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2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Tournament details
Host countries Hungary
 Slovenia
Dates24–31 March 2021 (group stage)
31 May – 6 June 2021 (knockout stage)
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)(in 8 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Germany (3rd title)
Runner-up Portugal
Tournament statistics
Attendance13,413
Top scorer(s)Flag of Germany Lukas Nmecha
(4 goals)
Best playerFlag of Portugal Fábio Vieira
2019
2023

The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th 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. Initially, 12 teams were to play in the tournament, however on 6 February 2019, UEFA's executive committee increased this number to 16. Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to participate.

The tournament will be co-hosted by Hungary and Slovenia. It was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 26 June 2021. However, the tournament was rescheduled following the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 to June/July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates were to be decided initially on 27 May 2020, but then postponed to 17 June 2020, where the UEFA Executive Committee meeting discussed the calendar and format of the tournament. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the tournament would be played in two stages; the group stage, which would take place from 24 to 31 March 2021, and the knockout stage, which would take place from 31 May to 6 June 2021.

Spain were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the knockout phase by Portugal.

Host selection[]

The following associations indicated their interests to bid for the tournament:

Hungary and Slovenia were appointed as co-hosts at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Dublin, Republic of Ireland on 3 December 2018.

Qualification[]

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia qualifying automatically, the other 53 teams will compete in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining 14 spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition consists of two rounds:

  • Qualifying group stage: The 53 teams are drawn into nine groups: eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. Each group is played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners and the best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualify directly for the final tournament, while the remaining eight runners-up advance to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The eight teams are drawn into four ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last four qualified teams.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe which caused the postponement of matches in the qualifying group stage, UEFA announced on 17 June 2020 that the play-offs would be cancelled. Instead, the nine group winners and the five best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) qualify for the final tournament.

Qualified teams[]

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
 Hungary Co-hosts 3 December 2018 5th 1996 (quarter-finals) Semi-finals (1986)
 Slovenia Co-hosts 3 December 2018 1st Debut

Final draw[]

The final draw will be held in late 2020. The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four teams. The two hosts will be assigned to positions A1 and B1 in the draw, while the other teams will be seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying stage, calculated based on the following:

Venues[]

The Hungarian Football Federation originally proposed the following four venues:

  • MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár
  • Haladás Sportkomplexum, Szombathely
  • Bozsik József Stadion, Budapest
  • Ménfői úti Stadion, Gyírmót-Győr

The Slovenian Football Association originally proposed the following four venues:

  • Stadion Z'dežele, Celje
  • Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana
  • Ljudski vrt, Maribor
  • Bonifika Stadium, Koper

The provisional schedule was announced on 6 November 2019, with the above eight venues hosting matches. Originally Hungary (Groups A and C) and Slovenia (Groups B and D) would both host two groups, two quarter-finals and one semi-final each, while the final would be played in Hungary at the MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár.

However, due to the rescheduling of the group stage from June to March, Bonifika Stadium, Koper was removed from the list of venues, and the final was moved to Slovenia and would be played at Ljudski vrt, Maribor. Moreover, it is possible that Group D may be played in another country other than Hungary and Slovenia, provided a team drawn into this group is interested in hosting, and the decision will be made after the final draw.

Squads[]

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Each national team have to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers. If a player is injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he can be replaced by another player.

Group stage[]

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

Tiebreakers
In the group stage, teams are 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 are 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 are 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. UEFA coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local, CET (UTC+1) for matches between 24–27 March 2021, CEST (UTC+2) for matches between 28–31 March 2021.

Group A[]

Template:2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group A

24 March 2021 (2021-03-24)
21:00
Hungary  0–3  Germany MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár
Attendance: 0
Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández (Spain)
Report Nmecha Goal 61'
Baku Goal 66'73'
24 March 2021 (2021-03-24)
21:00
Romania  1–1  Netherlands Bozsik Aréna, Budapest
Attendance: 0
Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Ciobanu Goal 20' Report Schuurs Goal 16'

27 March 2021 (2021-03-27)
18:00
Hungary  1–2  Romania Bozsik Aréna, Budapest
Attendance: 0
Referee: Lawrence Visser (Belgium)
Csonka Goal 56' Report Mățan Goal 70'
Pașcanu Goal 87'
27 March 2021 (2021-03-27)
21:00
Germany  1–1  Netherlands MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár
Attendance: 0
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Nmecha Goal 84' Report Kluivert Goal 48'

30 March 2021 (2021-03-30)
18:00
Netherlands  6–1  Hungary MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár
Attendance: 0
Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
De Wit Goal 42'
Boadu Goal 47' (pen.)
Gakpo Goal 58'70'
Botman Goal 87'
Brobbey Goal 89'
Report Bolla Goal 65' (pen.)
30 March 2021 (2021-03-30)
18:00
Germany  0–0  Romania Bozsik Aréna, Budapest
Attendance: 0
Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández (Spain)
Report

Group B[]

Template:2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group B

Group C[]

Template:2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group C

Group D[]

Template:2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group D

Knockout stage[]

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                   
31 May – Budapest        
  Netherlands  2
3 June – Székesfehérvár
  France  1  
  Netherlands  1
31 May – Székesfehérvár
      Germany  2  
  Denmark  2 (5)
6 June – Ljubljana
  Germany (p)  2 (6)  
  Germany  
31 May – Maribor    
    Portugal  
  Spain (a.e.t.)  2
3 June – Maribor
  Croatia  1  
  Spain  0
31 May – Ljubljana
      Portugal  1  
  Portugal (a.e.t.)  5
  Italy  3  
 

Quarter-finals[]

31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)
Winner Group A 1 Runner-up Group C

31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)
Winner Group B 3 Runner-up Group D

31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)
Winner Group C 2 Runner-up Group A

31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)
Winner Group D 4 Runner-up Group B

Semi-finals[]

3 June 2021 (2021-06-03)
21:00
Netherlands  1–2  Germany MOL Aréna Sóstó, Székesfehérvár
Attendance: 1,573
Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Schuurs Goal 67' Report Wirtz Goal 1'8'

3 June 2021 (2021-06-03)
18:00
Spain  0–1  Portugal Ljudski vrt, Maribor
Attendance: 1,910
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Report Cuenca Goal 80' (o.g.)

Final[]

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final
6 June 2021 (2021-06-06)
21:00 CEST
Germany  1–0  Portugal Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana
Attendance: 4,883
Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia)
Nmecha Goal 49' Report

Broadcasting[]

Europe[]

Country/region Broadcaster
Free Pay
 Austria


ORF
 Belgium RTBF
 Bulgaria BNT
 Croatia HRT
 Czech Republic ČT
Flag of Denmark Denmark DR
 France France Télévisions
 Hungary MTV
 Republic of Ireland Sky Sports
(YouTube, non-England games only)
Sky Sports
(England games only)
 United Kingdom
 Italy RAI
 Germany ProSiebenSat.1
 Netherlands NOS (Netherlands games only and Final)
 Russia Match TV
 Portugal RTP
 Romania TVR

 Slovenia

RTV Slovenia
 Spain Mediaset España
 Sweden SVT
 Switzerland SRG SSR
 Turkey TRT
 Ukraine UA:First

Outside Europe[]

Country/Region Broadcaster
 China Super Sports
 India Sony Six
 Japan Wowow
Latin America ESPN
Middle East beIN Sports
North Africa beIN Sports
 United States ESPN, TUDN

External links[]

Template:UEFA European Under-21 Championship

National under-21 football teams of Europe (UEFA)

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