2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
2021-es U21-es labdarúgó-Európa-bajnokság
(in Hungarian)
Evropsko prvenstvo v nogometu do 21 let 2021
(in Slovene)
Tournament details
Host countriesHungary
Slovenia
Dates24–31 March 2021 (group stage)
31 May – 6 June 2021 (knockout stage)
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)8 (in 8 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Germany (3rd title)
Runners-up Portugal
Tournament statistics
Matches played31
Goals scored83 (2.68 per match)
Attendance13,413 (433 per match)
Top scorer(s)Germany Lukas Nmecha
(4 goals)
Best player(s)Portugal Fábio Vieira[1]
← 2019
2023 →

The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 national teams of Europe. Initially, 12 teams were to play in the tournament, however on 6 February 2019, UEFA's executive committee increased this number to 16.[2] Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to participate.[3]

The tournament was co-hosted by Hungary and Slovenia. It was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 26 June 2021.[4] However, the tournament was rescheduled following the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 to June/July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] The new dates were to be decided initially on 27 May 2020,[6] but then postponed to 17 June 2020,[7] where the UEFA Executive Committee meeting discussed the calendar and format of the tournament.[8] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the tournament would be played in two stages; the group stage, which took place from 24 to 31 March 2021, and the knockout stage, which took place from 31 May to 6 June 2021.[9][10][11] Due to COVID-19 Pandemic the VAR system wasn't used.

Spain were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the knockout phase by Portugal.

  1. ^ "2021 Under-21 EURO Player of the Tournament: Fábio Vieira". UEFA.com. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Aleksander Čeferin re-elected UEFA President until 2023". UEFA.com. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  3. ^ "2019–21 UEFA European Under-21 Championship regulations". UEFA.
  4. ^ "VAR to be used in UEFA Champions League knockout phase". UEFA. 3 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Resolution of the European football family on a coordinated response to the impact of the COVID-19 on competitions". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Executive Committee approves guidelines on eligibility for participation to UEFA competitions". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 April 2020.
  7. ^ "UEFA Executive Committee meeting postponed to 17 June". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 May 2020.
  8. ^ "UEFA Executive Committee agenda for June meeting". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 June 2020.
  9. ^ "UEFA competitions to resume in August". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Updated UEFA competitions calendar". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Under-21 EURO: New format and schedule announced". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020.