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2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Campionatul European de Fotbal Sub-21 2023
(in Romanian)
21-წლამდე ნაკრებთა ევროპის ჩემპიონატი (in Georgian)
Tournament details
Host countriesRomania
Georgia
Dates21 June – 8 July
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)8 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions England (3rd title)
Runners-up Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played31
Goals scored72 (2.32 per match)
Attendance319,082 (10,293 per match)
Top scorer(s)Spain Sergio Gómez
Spain Abel Ruiz
Ukraine Heorhiy Sudakov
(3 goals each)
Best player(s)England Anthony Gordon[1]
← 2021
2025 →

The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) was the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th 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. A total of 16 teams played in the final tournament, and only players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to participate.[2]

The tournament was co-hosted by Romania and Georgia.[3] Romania hosted the opening match, while Georgia hosted the final. Romania already hosted the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

As with previous Under-21 Championships held one year prior to the Olympic Games, this tournament served as European qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Besides France, which qualified automatically as Olympic hosts, eligible teams competed for qualifying (3 berths) for the men's football tournament of the 2024 Summer Olympics, where they will be represented by their under-23 national teams with a maximum of three overage players allowed.

Germany were the defending champion, but they were not able to defend their title after being eliminated in the group stage.

England won their third title by defeating Spain 1–0 in the final. They became the first team to win the UEFA European Under-21 Championship without conceding a single goal in the entire tournament.[4]

Host selection

[edit]

Both Romania and Georgia bid for the tournament separately.[9] The two countries were appointed as co-hosts at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 3 December 2020.[3][10][11]

Qualification

[edit]
Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Qualified teams

[edit]

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

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

Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
 Romania Co-hosts 3 December 2020 4th 2021 Semi-finals (2019)
 Georgia 1st (4th incl. Soviet Union) Debut
 Belgium Group I winners 29 March 2022 4th 2019 Semi-finals (2007)
 Spain Group C winners 2 May 2022[a] 16th 2021 Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
 Germany Group B winners 3 June 2022 14th 2021 Champions (2009, 2017, 2021)
 Portugal Group D winners 6 June 2022 10th 2021 Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
 England Group G winners 7 June 2022 17th 2021 Champions (1982, 1984)
 Netherlands Group E winners 8 June 2022 9th 2021 Champions (2006, 2007)
 France Group H winners 9 June 2022 11th 2021 Champions (1988)
 Italy Group F winners 14 June 2022 22nd 2021 Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Norway Group A winners 14 June 2022 3rd 2013 Semi-finals (1998, 2013)
  Switzerland Group E runners-up[b] 14 June 2022 5th 2021 Runners-up (2011)
 Ukraine Play-offs winner 27 September 2022 3rd (6th incl. Soviet Union) 2011 Runners-up (2006)
 Czech Republic Play-offs winner 27 September 2022 9th (15th incl. Czechoslovakia) 2021 Champions (2002)
 Croatia Play-offs winner 27 September 2022 5th 2021 Quarter-finals (2021)
 Israel Play-offs winner 27 September 2022 3rd 2013 Group stage (2007, 2013)
Notes
  1. ^
    On 2 May 2022, UEFA announced that Russia were removed from European Under-21 Championship qualification due to their country's invasion of Ukraine, with all their earlier results considered null and void.[12] Spain therefore qualified for the European Under-21 Championship, as no other teams could surpass them.
  2. ^
    The best runner-up among all nine groups qualified for the final tournament.

