UEFA European Under-21 Championship

History

The competition in its current form has existed since 1978. It was preceded by the Under-23 Challenge Cup, which ran from 1967 to 1970. Bulgaria won the inaugural Challenge Cup in 1967, defeating East Germany 3–2. As defending champions, they faced randomly drawn "challengers" for a single match in Bulgaria. They retained the title three times, twice more in 1967 and once in 1968. By the final edition in 1970, only Bulgaria and Yugoslavia had won the competition.

A proper under-23 championship was then established, starting in 1972. It was held three times in the same format; the eight group winners contested the quarter-finals on a home-and-away basis. The semi-finals and final were also held over two legs. To overcome calendar issues, the qualifying groups were the same as the qualifying groups for the senior World Cup or European Championship, and the matches were played on the same day or weekend. This has changed starting with the 2006 edition, when a separate draw was held for the first time to form the qualifying groups.

At the UEFA conference in January 1976, the age limit was lowered to 21 for the 1978 tournament, and has remained so ever since. The rules at the time allowed each team to field two players over the age of 21. To be eligible for the campaign ending in 2027, players must be born in 2004 or later. Many may actually be 23 years old by the time of the final tournament; however, when the qualification process began (2025), all players would have been 21 or under.

In 1992, the Under-21 Championship became the European qualifying competition for the Olympic football tournament.

The tournament's record attendance was set during the knockout stage of the 2023 edition, when 44,338 spectators gathered for the match between hosts Georgia and Israel.

Format

Up to and including the 1992 competition, all entrants were divided into eight qualification groups, the eight winners of which formed the quarter-finals line-up. The remaining fixtures were played out on a two-legged, home and away basis to determine the eventual winner.

For the 1994 competition, one of the semi-finalists, , was chosen as a host for the (single-legged) semi-finals, third-place play-off and final. Similarly, Spain was chosen to host the last four matches in 1996.

For 1998, nine qualification groups were used, as participation had reached 46, nearly double the 24 entrants in 1976. The top seven group winners qualified automatically for the finals, whilst the eighth- and ninth-best qualifiers, and , played-off for the final spot. The remaining matches, from the quarter-finals onward, were held in Romania, one of the eight qualifiers.

The 2000 competition also had nine groups, but the nine winners and seven runners-up went into a two-legged play-off to decide the eight qualifiers. From those, Slovakia was chosen as host. For the first time, the familiar finals group stage was employed, with the two winners contesting a final, and two runners-up contesting the third-place play-off. The structure in 2002 was identical, except for the introduction of a semi-finals round after the finals group stage. Switzerland hosted the 2002 finals.

In 2004, ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and six best runners-up going into the play-off. Germany was host that year. For 2006, the top two teams of eight large qualification groups provided the 16 teams for the play-offs, held in November 2005. Portugal hosted the finals.

Then followed the switch to odd years. The change was made because the senior teams of many nations often chose to promote players from their under-21s team as their own qualification campaign intensified. Staggering the tournaments allowed players more time to develop in the under-21 team rather than get promoted too early and end up becoming reserves for the seniors.

The 2007 competition actually began before the 2006 finals, with a qualification round to eliminate eight of the lowest-ranked nations. For the first time, the host (Netherlands) was chosen ahead of the qualification section. As hosts, qualified automatically. Coincidentally, the Dutch team had won the 2006 competition – the holders would normally have gone through the qualification stage. The other nations were all drawn into fourteen three-team groups. The 14 group winners were paired in double-leg play-off to decide the seven qualifiers alongside the hosts.

From 2009 to 2015, ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and four best runners-up going into the two-legged play-offs.

The 2015 finals was to be the last eight teams edition, as UEFA expanded the tournament to twelve teams starting from the 2017 edition.

On 6 February 2019, UEFA's Executive Committee increased the number of participants in the finals to sixteen teams, starting from the 2021 edition.

Results

Performances by countries

Comprehensive team results by tournament

;Legend

• – Champions
• – Runners-up
• – Third place
• – Fourth place
• – Semi-finalists
• QF – Quarter-finals
• GS – Group stage
• q – Qualified for the next tournament
• – Hosts
• • – Did not qualify
• × – Did not enter
• × – Withdrew before qualification / banned

;Notes

• 1 Includes results representing Czechoslovakia
• 2 Includes results representing West Germany
• 3 Includes results representing Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro

Awards

Player of the Tournament

The Player of the Tournament award, formerly known as the Golden Player, is awarded to the player who plays the most outstanding football during the tournament. Since 2013, an official Player of the Tournament has been selected by the UEFA Technical Team.

Top Scorer

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship Top Scorer award, formerly known as the Golden Boot, is handed to the player who scores the most goals during the tournament. Since the 2013 tournament, those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot awards as the second and third top goalscorers in the tournament, respectively.

Euro Under-21 dream team

On 17 June 2015, UEFA revealed an all-time best XI from the previous Under-21 final tournaments.

References

References

1. (19 June 2023). "How the Under-21 EURO developed". Union of European Football Associations.
2. (1 July 2023). "Under-21 EURO finals attendance record broken". Union of European Football Associations.
3. (24 January 2014). "U21 final tournament expanding to 12 teams". [[UEFA]].
4. (7 February 2019). "Aleksander Čeferin re-elected UEFA President until 2023".
5. UEFA.com. (21 June 2013). "Thiago leads all-star squad dominated by Spain".
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24. (26 July 2013). "2013: Thiago Alcântara". Union of European Football Associations.
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37. (28 June 2025). "Under-21 EURO top scorer: Nick Woltemade". Union of European Football Associations.
38. (17 June 2015). "Our all-time Under-21 EURO dream team". Union of European Football Associations.