UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship

The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship was launched for the 2007/08 season, having been approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 22 May 2006.

New event
The decision to begin the annual competition followed the inauguration of the biennial FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup for 2008 – the European tournament acts as a qualifier when it is in the same year as the global finals – and also allowed UEFA to underline further its commitment to women's football and recognise the continual increase of activities in this sector. UEFA also hoped that this new championship would encourage and motivate those member associations who do not currently take part in a women's European competition to do so.

Impressive entry
UEFA's expectations were exceeded when 40 nations put in for the first edition, with the first qualifying round draw given the date of 19 February 2007. For the first season it was decided that four teams would progress to the finals, and UEFA itself acted as the hosts in its Swiss base of Nyon. Germany were to emerge champions ahead of France, Denmark and England, who all qualified for the World Cup. The following year Germany retained the title with a 7-0 final defeat of Spain, with France beating Norway 3-1 to finish third.

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship

The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship is a competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. It is also a FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup qualifying competition. National under-19 teams whose countries belong to the European governing body UEFA can register to enter the competition.

The competition began in the 1997-98 season as an under-18 event; it became an under-19s event from the 2001-02 season. The Championship has 2 phases: the qualifying phase open to all eligible nations, and the finals phase which is composed of 8 qualifying teams. The finals themselves are composed of two groups of four teams; each team plays the others in the group. The winner of each group after the 3 matches plays the runner-up of the opposing group in a semi-final, with the winner contesting the final.

UEFA Women's Championship

The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro and unofficially the "European Cup", held every fourth year, is the main competition in women's football (soccer) between national teams of the UEFA Confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent of the UEFA European Championship.

The predecessor tournament to the UEFA Women's Championship began in the early 1980s, under the name UEFA European Competition for Representative Women's Teams. With increasing popularity of women's football, the competition was given European Championship status by UEFA around 1990. Only the 1991 and 1995 editions have been used as European qualifiers for a World Cup; starting in 1999, the group system used in men's qualifiers was also used for women's national teams.

Six UEFA Women's Championships have taken place, preceded by 3 editions of the earlier European Competition for Representative Women's Teams. The most recent holding of the competition was the 2009 Women's Euro, hosted by Finland between August 23 and September 10, 2009.

UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship

The successor to the UEFA European Under-16 Championship, which for several years had virtually become the sole property of Spain and Portugal, the first U17 event in 2001/02 was claimed in a surprise triumph by Switzerland.

Swiss success
The Swiss captured the hearts of football lovers with a series of stunning performances that were enough to win the title and prove that they could well be a country to watch in the future. However their immediate U17 successors failed to qualify for the 2003 finals – showing how high standards across the continent have risen and how competitive youth football has become.

Recent winners
Hosts Portugal won that edition, followed by another home team, France, in 2004, with Turkey victorious in Italy a year later and Russia then taking the title in Luxembourg. Spain were champions in Belgium in 2007 and Turkey the following year, and were the dominant force in the old U16 championship; indeed all but the first two of those were under Juan Santisteban, appointed in 1988. He retired after the 2008 triumph and the following year hosts Germany secured the crown.

Stars
The U16 competition, which began in 1982, was the place where stars such as Thierry Henry and Luís Figo took their first step towards the limelight and from the 2002 inaugural U17 edition alone the likes of Switzerland's Philippe Senderos, England's Wayne Rooney and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo have already begun to follow in their footsteps.

Iberian dominance
While the Iberian sides have dominated the tournament over the years, with eight Spanish triumphs (six at U16 level) and five by the Portuguese, Germany with three wins – two in the U16 even including one as West Germany – have also a fine pedigree at this level. Switzerland, Republic of Ireland, Turkey, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy and the Soviet Union all lifted the U16 trophy on one occasion each.

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship

The European Under 19 Football Championship is an annual football competition organised by the sport's European governing body, UEFA. The competition has been held since 1948. It was originally called the FIFA junior tournament, until it was taken over by UEFA in 1955. In 1980, it was restyled the European Under 18 Football Championship, and as changes were made to player eligibility dates in 2001, the championship received its current name, and this name has been used since the 2002 championship. The contest has been held every year since its inauguration in 1948, except for the period between 1984 and 1992, when it was only held every other year.