Final draw

[edit]

The final draw was held on 18 October 2022, 18:00 CET in Bucharest.[13] The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying stage, calculated based on the following:[2]

The hosts Romania and Georgia were assigned to positions A1 and B1, respectively, while the remaining fourteen teams were drawn to the other available positions in their group.[14]

Pot 1
Team Coeff[14]
 Spain 41,837
 Portugal 40,130
 Germany 39,668
 France 37,887
Pot 2
Team Coeff[14]
 Netherlands 36,626
 England 35,798
 Italy 35,244
 Romania (position B1) 32,414
Pot 3
Team Coeff[14]
 Croatia 31,945
  Switzerland 31,744
 Belgium 31,550
 Czech Republic 30,455
Pot 4
Team Coeff[14]
 Ukraine 29,362
 Norway 27,872
 Israel 25,732
 Georgia (position A1) 24,442

Venues

[edit]

Romania

[edit]

The Federația Română de Fotbal originally proposed the following eight venues in Romania:[15]

However, four stadiums were removed from the list of venues since Georgia was also appointed as host.[16]

Bucharest Venues in Romania Bucharest
Steaua Stadium
class=notpageimage|
Location of venues used in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (Romania)
 Rapid-Giulești Stadium
Capacity: 31,254 Capacity: 14,047
Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca
Cluj Arena Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium
Capacity: 30,201 Capacity: 22,198

Georgia

[edit]

In Georgia, the tournament was also played at four stadiums.[17] Initially these venues were proposed:

Based on recommendation of the UEFA organizing group experts, in January 2022 Fazisi Stadium was replaced by Ramaz Shengelia Stadium located in Kutaisi.[18]

Tbilisi Venues in Georgia Tbilisi
Boris Paichadze
class=notpageimage|
Location of venues used in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (Georgia)
 Mikheil Meskhi
Capacity: 54,202 Capacity: 27,223
Batumi Kutaisi
Adjarabet Arena Ramaz Shengelia Stadium
Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 14,700

Match officials

[edit]
Group A–C
Country Referee 1st assistant referee 2nd assistant referee
 Azerbaijan Aliyar Aghayev Zeynal Zeynalov Akif Ämirälı
 Croatia Duje Strukan Bojan Zobenica Alen Jakšić
 France Willy Delajod Erwan Christophe Finjean Cyril Mugnier
 Norway Espen Eskås Jan Erik Engan Isaak Bashevkin
 Romania Horațiu Feşnic Valentin Avram Alexandru Cerei
 Slovenia Rade Obrenović Jure Praprotnik Grega Kordež
Group B–D
Country Referee 1st assistant referee 2nd assistant referee
 Belgium Erik Lambrechts Jo De Weirdt Kevin Monteny
 Denmark Morten Krogh Steffen Bramsen Dennis Wollenberg Rasmussen
 Lithuania Donatas Rumšas Aleksandr Radiuš Dovydas Sužiedėlis
 Netherlands Allard Lindhout Erwin E. J. Zeinstra Rogier Honig
 Portugal João Pinheiro Bruno Miguel Alves Jesus Luciano António Gomes Maia
 Sweden Mohammed Al-Hakim Fredrik Klyver Robin Wilde

Fourth officials

Group A–C

Group B–D

Squads

[edit]
Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 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

[edit]

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 18.01 and 18.02):[2]

  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 were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 had 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 had the same number of points, or if their rankings were 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. UEFA coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local, EEST (UTC+3) in Romania and GET (UTC+4) in Georgia.

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Georgia (H) 3 1 2 0 5 3 +2 5 Advance to knockout stage
2  Portugal 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
3  Netherlands 3 0 3 0 2 2 0 3
4  Belgium 3 0 2 1 3 4 −1 2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Georgia 2–0 Portugal
 Report
Attendance: 24,447[19]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)
Belgium 0–0 Netherlands
Report
Attendance: 1,029[20]
Georgia 2–2 Belgium
 Report
Attendance: 41,886[21]
Portugal 1–1 Netherlands
 Report
Attendance: 1,526[22]
Netherlands 1–1 Georgia
 Report
Attendance: 43,004[23]
Portugal 2–1 Belgium
 Report
Attendance: 1,373[24]

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 3 2 1 0 6 2 +4 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Ukraine 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7
3  Croatia 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1
4  Romania (H) 3 0 1 2 0 4 −4 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Ukraine 2–0 Croatia
 Report
Attendance: 1,677[25]
Romania 0–3 Spain
Report
Attendance: 21,227[26]
Romania 0–1 Ukraine
Report
Attendance: 14,309[27]
Spain 1–0 Croatia
 Report
Attendance: 2,921[28]
Croatia 0–0 Romania
Report
Attendance: 7,816[29]
Spain 2–2 Ukraine
 Report
Attendance: 2,027[30]

