2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship
2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
U21-Europamästerskapet för herrar 2009
Tournament details
Host country Sweden
Dates 15 June – 29 June
Teams 8 (finals)
51 (qualifying)
Venue(s) 4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Germany (1st title)
Runners-up  England
Tournament statistics
Matches played 15
Goals scored 38 (2.53 per match)
Attendance 163,090 (10,873 per match)
Top scorer(s) Sweden Marcus Berg (7 goals)
Best player Sweden Marcus Berg

The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006-07 competition, which allowed the change to odd-numbered years. Sweden hosted the final tournament in June 2009; therefore, their under-21 team qualified automatically. 51 of the 52 other nations in UEFA's jurisdiction, including Montenegro and Serbia who competed separately for the first time, went through a series of qualifiers to decide the seven other teams to join Sweden at the finals. Andorra did not take part.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 1986 were eligible to play in this competition.[2]

Qualification

Qualification groups

The 51 nations were divided into ten qualification groups, with group matches scheduled from 31 May 2007 until 10 September 2008. The draw for the qualifying round was made on 13 February 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden.[1]

Group 1

 Italy
 Croatia
 Greece
 Albania
 Azerbaijan
 Faroe Islands
Group 2

 Czech Republic
 Ukraine
 Turkey
 Armenia
 Liechtenstein
Group 3

 Portugal
 England
 Bulgaria
 Republic of Ireland
 Montenegro
Group 4

 Spain
 Russia
 Poland
 Georgia
 Kazakhstan
Group 5

 Netherlands
  Switzerland
 Norway
 Macedonia
 Estonia

Group 6

 Denmark
 Slovenia
 Lithuania
 Finland
 Scotland
Group 7

 Belgium
 Slovakia
 Iceland
 Austria
 Cyprus
Group 8

 Serbia
 Hungary
 Belarus
 Latvia
 San Marino
Group 9

 Germany
 Israel
 Moldova
 Northern Ireland
 Luxembourg
Group 10

 France
 Romania
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Wales
 Malta

Play-offs

The ten group winners and four best runners-up from the group stage met in play-offs to determine the seven qualifying nations; the play-off matches were in October 2008.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Germany Germany 2–1 France France 1–1 1–0
Denmark Denmark 0–2 Serbia Serbia 0–1 0–1
Turkey Turkey 1–2 Belarus Belarus 1–0 0–2
Austria Austria 3–3(p) Finland Finland 2–1 1–2
Wales Wales 4–5 England England 2–3 2–2
Italy Italy 3–1 Israel Israel 0–0 3–1
Switzerland Switzerland 3–4(a.e.t.) Spain Spain 2–1 1–3

Qualified teams

The finals' tournament draw took place on 3 December 2008 at the Svenska Mässan exhibition centre, Gothenburg.[3] Prior to the final draw, Sweden had been seeded first in Group A as hosts of the tournament, while Spain were seeded first in Group B.[4]

Final draw

Pot A

Pot B

Pot C

The first pot contained the top seeds, these would have been host nation Sweden and the reigning champions, The Netherlands. However, The Netherlands did not qualify meaning that the team with the best qualifying record, Spain, took their place. Sweden and Spain were then automatically assigned to A1 and B1 respectively. The second pot contained the teams with the next two best records in qualifying: these were England and Italy. England were drawn into position B3 and Italy into A3. The final pot contained the other four qualified teams: Serbia, Finland, Germany and Belarus. Belarus were drawn first into position A2, Germany went into B2, Serbia into A4 and Finland into B4.

Venues

Örjans Vall, seen from the entrance.

The following venues were chosen to hold the final tournament matches:[5]

Stadium Location Normal capacity Tournament capacity
Swedbank Stadion Malmö 24,000 21,000
Gamla Ullevi Göteborg 18,800 16,700
Olympia Helsingborg 17,000 12,000
Örjans Vall Halmstad 15,500 8,000

Sponsorship issues

The Max restaurant at Borås Arena.
Swedbank Stadion without the Swedbank Stadion logo.

