| Tourney Name: | UEFA European Under-19 Championship |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Other Titles: | U-19-Fußball-Europameisterschaft 2016 |
| Size: | 200px |
| Country: | Germany |
| Dates: | 11–24 July |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 10 |
| Cities: | 9 |
| Count: | 8 |
| Matches: | 16 |
| Goals: | 55 |
| Top Scorer: |  Jean-Kévin Augustin |
| Player: | Jean-Kévin Augustin[1] |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
| Nextseason: | 2017 |
The 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 15th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (65th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual European international youth football championship contested by the men's under-19 national teams of UEFA member associations. Germany, which were selected by UEFA on 20 March 2012, hosted the tournament between 11 and 24 July 2016.[2]
A total of eight teams competed in the final tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1997 eligible to participate.
Same as previous editions held in even-numbered years, the tournament acted as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top five teams qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea as the UEFA representatives. This was decreased from the previous six teams, as FIFA decided to give one of the slots originally reserved for UEFA to the Oceania Football Confederation starting from 2017.[3]
See main article: 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification.
The national teams from all 54 UEFA member associations entered the competition. With Germany automatically qualified as hosts, the other 53 teams contested a qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.[4] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: the qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2015, and the elite round, which took place in spring 2016.[5]
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:[6]
Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).
| Team | Method of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | (2008, 2014) | ||||
| 2012 | (2005, 2009) | ||||
| 2010 | (2003) | ||||
| 2015 | (2003, 2006, 2014) | ||||
| 2015 | (2010, 2013, 2015) | ||||
| 2012 | (2010) | ||||
| 2014 | (2003, 2014) | ||||
| 2015 | (2005, 2010) |
The final draw was held on 12 April 2016, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany.[7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Germany were assigned to position A1 in the draw.[8]
The tournament was hosted in ten venues:[9]
| Aalen | Aspach | Heidenheim | Mannheim | Reutlingen | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Städtisches Waldstadion Capacity: 14,500 | Mechatronik Arena Capacity: 10,000 | Voith-Arena Capacity: 15,000 | Carl-Benz-Stadion Capacity: 27,000 | Stadion an der Kreuzeiche Capacity: 15,228 | |
| Sandhausen | Sinsheim | Stuttgart | Ulm | ||
| Hardtwaldstadion Capacity: 15,300 | Rhein-Neckar-Arena Capacity: 30,150 | Mercedes-Benz Arena Capacity: 60,449 | Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau Capacity: 11,490 | Donaustadion Capacity: 19,500 | |
See main article: 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship squads.
Each national team had to submit a squad of 18 players.[5]
A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[10]
Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)
Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Spain)
Radu Petrescu (Romania)
Roi Reinshreiber (Israel)
Bart Vertenten (Belgium)
Anatoliy Zhabchenko (Ukraine)
Ridiger Çokaj (Albania)
Igor Demeshko (Russia)
Milutin Đukić (Montenegro)
Vladimir Gerasimovs (Lithuania)
Geir Oskar Isaksen (Norway)
Birkir Sigurðarson (Iceland)
Manuel Vidali (Slovenia) Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro)
Alan Mario Sant (Malta)The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 18 April 2016.[11]
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The third-placed teams entered the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off.
All times were local, CEST (UTC+2).[12]
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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[5]
On 2 May 2016, the UEFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board's trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time.[13] In the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off, Michel Vlap of the Netherlands became the first ever fourth substitute, replacing Laros Duarte at half-time in extra time, followed later by Emmanuel Iyoha of Germany replacing Jannes Horn in the 110th minute.[14] [15]
Winner qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
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Arnel Jakupovic Xaver Schlager Issa Diop Lucas Tousart
Manuel Locatelli Clément Michelin (playing against England) Alberto Picchi (playing against England)The following five teams from UEFA qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[17]
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1977, 1997, 2001, 2011, 2013) | |||
| (1977, 1981, 1987, 2005, 2009) | |||
| (1981, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2013) | |||
| (1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015) | |||
| (1981, 1987, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2015) |
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.