2021 Uefa European Under-21 Championship Final Tournament Draw Press Kit
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2021 UEFA EUROPEAN UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TOURNAMENT DRAW PRESS KIT UEFA Headquarters, Nyon, Switzerland Thursday, 10 December 2020 at 15:00 (CET) 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 1 CONTENTS BACKGROUND ........................................................ 3–4 FINAL TOURNAMENT INFORMATION ..................... 5 HOW TO FOLLOW THE DRAW ................................. 6 HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK ................................. 7–10 TEAM PROFILES ..................................................... 11–74 2021 UNDER-21 EURO QUALIFYING RESULTS ..... 75–100 PREVIOUS UNDER-21 FINALS ............................... 101–109 FACTS & FIGURES .................................................. 110–113 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 2 BACKGROUND What is the background to the UEFA European Under-21 Championship? Held every two years, the UEFA European Under-21 Championship consists of a qualifying group stage, play-offs and, from 2021, a 16-team final tournament. Qualifying is open to all UEFA member associations. For the 2021 edition, teams initially competed in a qualifying group stage, with the nine section winners and best runner-up originally joining co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia in the finals. The other eight runners-up were to compete in play-offs for the four remaining places; however, these were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, instead, the five best runners-up joined the group winners and co-hosts in the finals. The final tournament, expanded to 16 teams for the first time from 2021, consists of four groups of four. Sides play each other once, with the four group winners and four runners-up reaching the quarter-finals. There will be a standard knockout format from there. For 2021, because of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the football calendar, the group stage (March) and knockout phase (May/June) will be split. Players are eligible for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship if they were born on, or after, 1 January 1998. History of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Today’s prestigious UEFA European Under-21 Championship enjoys worldwide acclaim, but it has evolved considerably since UEFA first put the idea to its member associations in January 1967. What is now the UEFA European Under-21 Championship has its roots in the late 1960s, but there have been many stages in its evolution to the high-profile biennial tournament of today. The format has changed down the years, but the competition’s raison d’être has remained the same: to provide a stepping stone from youth football up to the full international stage. The roll call of great players who have graduated from European football’s elite finishing school is testament to its enduring success. Andrea Pirlo, Zinédine Zidane, Rudi Völler, Davor Šuker, Luís Figo, Raúl González and Frank Lampard to name but a few have all played their part in making the UEFA European U21 Championship one of the highlights on the football calendar. 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 3 BACKGROUND The UEFA European Under-21 Championship is now a high-profile tournament with worldwide standing, but it has undergone many changes since UEFA first proposed the idea in January 1967. The Challenge Cup for National Representative Under-23 Teams was launched. Seventeen associations signed up, from which Bulgaria and East Germany were drawn to play the first match. It was held in Stara Zagora on 7 June 1967, with Bulgaria winning 3-2 to become the first champions. Like in boxing, they were simply required to defend their title against a series of challengers and Bulgaria then Yugoslavia dominated the early years. The foundations for today’s competition had been laid. It was not until 1976 that the age limit was changed to U21, when UEFA decided the gap between U18 and U23 levels was too great. By now the Challenge Cup format had given way to qualifying groups followed by a knockout competition from the quarter-finals onwards. Yugoslavia prolonged the early eastern dominance by winning that first final over two legs. However, Italy and Spain have gone on to leave the greatest mark on the competition, winning the U21 championship five times apiece, with Spain the current holders after matching Italy’s trophy tally in 2019. Italy were first crowned champions in 1992 and successfully defended their title two years later when, for the first time, the semi-finals and final were played as a single tournament in France. Pierluigi Orlandini scored the extra-time golden-goal winner for Italy in Montpellier in the first final to be decided by a single match. The final tournament was expanded to eight teams in Romania in 1998, when