2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th 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. The final tournament was hosted by Italy (and some matches by San Marino) in mid-2019, after their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee on 9 December 2016 in Nyon, Switzerland.[2][3]

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Campionato europeo di calcio Under-21 2019
Tournament details
Host countriesItaly
San Marino
Dates16–30 June[1]
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Spain (5th title)
Runners-up Germany
Tournament statistics
Matches played21
Goals scored78 (3.71 per match)
Attendance214,637 (10,221 per match)
Top scorer(s)Germany Luca Waldschmidt (7 goals)
Best player(s)Spain Fabián Ruiz
2017
2021

A total of twelve teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1996 eligible to participate.[4]

Same as previous Under-21 Championships that were held one year prior to the Olympics, this tournament served as European qualifying for the Olympic football tournament, with the top four teams of the tournament qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in Japan, where they will be represented by their under-23 national teams with maximum of three overage players allowed. The four teams that qualified for the Olympic Games were the ones that qualified for the knockout stage of this championship.[5] For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system was used at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[6]

Germany were the defending champions.

Hosts

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In 2015 the Italian Football Federation confirmed that Italy would bid to host the tournament in 2019,[7] which also involved the San Marino Football Federation. Italy and San Marino were appointed as hosts at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Nyon on 9 December 2016.[2][failed verification][8]

Qualification

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All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Italy qualifying automatically (the other co-hosts San Marino would not qualify automatically), the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining eleven spots in the final tournament.[9] The qualifying competition, which took place from March 2017 to November 2018, consisted of two rounds:[4]

  • Qualifying group stage: The 54 teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams. Each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The nine group winners qualified directly for the final tournament, while the four best runners-up (not counting results against the sixth-placed team) advanced to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The four teams were drawn into two ties to play home-and-away two-legged matches to determine the last two qualified teams.

Qualified teams

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The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-21 era (since 1978).

Team Method of qualification Date of qualification Appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
  Italy Hosts 9 December 2016 20th 2017 (semi-finals) Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)
  Spain Group 2 winners 6 September 2018 14th 2017 (runners-up) Champions (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013)
  France Group 9 winners 7 September 2018 9th 2006 (semi-finals) Champions (1988)
  England Group 4 winners 11 October 2018 15th 2017 (semi-finals) Champions (1982, 1984)
  Serbia Group 7 winners 12 October 2018 11th[SRB] 2017 (group stage) Champions (1978) (as Yugoslavia)[SRB]
  Germany Group 5 winners 12 October 2018 12th 2017 (champions) Champions (2009, 2017)
  Croatia Group 1 winners 15 October 2018 3rd 2004 (group stage) Group stage (2000, 2004)
  Denmark Group 3 winners 16 October 2018 8th 2017 (group stage) Semi-finals (1992, 2015)
  Belgium Group 6 winners 16 October 2018 3rd 2007 (semi-finals) Semi-finals (2007)
  Romania Group 8 winners 16 October 2018 2nd 1998 (quarter-finals) Quarter-finals (1998)
  Poland Play-off winners 20 November 2018 7th 2017 (group stage) Quarter-finals (1982, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994)
  Austria Play-off winners 20 November 2018 1st Debut
Notes
  1. ^ a b
    Appearances include 4 as Yugoslavia and 2 as Serbia and Montenegro. Their previous best performance as Serbia was runners-up (2007).

Final draw

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The final draw was held on 23 November 2018, 18:00 CET (UTC+1), at the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese,[10][11][12] hosted by Mia Ceran and conducted by tournament ambassador Andrea Pirlo, who won the tournament in 2000.[13]

The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. Italy, the host country, was assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking following the end of the qualifying stage, calculated based on the following:[14]

Each group contained either the hosts or one team from Pot 1 (which were drawn to position B1 or C1), and one team from Pot 2 and two teams from Pot 3 (which were drawn to any of the positions 2–4 in the groups). The draw pots were as follows:[15]

Hosts
Team
  Italy
Pot 1
Team Coeff
  Germany 39,913
  England 37,946
Pot 2
Team Coeff
  Spain 37,774
  Denmark 35,533
  France 35,182
Pot 3
Team Coeff
  Serbia 33,083
  Croatia 32,952
  Belgium 32,122
  Austria 31,767
  Poland 30,946
  Romania 29,259

Venues

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On 9 December 2016, Italian Football Federation pre-selected venues (including one inside San Marino territory):[16]