Following the refusal of the Swedish hamburger chain Max to close their restaurant at Borås Arena during the tournament (as they are not an official UEFA sponsor), UEFA disqualified Borås Arena from hosting games during the tournament. There is a contract between UEFA and the city and between UEFA and its sponsors saying that the UEFA sponsors shall have monopoly around the arena. A city cannot force Max to close down even if it happened to sign a contract with someone saying so, as Max have a tenancy agreement with the city.[6][7][8]

On 2 September 2008, the Swedish Football Association nominated Örjans Vall in Halmstad as a replacement venue for Borås Arena,[9] and they officially became the fourth host city a few days later.[10] They were awarded the three group stage games that were to be hosted by Borås Arena, while the second semi-final was moved from Borås to Helsingborg and Olympia.[11]

Swedbank Stadion was referred to as Malmö New Stadium during the tournament, as Swedbank - which owns the naming rights to the stadium - are not official UEFA sponsors.[12]

Squads

Matches

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).

Group stage

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Italy 321042+27
 Sweden 320194+56
 Serbia 302113−22
 Belarus 301227−51

16 June 2009
18:15
Sweden  5 – 1  Belarus
Martynovich  34' (o.g.)
Berg  38', 44', 81'
Svensson  89' 		Report Kislyak  33'

16 June 2009
20:45
Italy  0 – 0  Serbia
Report
Olympia, Helsingborg
Attendance: 7,158
Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

19 June 2009
16:00
Sweden  1 – 2  Italy
Toivonen  89' Report Balotelli  23'
Acquafresca  53'
Olympia, Helsingborg
Attendance: 11,618
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)

19 June 2009
18:15
Belarus  0 – 0  Serbia
Report
Malmö New Stadium, Malmö
Attendance: 3,313
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

23 June 2009
20:45
Serbia  1 – 3  Sweden
Kačar  27' Report Berg  7', 15' (pen.)
Toivonen  29'
Malmö New Stadium, Malmö
Attendance: 19,820
Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

23 June 2009
20:45
Belarus  1 – 2  Italy
Kislyak  45' Report Acquafresca  45+3' (pen.), 75'
Olympia, Helsingborg
Attendance: 3,014
Referee: Claudio Circhetta (Switzerland)

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 England 321052+37
 Germany 312031+25
 Spain 31112204
 Finland 300316−50

15 June 2009
18:15
England  2 – 1  Finland
Cattermole  15'
Richards  53' 		Report Sparv  33' (pen.)
Örjans Vall, Halmstad
Attendance: 6,828
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

15 June 2009
20:45
Spain  0 – 0  Germany
Report
Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Attendance: 15,827
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)

18 June 2009
18:15
Germany  2 – 0  Finland
Höwedes  59'
Dejagah  61' 		Report
Örjans Vall, Halmstad
Attendance: 6,011
Referee: Peter Rasmussen (Denmark)

18 June 2009
20:45
Spain  0 – 2  England
Report Campbell  67'
Milner  73'
Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Attendance: 16,123
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)

22 June 2009
20:45
Finland  0 – 2  Spain
Report Torrejón  29'
León  55'
Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Attendance: 8,093
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)

22 June 2009
20:45
Germany  1 – 1  England
Castro  5' Report Rodwell  30'
Örjans Vall, Halmstad
Attendance: 7,414
Referee: Peter Rasmussen (Denmark)

Knockout stage

Semi-finals Final
26 June – Helsingborg
  Italy 0  
  Germany 1  
 
29 June – Malmö
      Germany 4
    England 0
26 June – Gothenburg
  England (p) 3 (5)
  Sweden 3 (4)  

Semi-finals

26 June 2009
18:00
England  3 – 3 (a.e.t.)  Sweden
Cranie  1'
Onuoha  27'
Bjärsmyr  38' (o.g.) 		Report Berg  68', 81'
Toivonen  75'
  Penalties  
Milner
Hart
Cattermole
Johnson
Walcott
Gibbs 		5 – 4 Berg
Elm
Bjärsmyr
Lustig
R. Bengtsson
Molins
Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Attendance: 16,385
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

