2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Infobox International Football Competition
year = 2007
tourney_name = UEFA Under-21 Championship
other_titles =


size = 150px
caption = 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup official logo
country = Netherlands
dates = June 10–June 23
num_teams = 8
confederations = 1
venues = 4
cities = 4
champion_other = fbu|21|NED
count = 2
second_other = fbu|21|SRB
matches =
goals =
attendance =
top_scorer = flagicon|Netherlands Maceo Rigters (4)
player = flagicon|Netherlands Royston Drenthe
updated =The UEFA U-21 Championship 2007 were held from June 10, 2007, to June 23, 2007. It is the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Football Championship.

For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition — the Netherlands, who are also the defending champions, were exempt from qualifying.The host nation was chosen on December 15, 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 7 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 4 semi-finalists of the tournament. [cite web | title=De Sart wants Belgium's backing | work=David Bano & Michael Harrold | url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/news/kind=1/newsid=547429.html | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2007 ] [cite web | title=Match schedule | work=UEFA | url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/finals/newsid=474559.html | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2007 ] 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 [cite web | work=UEFA.com | title=Netherlands News | url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/news/kind=1/newsid=548583.html | accessdate=August 21 | accessyear=2007] . The semi final between The Netherlands U21 and England U21 finished in 1-1. No less than 32 penalties had to be taken before the tie was decided. The Netherlands U21 won 13-12, [cite web | title=Holland U21 1-1 Eng U21 | work=BBC Sport | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/6766603.stm | accessdate=June 23 | accessyear=2007 ] and went on to win the tournament by defeating Serbia U21 4-1 in the final. [cite web | title=Holland U21 4-1 Serbia U21 | work=BBC Sport | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/6233882.stm | accessdate=June 23 | accessyear=2007 ]

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.Fact|date=August 2008 Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".Fact|date=August 2008

Qualification

In order to make the switch from odd to even-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 draw for the finals took place in Arnhem on 24 November2006, putting the eight qualifying nations into two groups. The provisional dates for the group games are June 10 to 17 June2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem each staging a semi-final on June 20. The final is scheduled take place on Saturday 23 June at the Euroborg stadium in Groningen.

The opening game was between Netherlands and Israel at June 10.

Venues

footballbox
date = 10 June2007
18:15 CEST
team1 = Netherlands flagicon|NED
score = 1 – 0
team2 = flagicon|ISR Israel
goals1 = Maduro goal|10
goals2 =
stadium = Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen
attendance = 22,013
referee = Damir Skomina flagicon|SVN
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85173/index.html Report] ----footballbox
date =10 June2007
20:45 CEST
team1 = Portugal flagicon|POR
score = 0 – 0
team2 = flagicon|BEL Belgium
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Euroborg, Groningen
attendance = 7,197
referee = Robert Małek flagicon|POL
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85174/report=rp.html Report] ----footballbox
date = 13 June2007
18:15 CEST
team1 = Israel flagicon|ISR
score = 0 – 1
team2 = flagicon|BEL Belgium
goals1 =
goals2 = Mirallas goal|82
stadium = Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen
attendance = 5,239
referee = Craig Thomson flagicon|SCO
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85176/index.html Report] ----footballbox
date = 13 June2007
20:45 CEST
team1 = Netherlands flagicon|NED
score = 2 – 1
team2 = flagicon|POR Portugal
goals1 = Babel goal|33|pen
Rigters goal|75
goals2 = Veloso goal|77
stadium = Euroborg, Groningen
attendance = 19,498
referee = Knut Kircher flagicon|GER
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85175/index.html Report] ----footballbox
date = 16 June2007
20:45 CEST
team1 = Netherlands flagicon|NED
score = 2 – 2
team2 = flagicon|BEL Belgium
goals1 = Rigters goal|13
Drenthe goal|37
goals2 = Mirallas goal|9
Pocognoli goal|70
stadium = Abe Lenstra Stadion, Heerenveen
attendance = 24,099
referee = Stéphane Lannoy flagicon|FRA
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85177/index.html Report] ----footballbox
date = 16 June2007
20:45 CEST
team1 = Israel flagicon|ISR
score = 0 – 4
team2 = flagicon|POR Portugal
goals1 =
goals2 = Fernandes goal|37
Vaz Té goal|45
Veloso goal|49
Nani goal|50
stadium = Euroborg, Groningen
attendance = 10,833
referee = Zsolt Szabó flagicon|HUN
report = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/match=85178/index.html Report]

Group B

|
valign="top" width="50%"

*Assistant referees:
**Manuel Navarro flagicon|SUI
**Tomas Mokos flagicon|SVN
*Fourth official: Stéphane Lanoy flagicon|FRA
*MOM|NED|Ryan Babel

UEFA Team of the tournament

;

[http://video.uefa.com/video/index.html#]

Goal scorers

;4 goals
*flagicon|NED Maceo Rigters

;3 goals
*flagicon|ENG Leroy Lita

;2 goals
*flagicon|ITA Alberto Aquilani
*flagicon|NED Ryan Babel
*flagicon|ITA Giorgio Chiellini
*flagicon|BEL Kevin Mirallas
*flagicon|SRB Dragan Mrđa
*flagicon|POR Miguel Veloso

;1 goal
*flagicon|NED Otman Bakkal
*flagicon|NED Luigi Bruins
*flagicon|ENG Matt Derbyshire
*flagicon|NED Royston Drenthe
*flagicon|POR Manuel Fernandes
*flagicon|SRB Boško Janković
*flagicon|SRB Aleksandar Kolarov
*flagicon|NED Hedwiges Maduro
*flagicon|SRB Dejan Milovanović
*flagicon|POR Nani
*flagicon|ENG David Nugent
*flagicon|CZE Michal Papadopulos
*flagicon|BEL Sebastien Pocognoli
*flagicon|ITA Giuseppe Rossi
*flagicon|POR Ricardo Vaz Té

Man of the Match awards

;Group A
* Netherlands v. Israel: Royston Drenthe flagicon|NED
* Portugal v. Belgium: Marouane Fellaini flagicon|BEL
* Israel v. Belgium: Kevin Mirallas flagicon|BEL
* Netherlands v. Portugal: Maceo Rigters flagicon|NED
* Netherlands v. Belgium: Sebastien Pocognoli flagicon|BEL
* Israel v. Portugal: Miguel Veloso flagicon|POR

;Group B
* Czech Republic v. England: Nigel Reo-Coker flagicon|ENG
* Serbia v. Italy: Dejan Milovanović flagicon|SRB
* Czech Republic v. Serbia: Duško Tošić flagicon|SRB
* England v. Italy: Alberto Aquilani flagicon|ITA
* Italy v. Czech Republic: Giuseppe Rossi flagicon|ITA
* England v. Serbia: James Milner flagicon|ENG

;Semi-finals
* Netherlands v. England: Maceo Rigters flagicon|NED
* Serbia v. Belgium: Branislav Ivanović flagicon|SRB

;5th place playoff
* Portugal v. Italy: Emiliano Viviano flagicon|ITA

;Final
* Netherlands v. Serbia: Ryan Babel flagicon|NED

Countries to participate in Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics

*fb|NED
*fb|SRB
*fb|BEL
*fb|ITA

References

External links

* [http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/Under21/FixturesResults/2007.html Draw and Fixtures] "at uefa.com"