Bologna Reggio nell'Emilia Cesena
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore Stadio Dino Manuzzi
Capacity: 31,000 Capacity: 21,500 Capacity: 20,194
   
Trieste Udine Serravalle (San Marino)
Stadio Nereo Rocco Dacia Arena San Marino Stadium
Capacity: 20,500 Capacity: 25,151 Capacity: 4,778
     

Match officials

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Country Referee 1st assistant referee 2nd assistant referee
  Belarus Aleksei Kulbakov Dzmitry Zhuk Aleh Maslianka
  Bulgaria Georgi Kabakov Martin Margaritov Diyan Valkov
  Israel Orel Grinfeld Roy Hassan Idan Yarkoni
  Latvia Andris Treimanis Haralds Gudermanis Aleksejs Spasjonņikovs
  Netherlands Serdar Gözübüyük Charles Schaap Jan de Vries
  Romania István Kovács Ovidiu Artene Vasile Marinescu
  Scotland Bobby Madden Francis Connor David Roome
  Serbia Srđan Jovanović Uroš Stojković Milan Mihajlović
  Sweden Andreas Ekberg Mehmet Culum Stefan Hallberg

Video Assistant Referees (VAR)

Squads

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Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least 10 full days before the opening match. If a player was injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could be replaced by another player.[4]

Group stage

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The group winners and the best runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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 would be applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 18.01 and 18.02):[4]

  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 are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above would be 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 have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are 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. Position in the UEFA under-21 national team coefficient ranking for the final draw.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).[17]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Spain 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 6[a] Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2   Italy (H) 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6[a]
3   Poland 3 2 0 1 4 7 −3 6[a]
4   Belgium 3 0 0 3 4 8 −4 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Head-to-head goal difference: Spain +3, Italy +1, Poland –4.
Poland  3–2  Belgium
Report
Italy  3–1  Spain
Report

Spain  2–1  Belgium
Report
Italy  0–1  Poland
Report

Belgium  1–3  Italy
Report
Spain  5–0  Poland
Report

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Germany 3 2 1 0 10 3 +7 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2   Denmark 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6
3   Austria 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
4   Serbia 3 0 0 3 1 10 −9 0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Serbia  0–2  Austria
Report
Germany  3–1  Denmark
Report
Attendance: 7,131[25]

Denmark  3–1  Austria
Report
Attendance: 7,297[26]
Germany  6–1  Serbia
Report

Austria  1–1  Germany
Report
Attendance: 9,100[28]
Denmark  2–0  Serbia
Report

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Romania 3 2 1 0 8 3 +5 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2   France 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7
3   England[a] 3 0 1 2 6 9 −3 1
4   Croatia 3 0 1 2 4 8 −4 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ England were ineligible for the Olympics.
Romania  4–1  Croatia
Report
England  1–2  France
Report

England  2–4  Romania
Report
France  1–0  Croatia
Report

Croatia  3–3  England
Report
France  0–0  Romania
Report

Ranking of second-placed teams

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Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 C   France 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7 Knockout stage and 2020 Summer Olympics
2 A   Italy 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6
3 B   Denmark 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) coefficient (Regulations Article 18.03).[4]

The match-ups of the semi-finals depended on which runners-up qualified (Regulations Article 17.02):[4]

  Scenario according to the best runners-up
Best runners-up from Best runners-up play Other semi-final
Group A Winners of Group B Winners of Group A vs Winners of Group C
Group B Winners of Group A Winners of Group B vs Winners of Group C
Group C Winners of Group A Winners of Group B vs Winners of Group C

Knockout stage

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In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.[4]

Bracket

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 June – Reggio Emilia
 
 
  Spain4
 
30 June – Udine
 
  France1
 
  Spain2
 
27 June – Bologna
 
  Germany1
 
  Germany4
 
 
  Romania2
 

Semi-finals

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Germany  4–2  Romania
Report

Spain  4–1  France
Report

Final

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Spain  2–1  Germany
Report
Attendance: 23,232[38]

Goalscorers

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There were 78 goals scored in 21 matches, for an average of 3.71 goals per match.

