2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Mistrovství Evropy ve fotbale hráčů do 21 let 2015
Tournament details
Host country Czech Republic
Dates 17–30 June 2015
Teams 8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 4 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Sweden (1st title)
Runners-up  Portugal
Tournament statistics
Matches played 15
Goals scored 37 (2.47 per match)
Attendance 162,994 (10,866 per match)
Top scorer(s) Czech Republic Jan Kliment (3 goals)
Best player Portugal William Carvalho

The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international football competition for men's under-21 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first time in the Czech Republic from 15 to 30 June 2015, after their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee on 20 March 2012 in Istanbul.[1]

Players born on or after 1 January 1992 were eligible to participate in the competition.[2] Fifty-two teams participated in a qualification tournament, taking place between March 2013 and October 2014, to determine the seven teams that would join the final tournament hosts. Holders Spain were not able to defend their title after being eliminated in the qualification play-offs by Serbia.

In the final, played at the Eden Arena in Prague, Sweden defeated Portugal 4–3 in a penalty shootout, after a goalless draw at the end of extra-time. In doing so, the Swedish team won their first title in this competition, having previously lost the 1992 final, and secured their first-ever title in UEFA youth competitions.

By reaching the semi-finals, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Sweden also qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil.[3]

Qualification

Qualification for the final tournament of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship consisted of two rounds: a group stage and a play-off round. The group stage draw took place on 31 January 2013 in Nyon, Switzerland, and distributed 52 national teams into ten groups of five or six teams. Each group was contested in a double round-robin system, where teams played each other twice, at home and away. The ten group winners and the four best second-placed teams advanced to the play-off round, where they were paired by draw into seven two-legged ties. The play-off winners joined the Czech Republic in the final tournament.[4]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament:

Country Qualified as Previous appearances in tournament1
only U-21 era (since 1978)
 Czech Republic Hosts 11 (19785, 19805, 19885, 19905, 19925, 19945, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2011)
 Denmark Playoff winner (against Iceland) 5 (1978, 1986, 1992, 2006, 2011)
 England Playoff winner (against Croatia) 12 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013)
 Germany Playoff winner (against Ukraine) 11 (19822, 19842, 19882, 19902, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013)
 Italy Playoff winner (against Slovakia) 17 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013)
 Portugal Playoff winner (against Netherlands) 6 (1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007)
 Serbia Playoff winner (against Spain) 2 
(2007, 2009)
 Sweden Playoff winner (against France) 6 (1986, 1990, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2009)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Venues

The competition was played at four venues in three host cities: Eden Arena and Generali Arena (in Prague), Andrův stadion (in Olomouc), and Stadion Miroslava Valenty (in Uherské Hradiště).[5][6]

Prague Olomouc Uherské Hradiště
Eden Arena Generali Arena Andrův stadion Stadion Miroslava Valenty
50°4′3″N 14°28′18″E / 50.06750°N 14.47167°E / 50.06750; 14.47167 (Eden Arena) 50°5′59.3″N 14°24′57.3″E / 50.099806°N 14.415917°E / 50.099806; 14.415917 (Generali Arena) 49°36′0″N 17°14′54″E / 49.60000°N 17.24833°E / 49.60000; 17.24833 (Andrův stadion) 49°3′56″N 17°28′17.3″E / 49.06556°N 17.471472°E / 49.06556; 17.471472 (Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty)
Capacity: 20,800 Capacity: 19,784 Capacity: 12,566 Capacity: 8,121

Match officials

Six refereeing teams took charge of matches at the final tournament:[7]

Country Referee Assistant referees Additional assistant referees
France France Clément Turpin Frédéric Cano
Nicolas Danos 		Fredy Fautrel
Nicolas Rainville
Greece Greece Anastasios Sidiropoulos Damianos Efthymiadis
Polychronis Kostaras 		Michael Koukoulakis
Stavros Tritsonis
Netherlands Netherlands Danny Makkelie Mario Diks
Hessel Steegstra 		Kevin Blom
Jochem Kamphuis
Poland Poland Szymon Marciniak Paweł Sokolnicki
Tomasz Listkiewicz 		Paweł Raczkowski
Tomasz Musiał
Russia Russia Sergei Karasev Anton Averyanov
Tikhon Kalugin 		Sergey Lapochkin
Sergei Ivanov
Spain Spain Javier Estrada Fernández Miguel Martínez Munuera
Teodoro Sobrino Magán 		Alejandro Hernández Hernández
Jesús Gil Manzano
Country Fourth officials
Czech Republic Czech Republic Jan Paták
Ondrej Pelikan

