2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship

The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 15th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (34th edition if the Under-16 era is included), the annual European international youth football championship contested by the men's under-17 national teams of UEFA member associations. Azerbaijan, which were selected by UEFA on 20 March 2012, hosted the tournament between 5 and 21 May 2016.

A total of 16 teams competed in the final tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1999 eligible to participate. Each match had a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.

Portugal were crowned champions for the second time in the under-17 era, and sixth time overall, after beating Spain in the final 5–4 through a penalty shootout. France were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Qualification

The national teams from all 54 UEFA member associations entered the competition. With Azerbaijan automatically qualified as hosts, the other 53 teams contested a qualifying competition to determine the remaining 15 spots in the final tournament. 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.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament:

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-17 era (since 2002).

Team	Method of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Azerbaijan	Hosts	1st	—	Debut
Denmark	Elite round Group 1 winners	4th	2011	Semi-finals (2011)
Scotland	Elite round Group 1 runners-up	4th	2015	Semi-finals (2014)
Ukraine	Elite round Group 2 winners	5th	2013	Group stage (2002, 2004, 2007, 2013)
England	Elite round Group 2 runners-up	11th	2015	Champions (2010, 2014)
Italy	Elite round Group 3 winners	6th	2015	Runners-up (2013)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Elite round Group 3 runners-up	1st	—	Debut
Germany	Elite round Group 4 winners	9th	2015	Champions (2009)
Netherlands	Elite round Group 4 runners-up	10th	2015	Champions (2011, 2012)
Portugal	Elite round Group 5 winners	6th	2014	Champions (2003)
Sweden	Elite round Group 5 runners-up	2nd	2013	Semi-finals (2013)
France	Elite round Group 6 winners	10th	2015	Champions (2004, 2015)
Austria	Elite round Group 6 runners-up	5th	2015	Third place (2003)
Serbia	Elite round Group 7 winners	5th	2011	Quarter-finals (2002)
Belgium	Elite round Group 8 winners	5th	2015	Semi-finals (2007, 2015)
Spain	Elite round Group 8 runners-up	10th	2015	Champions (2007, 2008)

Notes

Final draw

The final draw was held on 8 April 2016, 12:00 AZT (UTC+4), at the Baku Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. Hosts Azerbaijan were assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams were seeded according to their results in the qualification elite round, with the seven best elite round group winners (counting all elite round results) placed in Pot 1 and drawn to positions 1 and 2 in the groups, and the remaining eight teams placed in Pot 2 and drawn to positions 3 and 4 in the groups.

Pot 1: Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine, Germany, Denmark, Italy, France
Pot 2: Belgium (eighth best group winner), England, Austria, Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Scotland, Spain

Venues

The tournament was hosted in four venues, all in Baku:

Baku	Baku	Baku
Baku Olympic Stadium	Azersun Arena	Bakcell Arena	Dalga Arena
Capacity: 68,000	Capacity: 4,735	Capacity: 10,500	Capacity: 6,700

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 18 players.

Match officials

A total of 8 referees, 12 assistant referees and 4 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.

Referees Czech Republic Petr Ardeleánu Norway Svein-Erik Edvartsen Poland Bartosz Frankowski Iceland Gunnar Jarl Jónsson Croatia Fran Jović Slovakia Peter Kráľovič Finland Ville Nevalainen Slovenia Mitja Žganec

Assistant referees Hungary Balázs Buzás Faroe Islands Andrew Christiansen Greece Lazaros Dimitriadis Cyprus Marios Dimitriadis Republic of Ireland Emmett Dynan Moldova Vasile Ermișchin Switzerland Alain Heiniger Estonia Neeme Neemlaid Malta Edward Spiteri Turkey Ceyhun Sesigüzel Bulgaria Georgi Todorov Georgia (country) Levan Varamishvili

Fourth officials Azerbaijan Aliyar Aghayev Luxembourg Alain Durieux Azerbaijan Orkhan Mammadov Lithuania Sergejus Slyva

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 12 April 2016.

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (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).
Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Drawing of lots.

All times were local, AZT (UTC+4).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	3	2	1	0	7	0	+7	7	Knockout stage
2	Belgium	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
3	Azerbaijan (H)	3	1	1	1	2	6	−4	4
4	Scotland	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0

Belgium	2–0	Scotland
Corryn 45' Openda 60'

Azerbaijan	0–5	Portugal
		Gomes 4', 16' Asadov 24' (o.g.) Miguel Luís 44' Fernandes 76'

Portugal	2–0	Scotland
Quina 37' Gomes 55'

Azerbaijan	1–1	Belgium
Mahmudov 77'		Bongiovanni 72'

Scotland	0–1	Azerbaijan
		Nabiyev 79'

Portugal	0–0	Belgium

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	2	1	0	9	3	+6	7	Knockout stage
2	Austria	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	6
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3
4	Ukraine	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1

Austria	2–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Baumgartner 18', 35'

Ukraine	2–2	Germany
Yanakov 33' Buletsa 67'		Otto 37' Schreck 74'

Ukraine	0–2	Austria
		Schmid 7' V. Müller 21'

Germany	3–1	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Akkaynak 17' (pen.) Otto 66', 72'		Baack 2' (o.g.)

Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	Ukraine
B. Hadžić 38', 41'		Kulakov 69'

Germany	4–0	Austria
Meisl 3' (o.g.) Akkaynak 25' Havertz 32' Dadashov 81'

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6	Knockout stage
2	England	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Denmark	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
4	France	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1

France	0–0	Denmark

England	1–2	Sweden
Nelson 62'		Asoro 4', 59'

Denmark	1–0	Sweden
Buch Jensen 83'

France	0–2	England
		Morris 15' Nelson 43' (pen.)

Sweden	1–0	France
Bergqvist 45'

Denmark	1–3	England
Odgaard 81'		Nelson 30' Mount 51' Hirst 78'

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Netherlands	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
4	Serbia	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

Italy	2–1	Serbia
Scamacca 9' Kean 32'		Maksimović 77'

Netherlands	0–2	Spain
		Mboula 16' Ruiz 52'

Italy	0–1	Netherlands
		Nunnely 78'

Serbia	1–1	Spain
Joveljić 59' (pen.)		Ruiz 4'

Spain	4–2	Italy
Díaz 44' García 59' Ruiz 76' Lozano 81'		Olivieri 65' (pen.) Pinamonti 72'

Serbia	0–2	Netherlands
		M. Ilić 72' (o.g.) Vente 81'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner if necessary (no extra time was played).

Following a consultation between the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) and UEFA, it was decided to change the venue for the semi-finals and final from the Baku Olympic Stadium to the Dalga Arena and Bakcell Arena, respectively.

Bracket

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals	Final

14 May – Baku

Portugal	5
18 May – Baku
Austria	0
Portugal	2
15 May – Baku
	Netherlands	0
Sweden	0
	21 May – Baku
Netherlands	1
Portugal (p)	1 (5)
14 May – Baku
	Spain	1 (4)
Germany	1
18 May – Baku
Belgium	0
Germany	1
15 May – Baku
	Spain	2
Spain	1

England	0

Quarter-finals

Portugal	5–0	Austria
Gomes 7' (pen.), 18', 47' Djú 51' Miguel Luís 77'

Germany	1–0	Belgium
Dadashov 46'

Spain	1–0	England
García 11'

Sweden	0–1	Netherlands
		Chong 62'

Semi-finals

Portugal	2–0	Netherlands
Gomes 25' Dalot 56'

Germany	1–2	Spain
Dadashov 11'		Ruiz 64' Díaz 78'

Final

Portugal	1–1	Spain
Dalot 27'		Díaz 32'
Penalties
Gomes Jota Leite Dalot Fernandes	5–4	Ruiz Busquets Chumi Díaz Morlanes

Goalscorers

7 goals

Portugal national under-17 football team José Gomes

Note: José Gomes scored a total of 16 goals in the 2014–15 and 2015–16 season (including qualifying), making him the competition's all-time top scorer.

4 goals

Spain national under-17 football team Abel Ruiz

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Austria national under-17 football team Luca Meisl (playing against Germany)
Azerbaijan national under-17 football team Elchin Asadov (playing against Portugal)
Germany national under-17 football team Tom Baack (playing against Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Serbia national under-17 football team Marko Ilić (playing against Netherlands)

Source: UEFA.com

Team of the Tournament

Goalkeepers Portugal national under-17 football team Diogo Costa Spain national under-17 football team Iñaki Peña

Defenders England national under-17 football team Dujon Sterling France national under-17 football team Dan-Axel Zagadou Netherlands national under-17 football team Matthijs de Ligt Portugal national under-17 football team Diogo Dalot Portugal national under-17 football team Diogo Leite Portugal national under-17 football team Rúben Vinagre

Midfielders Germany national under-17 football team Kai Havertz Portugal national under-17 football team Gedson Fernandes Portugal national under-17 football team Florentino Portugal national under-17 football team Quina Spain national under-17 football team Brahim Díaz Spain national under-17 football team Manu Morlanes

Forwards England national under-17 football team Reiss Nelson Netherlands national under-17 football team Tahith Chong Portugal national under-17 football team Jota Portugal national under-17 football team José Gomes

Source: UEFA Technical Report

External links

, UEFA.com