2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship
Europees kampioenschap voetbal onder 21 - 2007
Tournament details
Host country Netherlands
Dates10–23 June
Teams8 (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 played15
Goals scored34 (2.27 per match)
Attendance211,999 (14,133 per match)
Top scorer(s)Netherlands Maceo Rigters (4 goals)
Best player(s)Netherlands Royston Drenthe

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. Therefore, with the event of England reaching the semi-finals, a fifth-place playoff was necessary.

In this competition, a new UEFA penalty shootout record was established.[3] The semi final between The Netherlands U21 and England U21 finished 1–1. No less than 32 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 ceremony of the European Champion in the Euroborg. Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".

Qualification

Steward outfit displaying the logo of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007

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 Dutch team celebrating their victory after the final

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 the Euroborg stadium 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

Finals group stage

The final, Netherlands–Serbia, in the rain

In the following tables:

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
Source:
Netherlands 1 – 0 Israel
Maduro 10' Report
Attendance: 22,013
Portugal 0 – 0 Belgium
Report
Attendance: 7,197
Israel 0 – 1 Belgium
Report Mirallas 82'
Attendance: 5,239
Netherlands 2 – 1 Portugal
Babel 33' (pen.)
Rigters 75'		 Report Veloso 77'
Attendance: 19,498
Netherlands 2 – 2 Belgium
Rigters 13'
Drenthe 37'		 Report Mirallas 9'
Pocognoli 70'
Attendance: 24,099
Israel 0 – 4 Portugal
Report Fernandes 37'
Vaz Tê 45'
Veloso 49'
Nani 50'
Attendance: 10,833

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
Source:
Czech Republic 0 – 0 England
Report
Attendance: 9,382
Serbia 1 – 0 Italy
Milovanović 63' Report
Attendance: 8,347
Czech Republic 0 – 1 Serbia
Report Janković 90+3'
Attendance: 6,109
England 2 – 2 Italy
Nugent 24'
Lita 26'		 Report Chiellini 36'
Aquilani 69'
Attendance: 17,103
Italy 3 – 1 Czech Republic
Aquilani 4'
Chiellini 29'
Rossi 45+1'		 Report Papadopulos 14'
Attendance: 7,167
England 2 – 0 Serbia
Lita 5'
Derbyshire 77'		 Report
Attendance: 9,133

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
20 June – Heerenveen
 
 
 Netherlands1 (13)
 
23 June – Groningen
 
 England1 (12)
 
 Netherlands4
 
20 June – Arnhem
 
 Serbia1
 
 Serbia2
 
 
 Belgium0
 

Semi-finals

Serbia 2 – 0 Belgium
Kolarov 4'
Mrđa 87'		 Report
Attendance: 17,438

Final

The teams enter the field for the final
Netherlands 4 – 1 Serbia
Bakkal 17'
Babel 60'
Rigters 67'
Bruins 87'		 Report Mrđa 79'
Attendance: 19,813
GK1Boy Waterman
RB4Arnold Kruiswijk
CB2Gianni Zuiverloon
CB18Ryan Donk
LB5Erik Pietersdownward-facing red arrow 89'
DM6Hedwiges Maduro (c)
RM11Daniël de Ridder
LM8Royston DrentheYellow card 9'downward-facing red arrow 78'
AM10Otman Bakkal
CF13Maceo Rigtersdownward-facing red arrow 69'
CF9Ryan Babel
Substitutes:
MF12Luigi Bruinsupward-facing green arrow 69'
FW14Roy BeerensYellow card 89'upward-facing green arrow 78'
DF19Calvin Jong-a-Pinupward-facing green arrow 89'
Coach:
Netherlands Foppe de Haan
GK1Damir Kahriman
RB3Antonio RukavinaYellow card 89'
CB2Branislav Ivanović (c)Yellow card 62'
CB11Duško TošićYellow card 43'
LB6Aleksandar KolarovYellow card 28' Yellow-red card 62'
CM7Milan Smiljanić
CM13Nikola Drinčićdownward-facing red arrow 65'
CM10Dejan Milovanović
RF19Dušan Bastadownward-facing red arrow 73'
CF9Đorđe Rakićdownward-facing red arrow 73'
LF8Boško Janković
Substitutes:
MF21Zoran Tošićupward-facing green arrow 65'
MF14Stefan Babovićupward-facing green arrow 73'
FW18Dragan MrđaYellow card 82'upward-facing green arrow 73'
Coach:
Serbia Miroslav Đukić

Man of the Match:
Netherlands Ryan Babel

Assistant referees:
Switzerland Manuel Navarro
Slovakia Tomáš Mokoš
Fourth official:
France Stéphane Lannoy

Awards

Winners

2007 UEFA Euro Under-21 Championship
Winners
Netherlands
Netherlands
Second title

Best player

Netherlands Royston Drenthe

Team of the tournament

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards

England Scott Carson
Portugal Paulo Ribeiro

Serbia Branislav Ivanović
Italy Giorgio Chiellini
England Leighton Baines
England Steven Taylor
Portugal Manuel da Costa
Netherlands Gianni Zuiverloon
Serbia Duško Tošić
Belgium Jan Vertonghen
England Ashley Young

Netherlands Royston Drenthe
Netherlands Otman Bakkal
England Nigel Reo-Coker
Portugal Miguel Veloso
Portugal Manuel Fernandes
Italy Alessandro Rosina
Italy Alberto Aquilani

Belgium Kevin Mirallas
Netherlands Maceo Rigters
England Leroy Lita
England David Nugent
Netherlands Ryan Babel

Goalscorers

4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

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
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Netherlands (H) 5 3 2 0 10 5 +5 11 Gold Medal
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Serbia 5 3 0 2 5 6 −1 9 Silver Medal
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  England 4 1 3 0 5 3 +2 6 Eliminated in
semi-finals
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  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
Source: [ ]
(H) Hosts

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

  1. ↑ "De Sart wants Belgium's backing". David Bano & Michael Harrold. Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  2. ↑ "Match schedule". UEFA. Archived from the original on June 4, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Netherlands News". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Holland U21 1-1 Eng U21". BBC Sport. 2007-06-20. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Holland U21 4-1 Serbia U21". BBC Sport. 2007-06-23. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
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