2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship explained

Tourney Name:UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Year:2018
Other Titles:Jalkapallon alle 19-vuotiaiden Euroopan-mestaruuskilpailut 2018

U19-Europamästerskapet i fotboll 2018
Size:200
Country:Finland
Dates:16–29 July
Num Teams:8
Confederations:1
Venues:2
Cities:2
Count:1
Matches:16
Goals:58
Top Scorer: Jota
Francisco Trincão
(5 goals each)[1]
Prevseason:2017
Nextseason:2019

The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-19 national teams of Europe. Finland hosted the final tournament, between 16 and 29 July, after being selected by UEFA on 26 January 2015.[2] A total of eight teams competed in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1999 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 of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland as the UEFA representatives, besides Poland who qualified automatically as hosts.

In the final, 2017 runners-up Portugal beat the 2016 losing finalists Italy 4–3, after extra-time, to win their first title in the under-19 era and their fourth overall.[3] Having won the Under-17 title in 2016, this generation of players became the first to hold the European title in both youth categories.[4] England were the defending champions, but were eliminated by France, finishing third in the group stage. They lost 0–3 to Norway in the play-off round and thus failed to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they would also defend their title.

Qualification

See main article: 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification.

All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition (including Kosovo who entered for the first time), and with the hosts Finland qualifying automatically, the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.[5] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2017, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2018.[6]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.[7]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

TeamMethod of qualificationdata-sort-type="number"AppearanceLast appearancePrevious best performance
1st —
4th 2005 (group stage) (2002, 2003, 2005)
10th 2017 (champions) (2017)
6th 2016 (runners-up) (2003)
5th 2015 (group stage) (2009)
10th 2017 (runners-up) (2003, 2014, 2017)
10th 2016 (champions) (2005, 2010, 2016)
6th 2013 (group stage) (2004)

Final draw

The final draw was held on 30 May 2018, 12:00 EEST (UTC+3), at the Vaasa City Hall in Vaasa, Finland.[8] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Finland were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

The tournament took place in Vaasa and Seinäjoki.[9]

SeinäjokiVaasa
OmaSP StadionHietalahti Stadium
Capacity: 5,672Capacity: 5,572

Match officials

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[7]

Referees
Assistant referees
Fourth officials

Squads

See main article: article and 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship squads.

Each national team submitted a squad of 20 players (Regulations Article 39).[6]

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 5 June 2018.[10]

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The third-placed teams entered the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off.

TiebreakersIn the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01 and 16.02):[6]
  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams had the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and were tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
  8. Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  9. UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
  10. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, EEST (UTC+3).

Group A

--------

Group B

--------

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[6]

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

Winner qualified for 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following six teams from UEFA qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, including Poland which qualified as hosts.

TeamQualified ondata-sort-type="number"Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
[11] 4 (1979, 1981, 1983, 2007)
[12] 6 (1977, 1981, 1987, 2005, 2009, 2017)
11 (1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
[13] 3 (2001, 2005, 2015)
6 (1977, 1997, 2001, 2011, 2013, 2017)
[14] 2 (1989, 1993)

1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Team of the Tournament

The UEFA technical observers selected the following 11 players for the team of the tournament (and an additional nine substitutes):[15]

Starting XI:

Goalkeeper
Defenders
Midfielders
Wingers
Forward

Substitutes:

Goalkeeper
Outfield

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Woloszyn. Paul. 29 July 2018. Portugal pair share U19 EURO top scorers' prize. UEFA.com. 30 July 2018.
  2. Web site: Georgia and Finland to stage U19 EURO. UEFA.com. 26 January 2015.
  3. Web site: All the Under-19 EURO results. UEFA.com. 29 July 2018.
  4. Web site: Under-19 - Italy-Portugal . UEFA.com . 31 July 2018 . en . 29 July 2018.
  5. Web site: Seedings for 2017/18 U19 qualifying round. UEFA. 24 November 2016.
  6. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, 2017/18. UEFA.com. PDF.
  7. Web site: UEFA European Under-19 Championship Finland 2018. UEFA Programmes.
  8. Web site: Under-19 final tournament draw. UEFA.com.
  9. Web site: THE TOURNAMENT WILL BE PLAYED IN TWO VENUES, IN VAASA AND SEINÄJOKI. www.uefa.com.
  10. Web site:
    1. U19EURO finals schedule confirmed
    . UEFA.com. 5 June 2018.
  11. Web site: FIFA Council decides on key steps for the future of international competitions. https://web.archive.org/web/20180317032934/http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2018/m=3/news=fifa-council-decides-on-key-steps-for-the-future-of-international-competitions.html. dead. 17 March 2018. 16 March 2018. FIFA.com.
  12. Web site: Italy, Portugal heading to U-20 World Cup. https://web.archive.org/web/20181111000409/https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/italy-portugal-heading-to-u-20-world-cup. dead. 11 November 2018. FIFA.com. 22 July 2018.
  13. Web site: Ukraine and France qualify for Poland 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181111000412/https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/ukraine-and-france-qualify-for-poland-2019. dead. 11 November 2018. FIFA.com. 23 July 2018.
  14. Web site: Norway book Europe's last spot, holders England eliminated. https://web.archive.org/web/20181111043610/https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/norway-book-europe-s-last-spot-holders-england-eliminated. dead. 11 November 2018. FIFA.com. 26 July 2018.
  15. Web site: Under-19 EURO team of the tournament. UEFA.com. 1 August 2018.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.