Group C

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  England 3 3 0 0 6 0 +6 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  Israel 3 1 1 1 2 3 −1 4
3  Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3
4  Germany 3 0 1 2 2 5 −3 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Czech Republic 0–2 England
Report
Attendance: 8,168[31]
Germany 1–1 Israel
 Report
Attendance: 2,442[32]
Czech Republic 2–1 Germany
 Report
Attendance: 5,023[33]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)
England 2–0 Israel
 Report
Attendance: 5,106[34]
Israel 1–0 Czech Republic
 Report
Attendance: 2,175[35]
England 2–0 Germany
 Report
Attendance: 9,587[36]

Group D

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 3 3 0 0 7 2 +5 9 Advance to knockout stage
2   Switzerland 3 1 0 2 5 8 −3 3[a]
3  Italy 3 1 0 2 4 5 −1 3[a]
4  Norway 3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 3[a]
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Tied on head-to-head points (3) and head-to-head goal difference (0). Head-to-head goals scored: Switzerland 4, Italy 3, Norway 2.
Norway 1–2  Switzerland
 Report
Attendance: 1,279[37]
France 2–1 Italy
 Report
Attendance: 11,286[38]
Switzerland 2–3 Italy
 Report
Attendance: 4,339[39]
Norway 0–1 France
Report
Attendance: 1,507[40]
Italy 0–1 Norway
Report
Attendance: 2,347[41]
Switzerland 1–4 France
 Report
Attendance: 1,652[42]

Knockout stage

[edit]

In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary. As France qualified as hosts and England were ineligible for the 2024 Summer Olympics, their results were used to determine whether an Olympic play-off match would be required and who would participate.[2]

Bracket

[edit]
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
1 July – Boris Paichadze Stadium
 
 
 Georgia0 (3)
 
5 July – Adjarabet Arena
 
 Israel (p)0 (4)
 
 Israel0
 
2 July – Ramaz Shengelia Stadium
 
 England3
 
 England1
 
8 July – Adjarabet Arena
 
 Portugal0
 
 England1
 
1 July – Stadionul Rapid-Giulești
 
 Spain0
 
 Spain (a.e.t.)2
 
5 July – Stadionul Steaua
 
  Switzerland1
 
 Spain5
 
2 July – Cluj Arena
 
 Ukraine1
 
 France1
 
 
 Ukraine3
 

Quarter-finals

[edit]
Georgia 0–0 (a.e.t.) Israel
Report
Penalties
 3–4
Attendance: 44,338[43]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)
Spain 2–1 (a.e.t.)  Switzerland
 Report
Attendance: 3,861[44]
England 1–0 Portugal
 Report
Attendance: 6,920[45]
France 1–3 Ukraine
 Report
Attendance: 6,281[46]

Semi-finals

[edit]

As England is not an IOC member and France did not reach the semi-finals, all other semi-finalists qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics regardless of results.

Israel 0–3 England
Report
Attendance: 11,801[47]
Spain 5–1 Ukraine
 Report
Attendance: 9,230[48]

Final

[edit]
Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final
England 1–0 Spain
 Report
Attendance: 18,498[49]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

Goalscorers

[edit]

There were 72 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.32 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Awards

[edit]

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

Team of the tournament

[edit]

After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[51]

Position Player
Goalkeeper England James Trafford
Defenders Spain Juan Miranda
England Levi Colwill
England Taylor Harwood-Bellis
England James Garner
Midfielders Spain Rodri
Spain Antonio Blanco
England Curtis Jones
Spain Sergio Gómez
Forwards Spain Abel Ruiz
England Anthony Gordon

Qualified teams for the 2024 Summer Olympics

[edit]

The following four teams from UEFA qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic men's football tournament, including France, who qualified as the hosts.[citation needed]

