2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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. Players born on or after 1 January 1986 were eligible to play in this competition.[1]

2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship
2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
U21-Europamästerskapet för herrar 2009
Tournament details
Host country Sweden
Dates15–29 June
Teams8 (finals)
51 (qualifying)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Germany (1st title)
Runners-up England
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored38 (2.53 per match)
Attendance163,090 (10,873 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sweden Marcus Berg (7 goals)
Best player(s)Sweden Marcus Berg
2007
2011

Qualification

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The qualifying draw split the nations onto 10 groups of 5 or 6 teams. The seeding pots are formed on the basis of former performance in the tournament. Ten group winners along with four best-ranked runners-up advanced to the play-offs. Seven winners of the play-off pairs qualified for the final tournament.

Qualified teams

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The finals' tournament draw took place on 3 December 2008 at the Svenska Mässan exhibition centre, Gothenburg.[2] 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.[3]

Final draw

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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

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Örjans Vall, seen from the entrance

The following venues were chosen to hold the final tournament matches:[4]

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

Sponsorship issues

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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.[5][6][7] The first news on the issue was published on 1 April 2008, making many believe it was an April fools joke.[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 owned the naming rights to the stadium at the time – were not official UEFA sponsors.[12]

Squads

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Matches

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

Group stage

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Group A

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Italy 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7
  Sweden 3 2 0 1 9 4 +5 6
  Serbia 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
  Belarus 3 0 1 2 2 7 −5 1
Sweden  5–1  Belarus
Martynovich   34' (o.g.)
Berg   38', 44', 81'
Svensson   89'
Report Kislyak   33'
Italy  0–0  Serbia
Report
Attendance: 7,158

Sweden  1–2  Italy
Toivonen   89' Report Balotelli   23'
Acquafresca   53'
Attendance: 11,618
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)
Belarus  0–0  Serbia
Report
Attendance: 3,313

Serbia  1–3  Sweden
Kačar   27' Report Berg   7', 15' (pen.)
Toivonen   29'
Attendance: 19,820
Belarus  1–2  Italy
Kislyak   45' Report Acquafresca   45+3' (pen.), 75'
Attendance: 3,014

Group B

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  England 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7
  Germany 3 1 2 0 3 1 +2 5
  Spain 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
  Finland 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
England  2–1  Finland
Cattermole   15'
Richards   53'
Report Sparv   33' (pen.)
Attendance: 6,828
Spain  0–0  Germany
Report
Attendance: 15,827
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)

Germany  2–0  Finland
Höwedes   59'
Dejagah   61'
Report
Attendance: 6,011
Spain  0–2  England
Report Campbell   67'
Milner   73'
Attendance: 16,123

Finland  0–2  Spain
Report Torrejón   29'
León   55'
Germany  1–1  England
Castro   5' Report Rodwell   30'
Attendance: 7,414

Knockout stage

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
26 June – Helsingborg
 
 
  Italy0
 
29 June – Malmö
 
  Germany1
 
  Germany4
 
26 June – Gothenburg
 
  England0
 
  England (p)3 (5)
 
 
  Sweden3 (4)
 

Semi-finals

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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
Attendance: 16,385

Italy  0–1  Germany
Report Beck   48'
Attendance: 8,094

Final

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

Man of the Match:
Mesut Özil (Germany)

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

Goalscorers

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Match ball

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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

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  1. ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007/09" (PDF). uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  2. ^ "Lineup complete for 2009 Under-21 finals". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "Sweden's five cities fit for 2009". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Borås loses Under-21 European Football Championships because of Sponsorship Conflict". Sveriges Radio International. Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  6. ^ "MAX hamburgers vs. McDonald's at football championship". The Local. The Local Europe. 19 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  7. ^ "Borås loses out in Uefa burger battle". The Local. The Local Europe. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. ^ "Första april-skämtet som var sant" [April fools joke that was true] (in Swedish). Idrottens Affärer. 4 April 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  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.
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