The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first time in Malta, from 9 to 21 May 2014, after their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee on 20 March 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Fifty-three teams participated in a two-round qualification stage, taking place between September 2013 and March 2014, to determine the seven teams joining the hosts. Players born after 1 January 1997 were eligible to participate in this competition. This edition marked the first appearance of a national team from Gibraltar, and was the first UEFA competition allowing referees to use a vanishing spray when setting free kicks. Live broadcast was provided by Eurosport 2 and Eurosport International.

England beat the Netherlands in the final on penalties to secure their second European under-17 title, four years after their first, and the second to be won by coach John Peacock. The 2013 champions, Russia, failed to qualify for the final tournament.

Qualification

Qualification for the final tournament of the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship consisted of two rounds: a qualifying round and an elite round. In the qualifying round, 53 national teams competed in 13 groups of four teams, with each group winner and runner-up, plus the best third-placed team, advancing to the elite round. There, the 27 first-round qualifiers plus Germany, who was given a bye, were distributed in seven groups of four teams. The winner of each group qualified for the final tournament.

Qualified teams Country Qualified as Previous appearances in tournament1 0 (debut) Group 1 winner Group 2 winner Group 3 winner Group 4 winner Group 5 winner Group 6 winner Group 7 winner 1 Only counted appearances for under-17 era (bold indicates champion for that year, while italic indicates hosts)

Final draw The draw for the group stage of the final tournament was held on 9 April 2014 at Saint James Cavalier in Valletta. It was conducted by UEFA's Youth and Amateur Football Committee chairman Jim Boyce, along with Fr. Hilary Tagliaferro and former Maltese international David Carabott. The host team, Malta, was automatically assigned as team one in group A, while the remaining teams were drawn successively in the order B1, A2, B2, A3, B3, A4 and B4.

Venues Ta' Qali Paola Xewkija Ta' Qali National Stadium Tony Bezzina Stadium Gozo Stadium Capacity: 16,997 Capacity: 2,968 Capacity: 1,644

Squads

Match officials

Referees Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro) Alexander Harkam (Austria) Andreas Ekberg (Sweden) Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (Latvia) Jonathan Lardot (Belgium) Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)

Assistant referees István Albert (Hungary) Audrius Jagintavičius (Lithuania) Dag-Roger Nebben (Norway) Mesrop Ghazaryan (Armenia) David Elias Biton (Israel) Oleksandr Korniyko (Ukraine) Jure Praprotnik (Slovenia) David Chigogidze (Georgia)

Fourth officials Clayton Pisani (Malta) Alan Mario Sant (Malta)

Group stage

Fixtures and match schedule were confirmed by UEFA on 15 April 2014.

Tie-breaking If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied: Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 4 to 7 apply.

If only two teams are tied (according to criteria 1–7) after having met in the last match of the group stage, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out.

All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Group A

Group B

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

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Team of the Tournament

Goalkeepers Yanick van Osch Gregor Kobel Defenders Jonjoe Kenny Tafari Moore Joe Gomez Calvin Verdonk Ferro Lukas Boeder

Midfielders Ryan Ledson Aidan Nesbitt Jari Schuurman Rúben Neves Renato Sanches Dimitri Oberlin Forwards Steven Bergwijn Enes Ünal Patrick Roberts Alexandre Silva

Goalscorers 4 goals Dominic Solanke Jari Schuurman

3 goals

Patrick Roberts Calvin Verdonk Steven Bergwijn Fatih Aktay

2 goals

Adam Armstrong Abdelhak Nouri Dani van der Moot Luís Mata Enes Ünal

1 goal

Jonjoe Kenny Benjamin Henrichs Aidan Friggieri Joseph Mbong Bilal Ould-Chikh Segun Owobowale Pedro Rodrigues Renato Sanches Ryan Hardie Jake Sheppard Craig Wighton Scott Wright Boris Babic Dimitri Oberlin Hayrullah Alici

References

External links Official tournament site at UEFA Official tournament site at Malta Football Association