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 3 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. Venues. Four venues were selected for the competition. 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. Goalscorers. Andrea Pirlo was the top goalscorer of three goals. He was also announced as the UEFA Golden Player award recipient.