Seeding

The draw for the final tournament took place at 18:00 CET on 6 November 2014, at the Clarion Congress Hotel in Prague. England, the highest-ranked team according to the competition coefficient rankings, and the host team, Czech Republic, were seeded and automatically assigned to separate groups. The second and third-ranked teams in the coefficient rankings, Italy and Germany, were also seeded and drawn into separate groups, while the four unseeded teams were drawn into the remaining positions of the two groups.[2][8]

Top seeds Second seeds Unseeded

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers. 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.[2]

Group stage

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finalist teams

The eight finalists were drawn into two groups of four teams. As hosts, Czech Republic were seeded in group A, while England, the best-ranked team in the UEFA coefficient ranking, were seeded in group B. In each group, teams played matches against each other in a round-robin system, and the top two teams advanced to the semi-finals.[9][10]

The provisional schedule was released by UEFA on 10 November 2014,[11] and confirmed on 2 December 2014.[12][13] All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics

Same as previous Under-21 Championships that were held one year prior to the Olympics, UEFA used the tournament to determine which men's under-23 national teams from Europe qualify for the Olympic football tournament. The four teams which advanced to the semi-finals qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.[14] However, England are ineligible for the Olympics and they are not an Olympic nation. Had England reached the semi-finals, the last Olympic spot would go to the winner of an Olympic play-off match between the two group third-placed teams, which was scheduled to be played on 28 June 2015, 18:00, at Stadion Miroslava Valenty, Uherské Hradiště.[11][15] However, when England failed to advance out of the group stage, this was cancelled.[n 1]

After the conclusion of the group stage, the following four teams from UEFA qualified for the Olympic football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament1
 Denmark 23 June 2015 8 (1908, 1912, 1920, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1972, 1992)
 Germany 23 June 2015 8 (1912, 1928, 1936, 1952, 19562, 19722, 19842, 19882)
 Portugal 24 June 2015 3 (1928, 1996, 2004)
 Sweden 24 June 2015 9 (1908, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1988, 1992)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year. Statistics include all Olympic format (current Olympic under-23 format started in 1992).
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.

Tie-breaking

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:[2]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;

If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 4 to 6 were applied.

  1. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  2. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  3. Position in the UEFA under-21 coefficient ranking used for the final draw.

If only two teams were tied (according to criteria 1–5) after having met in the last match of the group stage, their ranking would have been determined by a penalty shoot-out.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Group stage result
1  Denmark 3 2 0 1 4 4 0 6 Advance to knockout stage and 2016 Summer Olympics
2  Germany 3 1 2 0 5 2 +3 5
3  Czech Republic (H) 3 1 1 1 6 3 +3 4
4  Serbia 3 0 1 2 1 7 −6 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: tie-breaking
(H) Host.

17 June 2015
18:00
Czech Republic  1–2  Denmark
Kadeřábek  35' Report Vestergaard  56'
Sisto  84'
Eden Arena, Prague
Attendance: 15,987[18]
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)

17 June 2015
20:45
Germany  1–1  Serbia
Can  17' Report Đuričić  8'

20 June 2015
18:00
Serbia  0–4  Czech Republic
Report Kliment  7', 21', 56'
Frýdek  59'
Generali Arena, Prague
Attendance: 16,253[18]
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

20 June 2015
20:45
Germany  3–0  Denmark
Volland  32', 48'
Ginter  53'		 Report
Eden Arena, Prague
Attendance: 13,268[18]
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

23 June 2015
20:45
Czech Republic  1–1  Germany
Krejčí  66' Report Schulz  55'
Eden Arena, Prague
Attendance: 18,068[18]
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

23 June 2015
20:45
Denmark  2–0  Serbia
Falk  21'
Fischer  47'		 Report

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Group stage result
1  Portugal 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5 Advance to knockout stage and 2016 Summer Olympics
2  Sweden 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4
3  Italy 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 4
4  England 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: tie-breaking

18 June 2015
18:00
Italy  1–2  Sweden
Berardi  29' (pen.) Report Guidetti  56'
Kiese Thelin  86' (pen.)

21 June 2015
18:00
Sweden  0–1  England
Report Lingard  85'

21 June 2015
20:45
Italy  0–0  Portugal
Report

24 June 2015
20:45
England  1–3  Italy
Redmond  90+3' Report Belotti  25'
Benassi  27', 72'
Andrův stadion, Olomouc
Attendance: 11,563[18]
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

24 June 2015
20:45
Portugal  1–1  Sweden
Paciência  82' Report Tibbling  89'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[2]

Bracket

Semi-finals Final
27 June – Prague
  Denmark 1  
  Sweden 4  
 
30 June – Prague
      Sweden (p) 0 (4)
    Portugal 0 (3)
27 June – Olomouc
  Portugal 5
  Germany 0  

Semi-finals

27 June 2015
18:00
Portugal  5–0  Germany
Bernardo Silva  25'
Ricardo  33'
Cavaleiro  45+1'
João Mário  46'
Horta  71'		 Report

