2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-19 national teams of Europe. Finland hosted the final tournament, between 16 and 29 July, after being selected by UEFA on 26 January 2015.[2] A total of eight teams competed in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1999 eligible to participate.

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Jalkapallon alle 19-vuotiaiden Euroopan-mestaruuskilpailut 2018
(in Finnish)
U19-Europamästerskapet i fotboll 2018
(in Swedish)
Tournament details
Host countryFinland
Dates16–29 July
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Portugal (1st title)
Runners-up Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored58 (3.63 per match)
Top scorer(s)Portugal Jota
Portugal Francisco Trincão
(5 goals each)[1]
2017
2019

Same as previous editions held in even-numbered years, the tournament acted as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top five teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland as the UEFA representatives, besides Poland who qualified automatically as hosts.

In the final, 2017 runners-up Portugal beat the 2016 losing finalists Italy 4–3, after extra-time, to win their first title in the under-19 era and their fourth overall.[3] Having won the Under-17 title in 2016, this generation of players became the first to hold the European title in both youth categories.[4] England were the defending champions, but were eliminated by France, finishing third in the group stage. They lost 0–3 to Norway in the play-off round and thus failed to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they would also defend their title.

Qualification

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All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition (including Kosovo who entered for the first time), and with the hosts Finland qualifying automatically, the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.[5] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2017, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2018.[6]

Qualified teams

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The following teams qualified for the final tournament.[7]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

Team Method of qualification Appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
  Finland Hosts 1st Debut
  Norway Elite round Group 1 winners 4th 2005 (group stage) Group stage (2002, 2003, 2005)
  England Elite round Group 2 winners 10th 2017 (champions) Champions (2017)
  Italy Elite round Group 3 winners 6th 2016 (runners-up) Champions (2003)
  Ukraine Elite round Group 4 winners 5th 2015 (group stage) Champions (2009)
  Portugal Elite round Group 5 winners 10th 2017 (runners-up) Runners-up (2003, 2014, 2017)
  France Elite round Group 6 winners 10th 2016 (champions) Champions (2005, 2010, 2016)
  Turkey Elite round Group 7 winners 6th 2013 (group stage) Runners-up (2004)

Final draw

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The final draw was held on 30 May 2018, 12:00 EEST (UTC+3), at the Vaasa City Hall in Vaasa, Finland.[8] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Finland were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

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The tournament took place in Vaasa and Seinäjoki.[9]

Seinäjoki Vaasa
OmaSP Stadion Hietalahti Stadium
Capacity: 5,672 Capacity: 5,572
   

Match officials

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A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[7]

Squads

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Each national team submitted a squad of 20 players (Regulations Article 39).[6]

Group stage

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The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 5 June 2018.[10]

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The third-placed teams entered the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01 and 16.02):[6]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams had the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and were tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
  8. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  9. UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
  10. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, EEST (UTC+3).

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Italy 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 7 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2   Portugal 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 6
3   Norway 3 1 1 1 5 6 −1 4 FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off
4   Finland (H) 3 0 0 3 2 7 −5 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Norway  1–3  Portugal
  • Markovic   82'
Report
Finland  0–1  Italy
Report

Finland  2–3  Norway
Report
Portugal  2–3  Italy
Report

Portugal  3–0  Finland
Report
Italy  1–1  Norway
Report

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Ukraine 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2   France 3 2 0 1 11 2 +9 6
3   England 3 1 1 1 4 8 −4 4 FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off
4   Turkey 3 0 0 3 2 9 −7 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Turkey  2–3  England
Report
France  1–2  Ukraine
Report

Ukraine  1–1  England
Report
Turkey  0–5  France
Report

Ukraine  1–0  Turkey
Report
England  0–5  France
Report

Knockout stage

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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[6]

Bracket

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
26 July – Vaasa
 
 
  Italy2
 
29 July – Seinäjoki
 
  France0
 
  Italy3
 
26 July – Vaasa
 
  Portugal (a.e.t.)4
 
  Ukraine0
 
 
  Portugal5
 
World Cup play-off
 
 
26 July – Seinäjoki
 
 
  Norway3
 
 
  England0

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

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Winner qualified for 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Norway  3–0  England
Report

Semi-finals

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Ukraine  0–5  Portugal
Report

Italy  2–0  France
Report
Referee: Jonathan Lardot (Belgium)

Final

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Italy  3–4 (a.e.t.)  Portugal
Report

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

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The following six teams from UEFA qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, including Poland which qualified as hosts.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
  Poland 16 March 2018[11] 4 (1979, 1981, 1983, 2007)
  Italy 22 July 2018[12] 6 (1977, 1981, 1987, 2005, 2009, 2017)
  Portugal 22 July 2018[12] 11 (1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
  Ukraine 23 July 2018[13] 3 (2001, 2005, 2015)
  France 23 July 2018[13] 6 (1977, 1997, 2001, 2011, 2013, 2017)
  Norway 26 July 2018[14] 2 (1989, 1993)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

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There were 58 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.62 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Source: UEFA.com[15]

Team of the Tournament

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The UEFA technical observers selected the following 11 players for the team of the tournament (and an additional nine substitutes):[16]

References

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  1. ^ Woloszyn, Paul (29 July 2018). "Portugal pair share U19 EURO top scorers' prize". UEFA.com. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Georgia and Finland to stage U19 EURO". UEFA.com. 26 January 2015.
  3. ^ "All the Under-19 EURO results". UEFA.com. 29 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Under-19 - Italy-Portugal". UEFA.com. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Seedings for 2017/18 U19 qualifying round". UEFA. 24 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, 2017/18" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  7. ^ a b "UEFA European Under-19 Championship Finland 2018". UEFA Programmes.
  8. ^ "Under-19 final tournament draw". UEFA.com.
  9. ^ "THE TOURNAMENT WILL BE PLAYED IN TWO VENUES, IN VAASA AND SEINÄJOKI". www.uefa.com.
  10. ^ "#U19EURO finals schedule confirmed". UEFA.com. 5 June 2018.
  11. ^ "FIFA Council decides on key steps for the future of international competitions". FIFA.com. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Italy, Portugal heading to U-20 World Cup". FIFA.com. 22 July 2018. Archived from the original on 11 November 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Ukraine and France qualify for Poland 2019". FIFA.com. 23 July 2018. Archived from the original on 11 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Norway book Europe's last spot, holders England eliminated". FIFA.com. 26 July 2018. Archived from the original on 11 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Statistics — Tournament phase — Player statistics — Goals". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Under-19 EURO team of the tournament". UEFA.com. 1 August 2018.
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  NODES
INTERN 2
Note 2