Spain interrupted Italy’s run of success, but the Azzurrini were back on top in 2000, the year the group stage was introduced in the final tournament. The semi-final round was then reinstated in 2002, when the Czech Republic triumphed in Switzerland. In 2007, the event was switched to odd years to avoid clashing with the UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup. So, with the U21 Championship taking centre stage, the Netherlands put on a show on home soil, beating Serbia 4-1 in the final to lift the crown. They failed to make it a hat-trick two years later as Switzerland knocked them out in qualifying, and instead it was Germany’s time to shine, Horst Hrubesch’s team avenging their 1982 final defeat by England with a record 4-0 triumph in Malmö. Spain made it three victories in 2011, overcoming Switzerland 2-0 in Denmark, and two years later retained the title by defeating Italy 4-2 in Israel. Sweden then won the 2015 edition in the Czech Republic and Poland hosted the expanded 12- team tournament in 2017, where Germany beat Spain 1-0 for a second title. Spain were to exact revenge two years later when they claimed their fifth crown with a 2-1 victory against Germany in the 2019 final at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 4 FINAL TOURNAMENT INFORMATION 2021 UEFA EUROPEAN UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TOURNAMENT INFORMATION When is the draw? When is the final tournament? The final tournament draw will be made on The 2021 U21 EURO has a unique format and Thursday 10 December in Nyon, Switzerland. The schedule, with the group stage and knockout stage draw will split the 16 teams into four groups of four held separately. The group stage takes place from (A, B, C, D). Co-host Hungary will be placed as team 24 to 31 March 2021, with the group winners and 1 in Group A, with Slovenia team 1 in Group B. The runners-up advancing to the eight-team knockout other sides will be seeded according to their UEFA phase from 31 May to 6 June 2021. coefficient ranking at the end of qualifying. Who has qualified? Where is it being played? Hungary (hosts) The tournament will be staged by Hungary and Slovenia (hosts) Slovenia, with the final in Ljubljana on 6 June 2021. Croatia (Group 4 runners-up) Czech Republic (Group 4 winners) What is the format? Denmark (Group 8 winners) A new format and schedule for the 2021 UEFA England (Group 3 winners) European Under-21 Championship has been France (Group 2 winners) approved. The finals will now be split over two Germany (Group 9 winners) periods, with the original venues of Hungary and Iceland (Group 1 runners-up) Slovenia still both hosting games in the group Italy (Group 1 winners) stage and knockout stage. This decision was Netherlands (Group 7 winners) approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on Portugal (Group 7 runners-up) Wednesday 17 June. Romania (Group 8 runners-up) The four sides in every group face each other in a Russia (Group 5 winners) round-robin format, with the group winners and Spain (Group 6 winners, holders) runners-up advancing to the quarter-finals. It then Switzerland (Group 2 runners-up) becomes a knockout competition. 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 5 HOW TO FOLLOW THE DRAW On UEFA.com and official social media channels. UEFA.com is the official website of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The fully responsive Under-21 section – available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish – will provide in-depth coverage of the competition, including live streaming and detailed editorial coverage of the draw. The website has extensive reach, both for UEFA and its member associations, as do the official social media channels. The UEFA European Under-21 Championship will be covered via the following established and popular accounts: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship social media: Twitter: @UEFAUnder21 Facebook: Under21 Instagram: UEFAcom Hashtag: #U21EURO Match hashtags: #IOCIOC (#FRAGER, #ESPENG etc.) UEFA Corporate social media: Twitter: @UEFA Facebook: @UEFA Instagram: uefa_official Handout photos are available for media use and the following link will be populated on the day: https:// library.uefa.com/s/FRVFbdQN 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | Press Kit 6 HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK Date and time: Thursday, 10 December 2020 at 15:00 (CET) Place: UEFA Headquarters, Nyon, Switzerland Duration: approx. 15 minutes (TV Programme: 30 minutes) Regulations: Articles 13, 16 and 17 of the competition regulations Participants: 16 teams including the two hosts, Hungary and Slovenia Pot Allocation The sixteen teams are divided into four pots according to their position in the UEFA Under-21 National Team Coefficient Rankings (article 16.02 of the competition regulations): Final Draw Coefficient Ranking Pos. Country Coefficient (Calculated according to Annex