The 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2025) was the 25th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (28th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 national teams of Europe. A total of 16 teams played in the final tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 2002 were eligible to participate.

The tournament took place from 11 to 28 June 2025 and was hosted by Slovakia, who beat Belgium and Croatia in the bidding process. This is the Slovak's second time hosting after hosting the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. It was the first 16-team tournament which was hosted in a single country. This was Slovakia's biggest football tournament they ever held.

16 teams took part for the third time since 2021. Qualification took place between March 2023 and November 2024. Georgia and Slovenia qualified on merit for the first time after previously co-hosting the 2023 and 2021 editions respectively.

England defeated Germany 3–2 in the final after extra time in Bratislava, thereby successfully defending their 2023 title and winning their fourth title overall.

UEFA deemed the tournament a success, with records being broken. A record amount of sponsors were part of the tournament. Overall, a record 120 million people watched the tournament. However, the Slovak Football Association did not get a profit after hosting the event. President of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini also stated the event was a big success as he said it was a great advertisement of the country.

Host selection In July 2021, UEFA opened the bidding process. The following countries applied: Belgium – Slovak media reported that Belgium was also a candidate for the hosting rights. Croatia – Slovak media had stated that Croatia was a rival for Slovakia. Slovakia – On 1 December 2021, the Slovak Football Association submitted a candidacy for the tournament. Slovak federation president, Ján Kováčik, stated that they had the infrastructure for the event and it was the logical step for the country in its organisation of football tournaments as they cannot host anything bigger. The Slovak federation contemplated if they should bid for 3 months before they decided to proceed with the application. In autumn 2022, the Slovak federation met with UEFA president, Aleksander Čeferin, and reiterated to him that their bid was serious.

UEFA Executive Committee chose Slovakia as the host on 25 January 2023 at a meeting in Nyon. Slovakia's experience with hosting UEFA tournaments was deemed as a factor behind their successful bid. This is the Slovak's second time hosting, after 2000. Slovakia became the first country to host this tournament alone since the expansion to 16 teams. Other UEFA tournaments Slovakia have hosted are the 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.

Organisers expected 50,000 people from across Europe to attend the event.

Preparations 2023

On 20 July 2023, members of the federation, alongside representatives of the host cities, had their first official meeting on organizing the European Under-21 Football Championship. In October 2023, UEFA officials came to Slovakia to further inspect their venues and were satisfied with them. At the same time, the Slovak federation proposed that the tournament is held from 18 June to 5 July.

2024

In February 2024, the Slovak sports support fund gave 2.5 million Euros for the organisation of the championship. In April 2024, UEFA had their second venue inspection visit, where it was confirmed that the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava will host the draw on 3 December 2024. On 9 June 2024, a meeting between the organizers and representatives of the Žilina city council took place. In August 2024, the secretary general of the Slovak Football Association, Peter Palenčík, expressed satisfaction with the preparations and stated that they were in the final phase of preparations; while also clarifying that a UEFA delegation will come for their third visit in September 2024. In late September 2024, UEFA inspected the stadiums in Košice, Trenčín and Žilina. They would later inspect the other five stadiums in early October 2024. On 16 October 2024, Ján Kováčik stated that his ambition is to have 300,000 spectators and 100 million people watch on televisions across the world. On 29 October 2024, former Slovak footballers, Marek Sapara and Vratislav Greško, alongside fitness coach Maroš Molnár, were unveiled as tournament ambassadors. On 17 December 2024, Chinese car manufacturer, BYD became a sponsor for the tournament. Between 3 and 15 December 2025, a trophy tour was organised throughout the eight host cities.

2025

In February and March 2025, UEFA delegates had their fourth and final inspection visit. Between 27 and 29 March 2025, an event at the Nivy Station in Bratislava took place. Activities included taking a picture of the trophy and getting autographs by Slovak international footballers. On 22 April 2025, Czech betting company, Fortuna, was brought in as a sponsor. During April 2025, to recruit volunteers for the tournament, an volunteer roadshow was organised throughout every host city. On 28 May 2025, the championship's marketing director, Lukáš Donoval, stated that the preparations were almost finished for the competition and that this was one of the most logistically demanding tournaments the country has hosted.