The tournament has been played in a number of different formats during its existence. Currently it consists of two stages, similarly to UEFA's other European championship competitions. The qualifying stage is open to all UEFA members, and the final stage is contested between eight teams.

A higher advance team of this meeting will get the participation right to the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in the next year.

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

The European Under-21 Football Championship is a football competition organised by the sport's European governing body, UEFA. It is held every two years. The competition has existed in its current form since 1978. It was preceded by the Under 23 Challenge Cup which ran from 1967 to 1970. A true Under 23 championship was then formed, starting in 1972.

The age limit was reduced to 21 for the 1978 championship and it has remained so since. To be eligible for the campaign ending in 2009, players need to be born in or after 1986. Many can be actually 23 years old by the time the finals tournament takes place, however, when the qualification process began (late 2007) all players would have been 21 or under.

Under-21 matches are typically played on the day before senior internationals and where possible, the same qualifying groups and fixtures were played out. This was not true for the shortened 2006-7 Championship.

This tournament has been considered a stepping stone toward the senior team. Players such as Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Luis Figo, Petr Čech, Euro 2008 winner Iker Casillas, 2006 World Cup winners Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo and Euro 2004 winner Georgios Karagounis began their international careers in the youth teams.

Germany are the reigning champions, defeating England in the final, 4–0. The finals of the next competition will be hosted by Denmark in 2011.

Competition structure

Up to and including the 1992 competition, all entrants were divided into eight qualification groups, the eight winners of which formed the quarter-finals lineup. The remaining fixtures were played out on a two-legged, home and away basis to determine the eventual winner.

For the 1994 competition, one of the semi-finalists, France, was chosen as a host for the (single-legged) semi-finals, 3rd place playoff and final. Similarly, Spain was chosen to host the last four matches in 1996.

For 1998, nine qualification groups were used, as participation had reached 46, nearly double the 24 entrants in 1976. The top seven group winners qualified automatically for the finals, whilst the eighth- and ninth-best qualifiers, Greece and England, played-off for the final spot. The remaining matches, from the quarter-finals onward, were held in Romania, one of the eight qualifiers.

The 2000 competition also had nine groups, but the 9 winners and 7 runners-up went into a two-legged playoff to decide the eight qualifiers. From those, Slovakia was chosen as host. For the first time, the familiar finals group stage was employed, with the two winners contesting a final, and two runners-up contesting the 3rd-place playoff. The structure in 2002 was identical, except for the introduction of a semi-finals round after the finals group stage. Switzerland hosted the 2002 finals.

In 2004, ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and six best runners-up going into the playoff. Germany was host that year. For 2006, the top two teams of eight large qualification groups provided the 16 teams for the playoffs, held in November 2005. Portugal hosted the finals.

Then followed the switch to odd years. The change was made because the senior teams of many nations often chose to promote players from their under-21s team as their own qualification campaign intensified. Staggering the tournaments allowed players more time to develop in the under-21 team rather than get promoted too early and end up becoming reserves for the seniors.

The 2007 competition actually began before the 2006 finals, with a qualification round to eliminate eight of the lowest-ranked nations. For the first time, the host (Netherlands) was chosen ahead of the qualification section. As hosts, Netherlands qualified automatically. Coincidentally, the Dutch team had won the 2006 competition - the holders would normally have gone through the qualification stage. The other nations were all drawn into fourteen three-team groups. The 14 group winners were paired in double-leg play-off to decide the seven qualifiers alongside the hosts.

UEFA European Football Championship

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations). Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Specific championships are often referred to in the form "Euro 2008" or whichever year is appropriate.

Prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations (which qualify automatically) compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, but are not obliged to do so.

History

The idea for a pan-European football tournament was first proposed by the French Football Federation's Henri Delaunay in 1927, however it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started. In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had 4 teams competing in the finals, out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a tense final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR due to political protests. Of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, West Germany and Italy.