27 June 2015
21:00
Denmark  1–4  Sweden
Bech  63' Report Guidetti  23' (pen.)
Tibbling  26'
Quaison  83'
Hiljemark  90+5'
Generali Arena, Prague
Attendance: 9,834[18]
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)

Final

Goalscorers

3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Source: UEFA.com[21]

Awards

Golden Boot

The Golden Boot is given to the player who scored the most goals during the tournament.[22]

Golden Boot Silver Boot Bronze Boot
Czech Republic Jan Kliment
(3 goals)
Germany Kevin Volland
(2 goals, 1 assist)
Sweden John Guidetti
(2 goals, 1 assist)

Note: Assists and then minutes played (with the player boasting the better goals to minutes on the pitch ratio taking precedence) are used to separate players with the same goal tallies.

Player of the tournament

After the tournament the U21 EURO Player of the Tournament is selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[23]

Player of the tournament
Portugal William Carvalho

Team of the tournament

After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament is selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[24]

Position Player
Goalkeeper Portugal José Sá
Defenders Sweden Victor Lindelöf
Sweden Filip Helander
Denmark Jannik Vestergaard
Portugal Raphaël Guerreiro
Midfielders Portugal William Carvalho
Sweden Oscar Lewicki
England Nathan Redmond
Portugal Bernardo Silva
Portugal Ivan Cavaleiro
Forward Germany Kevin Volland

Broadcasting

Countries who are not covered by a local broadcaster, had the matches being broadcast on YouTube.[25]

Ambassador

Former Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedvěd was the ambassador for the tournament.[34]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Football Association had originally declared on 2 March 2015 its intention to enter and run teams on behalf of the British Olympic Association at the 2016 Olympics should England qualify.[16] However, following objections from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations, as well as a commitment from FIFA that they would not allow entry of a British team unless all four Home Nations were in agreement, the Football Association announced on 30 March 2015 that they would not seek entry into the Olympic tournament.[17] Great Britain had competed in the Olympics prior to the 1970s, and also in 2012 as the host nation.

References

  1. ↑ "Czech Republic to host 2015 Under-21 finals" (Press release). UEFA.com. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2013–15" (PDF). UEFA.com. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "European foursome bound for Brazil". FIFA.com. 24 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Spain learn fate in U21 qualifying draw" (Press release). UEFA. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Česko v roce 2015 uspořádá šampionát fotbalistů do 21 let". Mladá fronta DNES (in Czech). 20 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Venue guide". UEFA.com.
  7. ↑ "Match officials". UEFA.com.
  8. ↑ "Final tournament draw". UEFA. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Competition format". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Czechs paired with Germany, Denmark and Serbia". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Provisional schedule for Under-21 finals". UEFA.com. 10 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Confirmed schedule for Under-21 finals". UEFA.com. 2 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Confirmed U21 2015 finals match schedule" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  14. ↑ "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXXI OLYMPIAD – RIO 2016 – Football" (pdf). Rio 2016 Official Website. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Sverige närmare OS-fotbollen" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Football Association wants Great Britain sides at Rio Olympics". BBC Sport. 2 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Rio 2016: FA scraps plans for Great Britain football teams". BBC Sport. 30 March 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Euro U-21 Livescore
  19. ↑ England 0 Portugal 1, U21 match report: Sloppy defending costs young Lions The Telegraph, 18 June 2015
  20. ↑ "Sweden U21 vs. England U21". Soccerway. 21 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Statistics — Tournament phase — Player statistics — Goals". UEFA.com. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "Czech striker Kliment wins Golden Boot award". UEFA.com. 30 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "William named U21 EURO player of the tournament". UEFA.com. 1 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "The official Under-21 Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. 1 July 2015.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 "Watch Wednesday's U21 games live!". UEFA.com. UEFA. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Media rights sales: UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2015" (PDF). UEFA.org. UEFA. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  27. ↑ Dohrmann, Jan (30 April 2015). "EM-kampe med U21-landsholdet kan ses på DR1". dr.dk (in Danish). DR. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  28. ↑ "Finland's Elisa signs Uefa media rights deal". Sportcal. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  29. ↑ "Ma Chaîne Sports picks up Uefa Euro U21 rights". Sportcal. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  30. ↑ "ARD and ZDF set to follow Germany's progress at European Under-21 Championship". Sportcal. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  31. ↑ Sousa, Carlos (27 April 2015). "RTP volta a levar a melhor e ganha mais uma competição à TVI". Zapping TV. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  32. ↑ "Alla TV-tider – så sänds U21-EM i Tjeckien". Fotbollskanalen.se (in Swedish). Fotbollskanalen. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  33. ↑ "BT Sport to show exclusive coverage of Euro 2015 U21 Championship". BT Sport. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "The ambassador: Pavel Nedvěd". UEFA.com.

External links

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