The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

Summary

For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, who were also the defending champions, were exempt from qualifying. The host nation was chosen on 15 December 2005.

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

also submitted bids. Of UEFA's 52 member countries, only the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

did not compete in the qualification round for the tournament. That left 50 nations attempting to qualify for the seven remaining spots at the finals. This was the first time that the competition's final matches took place in an odd-numbered year.

took this decision with the will to give more visibility to the tournament, since during even-numbered years the competition was clouded by the approaching

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

or the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

. The tournament also served as the European qualifying tournament for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, with a place for the four semi-finalists of the tournament. However, as England is not an Olympic nation, their team was ineligible for the Olympics. Therefore, with the event of

reaching the semi-finals, a fifth-place playoff was necessary. In this competition, a new UEFA penalty shootout record was established. The semi final between The Netherlands U21 and

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

finished 1-1. No less than 32 penalties had to be taken before the tie was decided. The Netherlands U21 won 13-12, and went on to win the tournament by defeating Serbia U21 4-1 in the final. After the final, some commotion arose in the Netherlands because several Dutch internationals with

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

se roots carried the flag of Suriname with them during the ceremony of the European Champion in the

Euroborg The Euroborg () is the stadium in Groningen, Netherlands. It is the home of football club FC Groningen, with a capacity of 22,525 seats. The stadium site houses a casino, movie theater, school, supermarket, and a fitness centre. A temporary railw ...

. Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".

Qualification

In order to make the switch from even to odd-numbered years, the 2007 edition was a shortened version, condensed from a two-year campaign into a one-year campaign. Therefore, a completely new qualification format was devised to eliminate the weaker nations early, and saw a decrease in the size and duration of qualification groups.

Finals tournament

Draw

The draw for the finals took place in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

on 24 November 2006, putting the eight qualifying nations into two groups. The provisional dates for the group games are 10 June to 17 June 2007, with

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

and

each staging a semi-final on 20 June. The final took place on Saturday 23 June at the Euroborg stadium in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

. The opening game was between the

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

at 10 June.

Venues

Squads

Finals group stage

In the following tables:

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

----

Final

Awards

Golden player

* Royston Drenthe

Goal scorers

;4 goals * Maceo Rigters ;3 goals *

Leroy Lita Leroy Halirou Bohari Lita (born 28 December 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Nuneaton Borough. Lita was a product of the Chelsea youth system but never made a first-team appearance for the club; in 2002, he moved to Bristol City and ...

;2 goals *

Alberto Aquilani Alberto Aquilani (; born 7 July 1984) is an Italian football manager and former player. Mainly a central midfielder, he usually operated as a deep-lying playmaker, but was also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder. He is the head coach o ...

* Ryan Babel *

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strengt ...

Kevin Mirallas Kevin Antonio Joel Gislain Mirallas y Castillo (born 5 October 1987), known as Kevin Mirallas (), is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Cypriot side AEL Limassol. Mirallas started his professional career in France wi ...

Dragan Mrđa Dragan Mrđa ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Мрђа; born 23 January 1984) is a former Serbian footballer who played as a forward. At international level he has represented Serbia. Club career Early career After spending many years of his youth play ...

* Miguel Veloso ;1 goal *

Otman Bakkal Otman Bakkal (born 27 February 1985) is a Dutch retired international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He began his career at PSV, and was loaned to Den Bosch, Eindhoven, Twente and Feyenoord. After making a permanent move to D ...

Luigi Bruins Luigi Bruins (born 9 March 1987) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for VV Smitshoek. After being declined by Feyenoord at the age of six, the Rotterdam-born went through the complete Excelsior youth academ ...

Matt Derbyshire Matthew Anthony Derbyshire (born 14 April 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club NorthEast United. He played for Blackburn Rovers for five years, and had loan spells with Plymouth Argyl ...

* Royston Drenthe * Manuel Fernandes * Boško Janković *

Aleksandar Kolarov Aleksandar Kolarov (; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian former professional footballer. Although primarily a left-back, Kolarov could also operate as a centre-back and anywhere along the left flank and was known for his overlapping attacking ru ...

* Hedwiges Maduro * Dejan Milovanović * Nani * David Nugent * Michal Papadopulos *

Sébastien Pocognoli Sébastien Pocognoli (born 1 August 1987) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a left-back. He is the head coach of the Under-21 squad of Union SG. Between 2008 and 2014, he made 13 appearances for the Belgium national ...

* Giuseppe Rossi * Ricardo Vaz Tê

Medal table and Olympic qualifiers

* Netherlands, Serbia, Belgium and Italy qualify for the Olympic games finals. See

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and several other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams and men's U-23 team ...

Olympic Qualifying Play-Off

The 2007 European Under-21 Championship also served as the European qualifying round for the 2008 Olympic football tournament. Europe's four places at the Olympic tournament were to be filled by the four semi-finalists. However, because England, one of the semi-finalists, do not compete independently at the Olympics, following the group stage a play-off between Portugal and Italy, the two third-placed teams in each group, was arranged to identify the fourth European qualifier. Italy defeated Portugal through a penalty shoot-out booking their Olympic place in Beijing.

References

External links

Draw and Fixtures
at uefa.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. ...

UEFA European Under-21 Championship International association football competitions hosted by the Netherlands

June 2007 sports events in Europe 2007 in youth association football