Spain held the next tournament in 1964, which saw an increase in entries to the qualification tournament, with 29 entering; however, Greece withdrew after being drawn against Albania, with whom they were still at war. The hosts beat the title holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.

The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted and won by Italy. For the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss (the semi-final against the Soviet Union) and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. Italy won the replay 2–0. More teams entered this tournament (31), a testament to its burgeoning popularity.

Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions.

The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which only four teams took part in the final tournament, and the last in which the hosts had to qualify. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, with Antonín Panenka's famous chipped shot.

Eight teams took part in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a group stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final, and the runners-up playing in the third place play-off. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

France won their first major title at home in the 1984 tournament, with their captain Michel Platini scoring 9 goals in just 5 games, including the opening goal in the final, in which they beat Spain 2–0. The format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final. The third place play-off was also abolished.

West Germany hosted UEFA Euro 1988, and the Netherlands beat the hosts—and traditional rivals—2–1 in the semi-finals, which sparked vigorous celebrations in the Netherlands. The Netherlands went on to win the tournament, beating the USSR 2–0 at the Olympia Stadion in Munich, a match in which Marco van Basten scored one of the most memorable goals in football history, a spectacular volley over the keeper from the right wing.

UEFA Euro 1992 was held in Sweden, and was won by Denmark, who were only in the finals because UEFA did not allow Yugoslavia to participate as some of the states constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were at a state of war with each other, this state being knowns as the Yugoslav wars from 1990 on. However, the Danes produced a shock, beating world champion Germany 2–0, having beaten holders the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-finals. This was the first tournament in which a unified Germany took part and also the first major tournament to have the players' names printed on their backs.

England hosted UEFA Euro 1996 and would see the number of teams taking part double to 16. The hosts, in a replay of the 1990 FIFA World Cup semi-final, were knocked out on penalties by Germany, who would go on to win in the final 2–1 against the newly-formed Czech Republic thanks to the first golden goal ever in a major tournament, scored by Oliver Bierhoff. This was Germany's first title as a unified nation.

UEFA Euro 2000 was the first tournament to be held by two countries, the Netherlands and Belgium. France, the reigning world champion, was favored to win, and they lived up to expectations when they beat Italy 2–1 after extra time, having come from being 1–0 down: Sylvain Wiltord equalized in the very last minute of the game and David Trezeguet scored the winner in extra time.

UEFA Euro 2004, like 1992, produced an upset: Greece, who had only qualified for one World Cup (1994) and one European Championship (1980) before, beat host Portugal 1–0 in the final (after having also beaten them in the opening game) to win a tournament that they had been given odds of 150–1 to win before it began. On their way to the final they also beat holders France as well as the Czech Republic with a silver goal, a rule which replaced the previous golden goal in 2003, before being abolished itself shortly after this tournament.

The 2008 tournament, hosted by Austria and Switzerland marked the second time that two nations co-hosted. It commenced on 7 June and finished on 29 June. The final between Germany and Spain was held at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna. Spain defeated Germany 1–0, sparking much celebration across the country. This is their first title since the 1964 tournament.

Trophy

The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre Delaunay was in charge of making the trophy. Since the first tournament it has been awarded to the winning team for them to keep for four years, until the next tournament.

For the 2008 tournament, the trophy was slightly remodelled, making it larger. The trophy, which is made of sterling silver, now weighs 8 kilograms and is 60 centimeters tall. A small figure juggling a ball on the back of the original was removed, as was the marble plinth. The silver base of the trophy had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plinth have now been engraved on the back of the trophy.

Format

The competition

Before 1980, only four teams qualified for the final tournament. From 1980, eight teams competed. In 1996 the tournament expanded to 16 teams, and in 2016 will increase to 24 teams. The competing teams are chosen by a series of qualifying games: in 1960 and 1964 through home and away play-offs; from 1968 through a combination of both qualifying groups and play-off games. The host country was selected from the four finalists after they were determined through qualifying.

Since the expansion of the final tournament starting from 1980, the host country, or countries, have been chosen beforehand and qualify automatically.

The defending champions have never been granted an automatic place in the finals.

