UEFA European Under-21 Championship Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Organising body	UEFA
Founded	1978; 47 years ago (1978)
Region	Europe
Number of teams	54 (total) 16 (finals)
Current champions	England (4th title)
Most successful team(s)	Italy Spain (5 titles each)

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, also known as the Euro Under-21, is a big football competition in Europe. It happens every two years. Young male players, aged 21 and under, from different European countries compete in this tournament.

Since 1992, this competition has also been super important because it helps teams qualify for the Summer Olympics football tournament.

Italy and Spain are the most successful teams. They have both won the championship five times! England are the current champions. They won their fourth title by beating Germany 3–2 in extra time in the 2025 final.

History of the Tournament
How the Tournament Works
Tournament Winners
Top Teams in the Tournament
Awards for Players
See also

History of the Tournament

Trophy of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The Euro Under-21 tournament started in its current form in 1978. Before that, there was a similar competition called the Under-23 Challenge Cup, which ran from 1967 to 1970. Bulgaria won the very first Challenge Cup in 1967.

A proper Under-23 Championship began in 1972. Teams played in groups, and the winners went on to play in quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final. These matches were played home and away.

In 1976, the age limit for players was changed to 21. This is why it's now called the Under-21 Championship. Even though it's for players "under 21," some players might be 23 by the time the final tournament happens. This is because they must be 21 or younger when the qualification games start. For example, to play in the 2027 tournament, players must have been born in 2004 or later.

A big change happened in 1992. The Under-21 Championship became the official way for European teams to qualify for the Olympic football tournament.

The most people ever to watch an Under-21 match was 44,338. This happened during the 2023 tournament when host country Georgia played Israel.

How the Tournament Works

In the past, the tournament format changed a few times. At first, only eight teams made it to the final stages. They would play home and away matches until a winner was found.

Later, a host country was chosen for the semi-finals and final matches. This meant those games were played in one place.

Over the years, more and more countries wanted to join. So, the number of teams in the final tournament grew. In 1998, there were 46 teams trying to qualify!

For the 2000 tournament, they introduced a group stage in the finals. This is similar to how bigger tournaments work today. Teams played in small groups, and the best teams from those groups moved on to the semi-finals and then the final.

In 2017, the tournament expanded to include twelve teams in the finals. Then, on February 6, 2019, UEFA decided to increase the number of teams even more. Starting from the 2021 tournament, sixteen teams now compete in the finals.

The tournament also switched to being held in odd-numbered years (like 2007, 2009, etc.). This was done so that the best young players could stay with their Under-21 teams longer. It stopped them from being moved to the senior national team too early.

Tournament Winners

Edition	Year	Hosts	Final Match			Teams that reached the semi-finals (or played for third place)			Number of teams
Edition	Year	Hosts	Winners	Score	Runners-up				Number of teams
1	1978	Home-and-away basis	Yugoslavia	1–0 / 4–4 5–4 on aggregate	East Germany	Bulgaria and England			8
2	1980	Home-and-away basis	Soviet Union	0–0 / 1–0 1–0 on aggregate	East Germany	England and Yugoslavia			8
3	1982	Home-and-away basis	England	3–1 / 2–3 5–4 on aggregate	West Germany	Scotland and Soviet Union			8
4	1984	Home-and-away basis	England	1–0 / 2–0 3–0 on aggregate	Spain	Italy and Yugoslavia			8
5	1986	Home-and-away basis	Spain	1–2 / 2–1 3–3 on aggregate (3–0 p)	Italy	England and Hungary			8
6	1988	Home-and-away basis	France	0–0 / 3–0 3–0 on aggregate	Greece	England and Netherlands			8
7	1990	Home-and-away basis	Soviet Union	4–2 / 3–1 7–3 on aggregate	Yugoslavia	Italy and Sweden			8
8	1992	Home-and-away basis	Italy	2–0 / 0–1 2–1 on aggregate	Sweden	Denmark and Scotland			8
9	1994	France	Italy	1–0 (aet)	Portugal	Spain	2–1	France	8
10	1996	Spain	Italy	1–1 (4–2 p)	Spain	France	1–0	Scotland	8
11	1998	Romania	Spain	1–0	Greece	Norway	2–0	Netherlands	8
12	2000	Slovakia	Italy	2–1	Czech Republic	Spain	1–0	Slovakia	8
13	2002	Switzerland	Czech Republic	0–0 (3–1 p)	France	Italy and Switzerland			8
14	2004	Germany	Italy	3–0	Serbia and Montenegro	Portugal	3–2 (aet)	Sweden	8
15	2006	Portugal	Netherlands	3–0	Ukraine	France and Serbia and Montenegro			8
16	2007	Netherlands	Netherlands	4–1	Serbia	Belgium and England			8
17	2009	Sweden	Germany	4–0	England	Italy and Sweden			8
18	2011	Denmark	Spain	2–0	Switzerland	Belarus	1–0	Czech Republic	8
19	2013	Israel	Spain	4–2	Italy	Netherlands and Norway			8
20	2015	Czech Republic	Sweden	0–0 (4–3 p)	Portugal	Denmark and Germany			8
21	2017	Poland	Germany	1–0	Spain	England and Italy			12
22	2019	Italy	Spain	2–1	Germany	France and Romania			12
23	2021	Hungary Slovenia	Germany	1–0	Portugal	Netherlands and Spain			16
24	2023	Georgia Romania	England	1–0	Spain	Israel and Ukraine			16
25	2025	Slovakia	England	3–2 (aet)	Germany	France and Netherlands			16
26	2027	Albania Serbia							16

Top Teams in the Tournament

This table shows which countries have won, been runners-up (second place), or finished third in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Third place
Spain	5 (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)	4 (1984, 1996, 2017, 2023)	2 (1994, 2000)
Italy	5 (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)	2 (1986, 2013)
England	4 (1982, 1984, 2023, 2025)	1 (2009)
Germany	3 (2009, 2017, 2021)	3 (1982, 2019, 2025)
Soviet Union	2 (1980, 1990)
Netherlands	2 (2006, 2007)
Serbia	1 (1978)	3 (1990, 2004, 2007)
France	1 (1988)	1 (2002)	1 (1996)
Czech Republic	1 (2002)	1 (2000)
Sweden	1 (2015)	1 (1992)
Portugal		3 (1994, 2015, 2021)	1 (2004)
East Germany		2 (1978, 1980)
Greece		2 (1988, 1998)
Ukraine		1 (2006)
Switzerland		1 (2011)
Norway			1 (1998)
Belarus			1 (2011)

Awards for Players

Best Player of the Tournament

This award goes to the player who performs the best throughout the tournament. It used to be called the Golden Player award. Since 2013, a special team from UEFA picks the winner.

Year	Golden Player	Ref.
1978	Vahid Halilhodžić
1980	Anatoliy Demyanenko
1982	Rudi Völler
1984	Mark Hateley
1986	Manolo Sanchís
1988	Laurent Blanc
1990	Davor Šuker
1992	Renato Buso
1994	Luís Figo
1996	Fabio Cannavaro
1998	Francesc Arnau
2000	Andrea Pirlo
2002	Petr Čech
2004	Alberto Gilardino
2006	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
2007	Royston Drenthe
2009	Marcus Berg
2011	Juan Mata
2013	Thiago
2015	William Carvalho
2017	Dani Ceballos
2019	Fabián Ruiz
2021	Fábio Vieira
2023	Anthony Gordon
2025	Harvey Elliott

Top Goal Scorer

This award, once called the Golden Boot, is given to the player who scores the most goals in the tournament. Since 2013, the second and third highest scorers also get awards called the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot.

Year	First place	Goals	Second place	Goals	Third place	Goals
2000	Andrea Pirlo	3
2002	Massimo Maccarone	3
2004	Alberto Gilardino	4
2006	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	4
2007	Maceo Rigters	4
2009	Marcus Berg	7
2011	Adrián	5
2013	Álvaro Morata	4	Thiago	3	Isco	3
2015	Jan Kliment	3	Kevin Volland	2	John Guidetti	2
2017	Saúl	5	Marco Asensio	3	Bruma	3
2019	Luca Waldschmidt	7	George Pușcaș	4	Marco Richter	3
2021	Lukas Nmecha	4	Patrick Cutrone	3	Dany Mota	3
2023	Sergio Gómez Abel Ruiz Heorhiy Sudakov	3
2025	Nick Woltemade	6

All-Time Best Under-21 Team

On June 17, 2015, UEFA announced a "dream team" of the best players from all the past Under-21 tournaments.

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Manuel Neuer	Branislav Ivanović Mats Hummels Alessandro Nesta Giorgio Chiellini	Frank Lampard Andrea Pirlo Xavi Mesut Özil	Francesco Totti Raúl

UEFA European Under-21 Championship facts for kids

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