During the tournament

Due to traffic restrictions on matchdays in Žilina, public authorities increased the public transport services in the city. Similar provisions were put in place in Bratislava as well. Czech fans briefly criticised the organisation after the failure of the championship organizers to provide shuttle transport after their match vs England in Dunajská Streda. On 16 June 2025, Ján Kováčik stated he had received positive feedback about the start of the tournament. Due to already having a training session at the National Football Stadium in Bratislava earlier in the tournament, Romania had to train at FK Rača's (a team who play in the third tier) training facilities before their last game against Slovakia. During the tournament, 54 sustainability-focused activities took place. For the tournament, police officers from Czech Republic, Poland and Romania were used.

Televising rights In Slovakia, STVR broadcast the tournament.

Tickets 2024 On 22 October 2024, the pre-sale ticket phase for Slovak fans who registered for tickets was opened. The pre-sale phase was opened to non-registered fans a week later on 29 October. Hours into the pre-sale, 12,513 tickets had already been sold. The pre-sale ticket sales reportedly exceeded UEFA's expectations. On 4 December 2024, tickets were put on sale for fans outside of Slovakia. A very limited amount of tickets were put on sale in Prešov at the beginning of the ticketing process, due to the contractor being forced to change the markings of some sections and seats, meaning it would have been unknown how many tickets would be on sale per section.

2025 By March 2025, 150,000 tickets were sold. On 27 March 2025, a further 25,000 tickets were put on sale. On 14 April 2025, 1,800 extra tickets for Slovakia vs Italy in Trnava were released. On 21 May 2025, the final wave of tickets were released. Two weeks before the tournament, the organising committee stated that 235,000 tickets were sold. As of 6 June 2025, 250,000 tickets were purchased. That figure broke the record for most tickets sold before the tournament. As of 11 June 2025, 254,000 tickets were sold. On 24 June 2025, 1,000 new tickets for the final were made available.

The most tickets bought from a foreign country was from Czech Republic, followed by Finland, Germany, Romania and England. The organisers hoped for a 80% occupancy rate at the stadiums. In total, 358,393 tickets were made available. 250,492 total spectators were at the matches. SFZ marketing director, Lukáš Donoval, reported that 292,331 tickets were sold, an 82.5% occupancy rate.

Sponsors

Adidas Alipay Avis Atos BYD Carlsberg EA Sports

Hisense Lidl Pepsi Rádio Expres Slovak Lines Sportnet Telekom Visit Qatar Qatar Airways

Venues

Slovakia's eight proposed venues during the bidding process were used for the tournament. The eight stadiums were spread across seven of the eight Slovak regions, with the exception of Banská Bystrica Region. Trnava Region was the only region to have multiple host cities, Trnava and Dunajská Streda. The average capacity of the stadiums was 12,500. Six venues used for the competition were deemed category 4, with only Nitra and Prešov's stadiums being classified as category 3.

Seven stadiums were already built before the competition was given to Slovakia, with Prešov's being the only stadium being constructed during the tournament's preparations. Ján Kováčik had stated the if Prešov's stadium wasn't built in time, they had back-up options.

The implementation of natural grass pitches in Trenčín and Žilina was also done before the tournament. Košice's stadium was also upgraded during the tournament's preparations and was completed on 30 April 2024. Košice's upgrades include the installation of an LED screen, camera system and other accessories, plus an additional 6,719 seats were also added, bringing the final capacity to 12,555. 17 training areas were available for the championship, including one for referees.

Despite being already built and meeting requirements, concerns were brought up about the Štadión pod Zoborom (later renamed the Nitra Stadium for the tournament) in Nitra due to lack the lack of experience the stadium had hosting big events. Mária Berdisová, director of the organizing committee proclaimed that in terms of infrastructure readiness, Bratislava was the best prepared and Nitra was the least prepared, as the latter had the most adjustments that needed to be made for the tournament.

The group pairings were announced on 20 July 2023. The pairings were as follows: Bratislava and Trnava in Group A, Dunajská Streda and Nitra in Group B, Trenčín and Žilina in Group C and Košice being paired with Prešov in Group D.

The neighbouring Czechs who visited the country during the tournament were astonished with the quality of the Slovak's stadiums.

Construction of Prešov's stadium