Qualifying

In order to qualify a team must be winners or runners-up in one of the seven qualifying groups. After this a team proceeds to the finals round in the host country, although hosts qualify for the tournament automatically. The qualifying phase begins in the autumn after the preceding FIFA World Cup, almost two years before the finals.

The groups for qualification are drawn by a UEFA committee using seeding. Seeded teams include reigning champions, and other teams on the basis of their performance in the preceding FIFA World Cup qualifying and the last European Football Championship qualifying. To obtain an accurate view of the teams abilities, a ranking is produced. This is calculated by taking the total number of points won by a particular team and dividing it by the number of games played, i.e. points per game. In the case of a team having hosted one of the two previous competitions and therefore having qualified automatically, only the results from the single most recent qualifying competition are used. If two teams have equal points per game, the committee then bases their positions in the rankings on:

1. Coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition.
2. Average goal difference.
3. Average number of goals scored.
4. Average number of away goals scored.
5. Drawing of lots.

The qualifying phase is played in a group format, the composition of the groups is determined through means of a draw of teams from pre-defined seeded bowls. The draw takes place after the preceding World Cup's qualifying competition. For the 2008 European Football Championship, the group qualifying phase consists of seven groups; one of eight teams and the remainder of seven teams each.

The qualifying phase is done in groups, each effectively a mini league, where the highest ranked team and the runner up, after all the teams have played each other home and away, progresses to the finals tournament. As with most leagues, the points are awarded as three for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. In the eventuality of one or more teams having equal points after all matches have been played, the following criteria are used to distinguish the sides:

1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question.
2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question.
3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question.
4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question.
5. Results of all group matches:
1. Superior goal difference
2. Higher number of goals scored
3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
4. Fair play conduct.
6. Drawing of lots.

Final tournament

Sixteen teams progress to the final tournament; for the 2008 tournament, they will be the winners and runners up of the seven qualifying groups and joint hosts Austria and Switzerland. These sixteen teams are divided equally into four groups, A, B, C and D, each consisting of four teams. The groups are drawn up by the UEFA administration, again using seeding. The seeded teams being the host nations, the reigning champions, subject to qualification, and those with the best points per game coefficients over the qualifying phase of the tournament and the previous World Cup qualifying. Other finalists will be assigned to by means of a draw, using coefficients as a basis.

The four groups are again played in a league format, where a team plays its opponents once each. The same points system is used (three points for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a defeat). A schedule for the group matches will be drawn up, but the last two matches in a group must kick off simultaneously. The winner and runner-up of each group progresses to the quarter-finals, where a knockout system is used (the two teams play each other once, the winner progresses), this is used in all subsequent rounds as well. The winners of the quarter-finals matches progress to the semi-finals, where the winners play in the final. If in any of the knockout rounds, the scores are still equal after normal playing time, extra time and penalties are employed to separate the two teams. This tournament, unlike the FIFA World Cup does not have a 3rd place play-off.

Future

Bids for future tournaments

On 18 April 2007, Poland/Ukraine were selected to host the 2012 competition. They beat competition from the highly favoured Italy and a joint bid from Croatia/Hungary.

In 2010, UEFA will decide which country will host Euro 2016. Sweden and Norway are currently planning a joint bid. Bids were submitted in 2008. In February 2009, it was confirmed France had entered a bid to host EURO 2016. The final deadline for applications was the 9th of March 2009.

Both Bulgaria and Romania, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia are considering joint bids for Euro 2020.

Expansion to 24 teams

There was much discussion about an expansion of the tournament to 24 teams, started by Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, due to the increased number of football associations in Europe after the breakups of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the USSR and the inclusion of many Asian based countries. The new president of UEFA, Michel Platini, was reported to be in favour of expansion which proved an accurate assumption. Whilst on 17 April 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against expansion in 2012, Platini indicated in June 2008 that UEFA will increase participation from 16 to 24 teams in future tournaments, starting from 2016. On 25 September, it was announced by Franz Beckenbauer that an agreement had been reached, and the expansion to 24 teams would be officially announced the next day.