26 June 2009
20:45
Italy  0 – 1  Germany
Report Beck  48'
Olympia, Helsingborg
Attendance: 8,094
Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Final

29 June 2009
20:45
Germany  4 – 0  England
Castro  23'
Özil  48'
Wagner  79', 84' 		Report
Malmö New Stadium, Malmö
Attendance: 18,769
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Germany
England
Germany
GERMANY:
GK 1 Manuel Neuer
RB 2 Andreas Beck
CB 4 Benedikt Höwedes
CB 5 Jérôme Boateng
LB 3 Sebastian Boenisch  65'
DM 15Mats Hummels  83'
RM 14Fabian Johnson  69'
CM 20Gonzalo Castro
CM 8 Sami Khedira (c)
LM 10Mesut Özil  89'
CF 13Sandro Wagner  84'
Substitutions:
MF 16Daniel Schwaab  69'
MF 6 Dennis Aogo  83'
DF 19Marcel Schmelzer  89'
Coach:
Germany Horst Hrubesch
England
ENGLAND:
GK 22Scott Loach
RB 2 Martin Cranie  79'
CB 17Micah Richards
CB 6 Nedum Onuoha  46'
LB 19Kieran Gibbs
DM 12Fabrice Muamba  78'
CM 4 Lee Cattermole
CM 10Mark Noble (c)
RW 7 James Milner
LW 11Adam Johnson
CF 14Theo Walcott
Substitutions:
DF 18Michael Mancienne  46'
MF 15Jack Rodwell  78'
MF 8 Craig Gardner  79'
Coach:
England Stuart Pearce

Man of the Match:
Mesut Özil (Germany)

Assistant referees:
Joël De Bruyn (Belgium)
György Ring (Hungary)
Fourth official:
Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Goalscorers

7 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 goal, cont.
Own goals

Match ball

The match ball for the competition is called the Adidas Terrapass, which was unveiled at the tournament draw in Gothenburg on 3 December. The ball is bright blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag. It features 12 watermarks including one containing a map of Europe and one of the tournament logo. It is composed of 14 thermally bonded panels, which are claimed to improve the ball's accuracy and swerve.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Holders handed Switzerland test". uefa.com (Union of European Football Associations). 13 February 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  2. ↑ "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007/09" (PDF). uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  3. ↑ "Lineup complete for 2009 Under-21 finals". UEFA.com (Union of European Football Associations). 15 October 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  4. ↑ "Spanien, England och Italien blev seedade". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish) (Svenska Fotbollförbundet). 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Sweden's five cities fit for 2009". uefa.com (Union of European Football Associations). 8 February 2007. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  6. ↑ "Borås loses Under-21 European Football Championships because of Sponsorship Conflict". Sveriges Radio International (Sveriges Radio). Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  7. ↑ "MAX hamburgers vs. McDonald's at football championship". The Local (The Local Europe). 19 July 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. ↑ "Borås loses out in Uefa burger battle". The Local (The Local Europe). 21 July 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  9. ↑ "U21-EM 2009: Halmstad föreslås bli värdstad". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish) (Svenska Fotbollförbundet). 2 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  10. ↑ "UEFA U21-EM: Klartecken för Halmstad". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish) (Svenska Fotbollförbundet). 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  11. ↑ "U21-semifinal till Helsingborg". helsingborg.se (in Swedish) (Helsingborgs Stad). 5 September 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  12. ↑ Taxén, Mats (6 October 2008). "Malmö: Tre kilometer EM-stråk mitt i stan". svenskfotboll.se (Svenska Fotbollförbundet). Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.

External links

Media related to 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship at Wikimedia Commons