2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, or simply the 2013 Euro Under-21, was the 19th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Israel from 5–18 June 2013.

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
אליפות אירופה בכדורגל עד גיל 21 - 2013
Tournament details
Host country Israel
Dates5–18 June
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Spain (4th title)
Runners-up Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored45 (3 per match)
Attendance180,432 (12,029 per match)
Top scorer(s)Spain Álvaro Morata (4 goals)
Best player(s)Spain Thiago[1]
2011
2015

The Israeli bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 27 January 2011 in Nyon, Switzerland.[2] This bid defeated the other bids from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England and Wales.

Spain defended the title they won two years prior, winning their fourth championship after defeating Italy 4–2 in the final.

Qualification

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The draw for the group stage of qualifying for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship took place on 3 February in Nyon, Switzerland. 52 national teams took part in the qualifying. The group stage of qualifying began on 25 March 2011.[3] There were a total of ten groups, consisting of five or six teams each. All the teams in each group faced each other two times, at home and away. The team at the top of each group and the four best second-placed teams qualified to the playoff round. In the playoff round, the 14 teams were drawn to play seven two-legged matches. The winners joined Israel in the tournament finals.

List of qualified teams

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The following teams qualified for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship:

Venues

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The Competition was played at four venues in major cities all around Israel: Bloomfield (Tel Aviv), Teddy (Jerusalem), HaMoshava (Petah Tikva) and the Netanya Stadium (Netanya).

Jerusalem Netanya
Teddy Stadium Netanya Stadium
Capacity: 31,733 Capacity: 13,610
   
Petah Tikva Tel Aviv
HaMoshava Stadium Bloomfield Stadium
Capacity: 11,500 Capacity: 14,413
   

Match officials

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In December 2012, it was announced that these six referees would take charge of matches at the final tournament:

It was furthermore announced that additional assistant referees would be deployed at Israel's final tournament.[4]

Seeding

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The draw for the final tournament took place on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv. As the highest-ranked team according to the competition coefficient rankings, Spain were one of the top two seeds alongside hosts Israel. Those two sides were drawn into separate groups, as were the second and third-ranked teams in the list, England and the Netherlands. The remaining four countries were unseeded and were placed in the remaining positions in the two four-team sections.[5][6]

Top seeds Second seeds Unseeded

Squads

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The deadline for the submission of the final 23-man squads was 26 May 2013, ten days before the opening match.

Group stage

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The draw for the group stage was held on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv.[7]

All times are local (UTC+3).

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Group stage result
1   Italy 3 2 1 0 6 1 +5 7 Advance to knockout stage
2   Norway 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2 5
3   Israel (H) 3 1 1 1 3 6 −3 4
4   England 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0
Source: [citation needed]
(H) Hosts
Israel  2–2  Norway
Biton   16' (pen.)
Turgeman   71'
Report Pedersen   24'
Singh   90+2'
Attendance: 10,850
Referee: Paweł Gil (Poland)
England  0–1  Italy
Report Insigne   79'

England  1–3  Norway
Dawson   57' (pen.) Report Berge   15'
Berget   34'
Eikrem   52'
Italy  4–0  Israel
Saponara   18'
Gabbiadini   42', 53'
Florenzi   71'
Report

Israel  1–0  England
Kriaf   80' Report
Attendance: 22,183
Norway  1–1  Italy
Strandberg   90' (pen.) Report Bertolacci   90+4'
Attendance: 7,130
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Group stage result
1   Spain 3 3 0 0 5 0 +5 9 Advance to knockout stage
2   Netherlands 3 2 0 1 8 6 +2 6
3   Germany 3 1 0 2 4 5 −1 3
4   Russia 3 0 0 3 2 8 −6 0
Source: [citation needed]
Spain  1–0  Russia
Morata   82' Report
Attendance: 8,127
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Netherlands  3–2  Germany
Maher   24'
Wijnaldum   38'
Fer   90'
Report Rudy   47' (pen.)
Holtby   81'
Attendance: 10,248
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

Netherlands  5–1  Russia
Wijnaldum   38'
De Jong   61'
John   69'
Hoesen   83'
Fer   90+2'
Report Cheryshev   65'
Attendance: 8,589
Germany  0–1  Spain
Report Morata   86'
Attendance: 11,750
Referee: Paweł Gil (Poland)