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
 France Hosts 13 September 2017 13 (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1984, 1996, 2020)
 Israel Semi-finalist 2 July 2023 2 (1968, 1976)
 Spain Runners-up 2 July 2023 11 (1920, 1924, 1928, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2012, 2020)
 Ukraine Semi-finalist 2 July 2023 0 (debut)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "England's Anthony Gordon named 2023 Under-21 EURO Player of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "2021–23 UEFA European Under-21 Championship regulations". UEFA.
  3. ^ a b "Romania and Georgia to host 2023 Under-21 EURO". UEFA.com. 3 December 2020.
  4. ^ Howell, Alex (8 July 2023). "England U21 1–0 Spain U21: England win Under-21 Euros for first time in 39 years". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  5. ^ "European U21 Finals: Irish associations launch joint bid for 2023 tournament". November 1, 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
  6. ^ "Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland launch bid for 2023 U21 European Championships". Irish Independent. November 1, 2018.
  7. ^ "Exclusive: IFA and FAI to make all-Ireland bid to host Euro U21 Championship". October 31, 2018 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  8. ^ "Joint-Irish bid for European U-21 tournament is welcomed by Uefa". December 4, 2018 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  9. ^ "România nu va organiza EURO U21: UEFA va da turneul final Georgiei". Prosport.ro. 26 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Tirana to host first UEFA Europa Conference League Final". UEFA.com. 3 December 2020.
  11. ^ "România va organiza EURO U21 din 2023". Prosport.ro. 3 December 2020.
  12. ^ "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs". uefa.com. UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  13. ^ "2023 Under-21 EURO final tournament draw: 18 October, Bucharest". UEFA.com. 18 October 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d e "UEFA Under-21 2021-23 Final Draw Procedure" (PDF). UEFA.
  15. ^ "Încă un turneu final găzduit de România? UEFA a aprobat dosarul FRF de candidatură pentru organizarea EURO U21 din 2023". Digisport.ro. 17 September 2020.
  16. ^ "România va organiza Euro U21 2023 alături de Georgia!". Digisport.ro. 3 December 2020.
  17. ^ "ევრო 2023 : 21 წლამდე ნაკრებთა ევროპის ჩემპიონატი საქართველოსა და რუმინეთში გაიმართება". Georgian Football Federation. 3 December 2020.
  18. ^ "ევრო 2023: ახალგაზრდული ჩემპიონატი საქართველოს სამ ქალაქში გაიმართება". gff.ge (in Georgian), 24 January 2022. 24 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Georgia vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Belgium vs. Netherlands" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  21. ^ "Georgia vs. Belgium" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Portugal vs. Netherlands" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  23. ^ "Netherlands vs. Georgia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Portugal vs. Belgium" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  25. ^ "Ukraine vs. Croatia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  26. ^ "Romania vs. Spain" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Romania vs. Ukraine" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Spain vs. Croatia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  29. ^ "Croatia vs. Romania" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Spain vs. Ukraine" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  31. ^ "Czech Republic vs. England" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Germany vs. Israel" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  33. ^ "Czech Republic vs. Germany" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  34. ^ "England vs. Israel" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  35. ^ "Israel vs. Czech Republic" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  36. ^ "England vs. Germany" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  37. ^ "Norway vs. Switzerland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  38. ^ "France vs. Italy" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  39. ^ "Switzerland vs. Italy" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  40. ^ "Norway vs. France" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  41. ^ "Italy vs. Norway" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  42. ^ "Switzerland vs. France" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  43. ^ "Georgia vs. Israel" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  44. ^ "Spain vs. Switzerland" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  45. ^ "England vs. Portugal" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 2 July 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  46. ^ "France vs. Ukraine" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 2 July 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  47. ^ "Israel vs. England" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  48. ^ "Spain vs. Ukraine" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  49. ^ "England vs. Spain" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  50. ^ "Under-21 EURO Top Scorers: Abel Ruiz, Sergio Gómez and Georgiy Sudakov tie". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  51. ^ "2023 Under-21 EURO Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
[edit]
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