com (23 June 2019).
43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Romania and France earn final two Olympic places from Europe. FIFA.com (24 June 2019).
44. ↑ Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Home nations agree to GB women's football team. BBC Sport (1 October 2018).
45. ↑ Foden, Jovic and Kean highlight European path to Tokyo. FIFA.com (14 June 2019).
46. ↑ UEFA.com. Where to watch the 2019 Under-21 EURO (en).
47. ↑ user16 (2019-06-19). ΕΡΤ: Η συμφωνία - μεγατόνων για το κανάλι της Αγίας Παρασκευής (el).
48. ↑ Super Soccer TV on Instagram: "Fase grup UEFA Euro U-21 sudah berakhir dan memastikan 4 tim untuk berlaga di semifinal. Super Soccer TV berkesempatan menayangkan…" (en).
49. ↑ U-21欧州選手権、WOWOWでの放送が決定！東京五輪の欧州最終予選.
50. ↑ España - Francia: horario y dónde ver en TV hoy las semifinales del Europeo sub-21 (es) (2019-06-26).