Spain  3–0  Netherlands
Morata   26'
Isco   32'
Vázquez   90+1'
Report
Russia  1–2  Germany
Dzagoev   22' Report Herrmann   34'
Rudy   69' (pen.)
Attendance: 8,134
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

Knockout stage

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Bracket

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
15 June – Netanya
 
 
  Spain3
 
18 June – Jerusalem
 
  Norway0
 
  Spain4
 
15 June – Petah Tikva
 
  Italy2
 
  Italy1
 
 
  Netherlands0
 

Semifinals

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Spain  3–0  Norway
Rodrigo   45+1'
Isco   87'
Morata   90+3'
Report
Attendance: 12,048

Italy  1–0  Netherlands
Borini   79' Report

Final

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Spain  4–2  Italy
Thiago   6', 31', 38' (pen.)
Isco   66' (pen.)
Report Immobile   10'
Borini   80'
Attendance: 29,320
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

Team of the Tournament

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The UEFA Technical Team was charged with naming a squad composed of the 23 best players over the course of the tournament. Spain, with eleven, had the most players in the team of the tournament.[1]

UEFA Team of the Tournament
Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards
  David de Gea   Alberto Moreno   Asier Illarramendi   Álvaro Morata
  Francesco Bardi   Iñigo Martínez   Isco   Rodrigo
  Ørjan Nyland   Marc Bartra   Koke   Fabio Borini
  Martín Montoya   Thiago   Georginio Wijnaldum
  Luca Caldirola   Lewis Holtby   Luuk de Jong
  Bruno Martins Indi   Marco Verratti
  Stefan Strandberg   Adam Maher
  Alan Dzagoev

Goalscorers

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4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Official match ball

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The official ball for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship was unveiled during the draw in Tel Aviv on 28 November 2012.[9] The ball had the same blue and white colours as tournament hosts Israel and its design featured the same thermally bonded triangular patterns as the Adidas Tango 12, match ball of UEFA Euro 2012.

Calls to boycott tournament

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After Israel was announced as host, there were calls by some to boycott the tournament. The most prominent petition against the tournament taking place in Israel was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which demanded UEFA President Michel Platini reverse his decision.[10] Another petition[11] organised by Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK demanded that UEFA move the tournament to England after the UEFA considered asking the FA to be on standby if the Gaza-Israel conflict continued.[12]

Another petition, organised by former Sevilla footballer Frédéric Kanouté and containing the name of 50 professional footballers who had signed it,[13] also gained media attention[14] but attracted criticism when some of the names listed on it were disputed. Didier Drogba, for example, claimed he never signed the petition and his name was removed from the list.[15]

Broadcast from UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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Américas

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  •   United States: ESPN, ESPN 2 or ESPN 3 (All matches live in Pay TV)
  •   Brazil: SporTV
  • Spanish speaking Latin America: DirecTV Sports (South América and Caribbean) / SKY (Mexico and Central América) (All matches live on Channels of DirecTV Sports in South América and Caribbean / Sky Sports in Mexico and Central América).

Free TV

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Thiago leads all-star squad dominated by Spain". UEFA.com. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Israel awarded U21 Championship in 2013" (Press release). UEFA. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Draw signals first steps on road to Israel" (Press release). UEFA. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  4. ^ "UEFA deploys Additional Assistant Referees at Under-21 Championship - The 3rd Team". Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
  5. ^ "Under-21 finals lineup complete". UEFA.com. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ^ "Spain and Israel top seeds for Under-21 draw". UEFA.com. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  7. ^ "Spain draw Germany, Israel get England". UEFA.com. 28 November 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Morata wins Golden Boot in Spanish clean sweep". UEFA.com. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  9. ^ "U21 tournament ball unveiled in Tel Aviv". UEFA.com. 28 November 2012.
  10. ^ "PSC boycott site". Archived from the original on 2012-12-21. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  11. ^ "'Move the European Under-21 Championship to England from Israel' – MPACUK". Archived from the original on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  12. ^ 'Uefa postpones match after Tel Aviv bomb blast' – The Jewish Chronicle
  13. ^ "Freddie Kanouté's petition with names listed in support". Archived from the original on 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  14. ^ ""Boycotts criticised"". Archived from the original on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2012-12-09.
  15. ^ "Didier Drogba denies signing petition"
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