7 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Awards

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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Team of the tournament

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After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament was selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.[41]

Position Player
Goalkeeper   Alexander Nübel
Defenders   Lukas Klostermann
  Jonathan Tah
  Jesús Vallejo
  Benjamin Henrichs
Midfielders   Fabián Ruiz
  Mahmoud Dahoud
  Dani Olmo
  Luca Waldschmidt
  Dani Ceballos
Forward   George Pușcaș

Qualified teams for 2020 Summer Olympics

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The following four teams from UEFA qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
  Spain 22 June 2019[42] 10 (1920, 1924, 1928, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2012)
  Germany 23 June 2019[43] 9 (1912, 1928, 1936, 1952, 19562, 19722, 19842, 19882, 2016)
  Romania 24 June 2019[44] 3 (1924, 1952, 1964)
  France 24 June 2019[44] 12 (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1984, 1996)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
2 The team represented the United Team of Germany in 1956, and the Federal Republic of Germany (i.e., West Germany) in 1972, 1984 and 1988.

England were ineligible for the Olympics as they are not an Olympic nation (while an agreement was reached between the four British football associations to enter the Great Britain women's team, no agreement was reached for the men's team).[45] Had they reached the semi-finals, the last Olympic spot would have gone to the winner of an Olympic play-off match, scheduled to be played at Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Cesena on 28 June 2019, 21:00 CEST, between the two group runners-up which did not qualify for the semi-finals.[15][46] However, when England failed to advance out of the group stage, this match was cancelled.

International broadcasters

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Television

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All 21 matches were live streamed for the unsold markets via UEFA.tv and highlights were also available for all territories around the world via the UEFA YouTube channel.[47]

Participating nations

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Country Broadcaster
Free Pay
  Italy (host) RAI
  Austria ORF
Sport1
  Germany
ARD
ZDF
  Belgium VRT (Dutch)
RTBF (French)
  Croatia HRT
  Denmark DR
  France M6 beIN Sports
  Poland TVP
  Romania TVR
  Serbia RTS
  Spain Mediaset
  United Kingdom Sky Sports

Non-participating European nations

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Country/Region Broadcaster
Free Pay
  Albania RTSH
  Andorra Mediaset (Spanish) beIN Sports (French)
M6 (French)
  Luxembourg
RTBF (French)
VRT (Dutch)
  Armenia APMTV
  Belarus Belteleradio
  Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT
  Bulgaria BNT
  Czech Republic ČT
  Estonia ERR
  Faroe Islands DR
  Finland Yle
  Greece ERT[48]
  Hungary MTVA
  Ireland RTÉ Sky Sports
  Israel Charlton
  Kosovo RTK
  Latvia LTV
  Liechtenstein SRG SSR
(German, French, and Italian)
  Switzerland
Sport1 (German)
  Lithuania LRT
  Malta PBS
  Montenegro RTCG
  Netherlands NOS
  Norway NRK
  Portugal RTP
  Russia Match TV
  San Marino RAI
  Vatican City
  Slovakia RTVS
  Slovenia RTV SLO
  Sweden SVT
  Turkey TRT
  Ukraine UA:PBC

Outside Europe

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Country/Region Broadcaster
Free Pay
  China CCTV Super Sports
  Indonesia Super Soccer TV[49]
  Japan Wowow[50]
  United States
  Canada
  MENA
African Television beIN Sports

Radio

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Participating nations

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Country Broadcaster
  Italy (host) RAI
  Austria ORF
Sport1
  Germany
ARD
  Belgium VRT (Dutch)
RTBF (French)
  Croatia HRT
  Denmark DR
  Poland PR
  Romania RR
  Serbia RTS
  Spain Marca[51]
  United Kingdom Talksport

Non-participating European nations

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Country/Region Broadcaster
  Albania RTSH
  Andorra RTBF (French)
  Luxembourg
  Armenia HR
  Belarus Belteleradio
  Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT
  Bulgaria BNR
  Czech Republic ČR
  Estonia ERR
  Faroe Islands DR
  Finland Yle
  Greece ERT
  Hungary MTVA
  Ireland RTÉ
  Kosovo RTK
  Latvia LR
  Liechtenstein SRG SSR
(German, French, and Italian)
  Switzerland
Sport1 (German)
  Lithuania LRT
  Malta PBS
  Montenegro RTCG
  Netherlands NOS
  Norway NRK
  Portugal RTP
  San Marino RAI
  Vatican City
  Slovakia RTVS
  Slovenia RTV SLO
  Sweden SR
  Turkey TRT
  Ukraine UA:PBC

Outside Europe

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Country/Region Broadcaster
  China CRI
  United States
  Canada

References

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  1. ^ "UEFA Europa League Final 2019 to be played on 29 May". UEFA. 4 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Italy to host 2019 Under-21 EURO". uefa.com. 9 December 2016.
  3. ^ "LA UEFA ASSEGNA ALL'ITALIA E SAN MARINO L'EUROPEO UNDER 21 DEL 2019". San Marino Football Federation. 9 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "2017-19 UEFA European Under-21 Championship regulations" (PDF). UEFA.
  5. ^ "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017.
  6. ^ "VAR to be used in UEFA Champions League knockout phase". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. ^ "ITALY WILL SUBMIT APPLICATION TO HOST U21 2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP TO UEFA". FIGC.it. 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  8. ^ LA UEFA ASSEGNA ALL’ITALIA E SAN MARINO L’EUROPEO UNDER 21 DEL 2019. FEDERAZIONE SAMMARINESE GIUOCO CALCIO. 9 Dicembre 2016
  9. ^ "Seedings set for live 2019 U21 qualifying draw". UEFA.com. 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Final tournament draw". UEFA.com.
  11. ^ "Alle 18 a Bologna il sorteggio del Campionato Europeo: l'Italia inserita nel Gruppo A". Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio. 23 November 2018.
  12. ^ "U21 EURO 2019 final tournament draw". UEFA.com. 23 November 2018.
  13. ^ "A tribute to U21 EURO ambassador Andrea Pirlo". UEFA.com. 23 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Under-21 coefficients: 2019 qualifying draw" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  15. ^ a b "Draw Press Kit" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  16. ^ "La UEFA assegna all'Italia l'Europeo Under 21 del 2019". Italian Football Federation. 9 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  17. ^ "2019 Under-21 EURO calendar: all the fixtures". UEFA.com. 30 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Poland U21 vs. Belgium U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  19. ^ "Italy U21 vs. Spain U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Spain U21 vs. Belgium U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  21. ^ "Italy U21 vs. Poland U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  22. ^ "Belgium U21 vs. Italy U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  23. ^ "Spain U21 vs. Poland U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Serbia U21 vs. Austria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Germany U21 vs. Denmark U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  26. ^ "Denmark U21 vs. Austria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  27. ^ "Germany U21 vs. Serbia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  28. ^ "Austria U21 vs. Germany U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  29. ^ "Denmark U21 vs. Serbia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  30. ^ "Romania U21 vs. Croatia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  31. ^ "England U21 vs. France U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  32. ^ "England U21 vs. Romania U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  33. ^ "France U21 vs. Croatia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  34. ^ "Croatia U21 vs. England U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  35. ^ "France U21 vs. Romania U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  36. ^ "Germany U21 vs. Romania U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  37. ^ "Spain U21 vs. France U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  38. ^ "Spain U21 vs. Germany U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  39. ^ "Fabián Ruiz named best player". UEFA.com. 1 July 2019.
  40. ^ "Waldschmidt goals record". UEFA.com. 1 July 2019.
  41. ^ "Official Under-21 Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. 1 July 2019.
  42. ^ "Five-star Spain seal return to Olympic stage". FIFA.com. 22 June 2019. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019.
  43. ^ "Germany clinch Olympic berth". FIFA.com. 23 June 2019. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019.
  44. ^ a b "Romania and France earn final two Olympic places from Europe". FIFA.com. 24 June 2019. Archived from the original on June 25, 2019.
  45. ^ "Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Home nations agree to GB women's football team". BBC Sport. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  46. ^ "Foden, Jovic and Kean highlight European path to Tokyo". FIFA.com. 14 June 2019. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019.
  47. ^ UEFA.com. "Where to watch the 2019 Under-21 EURO". UEFA. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  48. ^ "ΕΡΤ: Η συμφωνία - μεγατόνων για το κανάλι της Αγίας Παρασκευής". ΝΕΑ ΣΕΛΙΔΑ (in Greek). 2019-06-19. Archived from the original on 2019-06-27. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  49. ^ "Super Soccer TV on Instagram: "Fase grup UEFA Euro U-21 sudah berakhir dan memastikan 4 tim untuk berlaga di semifinal. Super Soccer TV berkesempatan menayangkan…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  50. ^ "U-21欧州選手権、WOWOWでの放送が決定!東京五輪の欧州最終予選". Qoly. Archived from the original on 2019-06-27. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  51. ^ "España - Francia: horario y dónde ver en TV hoy las semifinales del Europeo sub-21". Marca.com (in Spanish). 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
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  NODES
Association 2
INTERN 5
Note 5