The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants. Northern Ireland competed for the first time. For the first time a finals tournament with two groups of four teams was held, with one of those teams, Slovakia, having been chosen as the hosts. The top four teams in this competition qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Italy won the competition for the fourth time, thus qualified for the Olympic Games finals, alongside Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain.
Qualification
The 47 national teams were divided into nine groups (seven groups of 5 + two groups of 6). The records of the nine group runners-up were then compared. The top seven joined the nine winners in a play-off for the eight finals spots. One of the eight qualifiers was then chosen to host the remaining fixtures.
Qualified teams Country Qualified as Date qualification was secured Previous appearances in tournament1, 2 00 Group 1 and play-off winner 10 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996) 01 Group 3 and play-off winner 0 (debut) 3 02 Group 5 and play-off winner 6 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988) 03 Group 6 and play-off winner 10 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998) 04 Group 6 runners-up and play-off winner 3 (1988, 1992, 1998) (hosts) 05 Group 7 and play-off winner 0 (debut) (7 including Czechoslovakia) 06 Group 8 and play-off winner 0 (debut) 07 Group 9 runners-up and play-off winner 1 (1996)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year 2 Italic indicates host for that year 3 England were originally scheduled to play two legs against Yugoslavia. However, the first leg which was supposed to have taken place in Belgrade was cancelled due to political tensions. An alternative leg in Luxembourg was also cancelled due to security reasons. A second leg at Mini Estadi in Barcelona was held on 29 March 2000, which England won 3–0.
Squads
Venues Four venues were selected for the competition.
Bratislava Trenčín Trnava Bratislava Tehelné pole Štadión na Sihoti Štadión Antona Malatinského Štadión Pasienky Capacity: 30,087 Capacity: 22,079 Capacity: 18,500 Capacity: 8,632
Match officials Seven match officials and nine assistants were selected for the competition, including two officials representing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Selearajen Subramaniam from Malaysia and Hamdi Al Kadri from Syria. CountryRefereeAssistantsFourth officialsMatches refereed FranceStéphane BréEgon Bereuter (Austria)Vincent Texier (France)Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia)Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland)Croatia 1–2 NetherlandsEngland 6–0 Turkey GermanyHerbert FandelHarald Sather (Germany)Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria)Egon Bereuter (Austria)Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia)Stéphane Bré (France)Czech Republic 3–1 NetherlandsEngland 0–2 Slovakia MalaysiaSelearajen SubramaniamKostantin Piskov (Bulgaria)Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria)Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia)Czech Republic 3–1 Netherlands Northern IrelandLeslie Irvine John McElhinney (Scotland)Egon Bereuter (Austria)Mikhail Semionov (Russia)Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria)Valentin Ivanov (Russia)Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia)Spain 1–1 Czech RepublicSpain 1–0 Slovakia RussiaValentin IvanovMikhail Semionov (Russia)Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria)Maciej Wierzbowski (Poland)Mikhail Semionov (Russia)Karl-Erik Nilsson (Sweden)Selearajen Subramaniam (Malaysia)Spain 0–0 Croatia Turkey 1–3 Italy SwedenKarl-Erik NilssonMaciej Wierzbowski (Poland)Hamdi Al Kadri (Syria)Ferenc Székely (Hungary)Kostantin Piskov (Bulgaria)Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland)Dieter Schoch (Switzerland)Czech Republic 4–3 CroatiaSlovakia 2–1 TurkeyCzech Republic 1–2 Italy SwitzerlandDieter SchochFerenc Székely (Hungary)John McElhinney (Scotland)Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia)Herbert Fandel (Germany)Netherlands 0–1 SpainItaly 1–1 Slovakia
Matches
Group stage
Group A Team321085+37312021+15310235−23301246−21
Group B Team321062+47321052+37310264+233003211−90
Third place play-off
Final
Goalscorers Andrea Pirlo was the top goalscorer of three goals. He was also announced as the UEFA Golden Player award recipient. 3 goals
Andrea Pirlo
2 goals
Igor Tudor Lukáš Došek David Jarolím Roberto Baronio Peter Babnič
1 goal
Darko Miladin Anthony Šerić Milan Baroš Tomáš Došek Marek Jankulovski Adam Petrouš Libor Sionko Andy Campbell Carl Cort Francis Jeffers Ledley King Frank Lampard Danny Mills Gianni Comandini Gionatha Spinesi Nicola Ventola Anthony Lurling Mark van Bommel Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink Miguel Ángel Angulo Jordi Ferrón Albert Luque Marián Čišovský Vratislav Greško Szilárd Németh Serhat Akın Ahmet Dursun
Medal table and Olympic qualifiers Italy, Czechia, Spain and Slovakia qualified for Olympic Games finals.
References
External links 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship at UEFA.com 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation