2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship

Europees kampioenschap voetbal onder 21 - 2007
Tournament details
Host country	Netherlands
Dates	10–23 June
Teams	8 (finals) 51 (qualifying) (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands (2nd title)
Runners-up	Serbia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	34 (2.27 per match)
Attendance	211,999 (14,133 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Maceo Rigters (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Royston Drenthe
← 2006 2009 →

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

Summary

For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Netherlands, who were also the defending champions, were exempt from qualifying. The host nation was chosen on 15 December 2005. England, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, and Sweden also submitted bids. Of UEFA's 52 member countries, only the Faroe Islands 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. UEFA 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 or the UEFA European Championship.

The tournament also served as the European qualifying tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a place for the four semi-finalists of the tournament.^[1][2] However, as England is not an Olympic nation, their team was ineligible for the Olympics; since England reached the semi-finals, a fifth-place playoff was necessary.

In this competition, a new UEFA penalty shoot-out record was established.^[3] The semi final between The Netherlands U21 and England U21 finished 1–1. Thirty-two penalties had to be taken before the tie was decided. The Netherlands U21 won 13–12,^[4] and went on to win the tournament by defeating Serbia U21 4–1 in the final.^[5]

After the final, some commotion arose in the Netherlands because several Dutch internationals with Surinamese roots carried the flag of Suriname with them during the trophy presentation.^{[citation needed]} Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".^{[citation needed]}

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 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 and Arnhem each staging a semi-final on 20 June. The final took place on Saturday 23 June at Euroborg in Groningen.

The opening game was between the Netherlands and Israel at 10 June.

Venues

City	Stadium	Capacity
Arnhem	Gelredome	25,000
Heerenveen	Abe Lenstra Stadion	26,100
Groningen	Euroborg	20,000
Nijmegen	De Goffert	13,000

Squads

Group stage

	Team qualified for the knockout stage
	Team went to play-off for Olympics

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
Belgium	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
Portugal	3	1	1	1	5	2	+3	4
Israel	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0

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Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Serbia	3	2	0	1	2	2	0	6
England	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Italy	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
Czech Republic	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

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Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	20 June – Heerenveen
	Netherlands	1 (13)
					23 June – Groningen
	England	1 (12)
					Arnhem
		Serbia				1
				Serbia	2
				Belgium	0

Semi-finals

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Final

GK 1 Boy Waterman RB 4 Arnold Kruiswijk CB 2 Gianni Zuiverloon CB 18 Ryan Donk LB 5 Erik Pieters  89' DM 6 Hedwiges Maduro (c) RM 11 Daniël de Ridder LM 8 Royston Drenthe  9'  78' AM 10 Otman Bakkal CF 13 Maceo Rigters  69' CF 9 Ryan Babel Substitutes: MF 12 Luigi Bruins  69' FW 14 Roy Beerens  89'  78' DF 19 Calvin Jong-a-Pin  89' Coach: Foppe de Haan

GK 1 Damir Kahriman RB 3 Antonio Rukavina  89' CB 2 Branislav Ivanović (c)  62' CB 11 Duško Tošić  43' LB 6 Aleksandar Kolarov  28'  62' CM 7 Milan Smiljanić CM 13 Nikola Drinčić  65' CM 10 Dejan Milovanović RF 19 Dušan Basta  73' CF 9 Đorđe Rakić  73' LF 8 Boško Janković Substitutes: MF 21 Zoran Tošić  65' MF 14 Stefan Babović  73' FW 18 Dragan Mrđa  82'  73' Coach: Miroslav Đukić

Man of the Match: Ryan Babel (Netherlands) Assistant referees: Manuel Navarro (Switzerland) Tomáš Mokoš (Slovakia) Fourth official: Stéphane Lannoy (France)

Awards

Best player

• Royston Drenthe (Netherlands)

Team of the tournament

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Scott Carson Paulo Ribeiro	Branislav Ivanović Giorgio Chiellini Leighton Baines Steven Taylor Manuel da Costa Gianni Zuiverloon Duško Tošić Jan Vertonghen Ashley Young	Royston Drenthe Otman Bakkal Nigel Reo-Coker Miguel Veloso Manuel Fernandes Alessandro Rosina Alberto Aquilani	Kevin Mirallas Maceo Rigters Leroy Lita David Nugent Ryan Babel

Goalscorers

4 goals

• Maceo Rigters

3 goals

• Leroy Lita

2 goals

• Alberto Aquilani
• Ryan Babel
• Giorgio Chiellini
• Kevin Mirallas
• Dragan Mrđa
• Miguel Veloso

1 goal

• Otman Bakkal
• Luigi Bruins
• Matt Derbyshire
• Royston Drenthe
• Manuel Fernandes
• Boško Janković
• Aleksandar Kolarov
• Hedwiges Maduro
• Dejan Milovanović
• Nani
• David Nugent
• Michal Papadopulos
• Sébastien Pocognoli
• 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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
	Netherlands (H)	5	3	2	0	10	5	+5	11	Gold Medal
	Serbia	5	3	0	2	5	6	−1	9	Silver Medal
	England	4	1	3	0	5	3	+2	6	Eliminated in semi-finals
	Belgium	4	1	2	1	3	4	−1	5
5	Portugal	3	1	1	1	5	2	+3	4	Eliminated in group stage
6	Italy	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
7	Czech Republic	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1
8	Israel	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0

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