2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Jalkapallon alle 19-vuotiaiden Euroopan-mestaruuskilpailut 2018; (in Finnish); U19-Europamästerskapet i fotboll 2018; (in Swedish)
Tournament details
Host country	Finland
Dates	16–29 July
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Portugal (1st title)
Runners-up	Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	58 (3.63 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jota; Francisco Trincão; (5 goals each)
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-19 national teams of Europe. Finland hosted the final tournament, between 16 and 29 July, after being selected by UEFA on 26 January 2015.^[2] A total of eight teams competed in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1999 eligible to participate.

Same as previous editions held in even-numbered years, the tournament acted as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top five teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland as the UEFA representatives, besides Poland who qualified automatically as hosts.

In the final, 2017 runners-up Portugal beat the 2016 losing finalists Italy 4–3, after extra-time, to win their first title in the under-19 era and their fourth overall.^[3] Having won the Under-17 title in 2016, this generation of players became the first to hold the European title in both youth categories.^[4] England were the defending champions, but were eliminated by France, finishing third in the group stage. They lost 0–3 to Norway in the play-off round and thus failed to qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where they would also defend their title.

Qualification

All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition (including Kosovo who entered for the first time), and with the hosts Finland qualifying automatically, the other 54 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament.^[5] The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2017, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2018.^[6]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.^[7]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

Team	Method of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Finland	Hosts	1st	—	Debut
Norway	Elite round Group 1 winners	4th	2005 (group stage)	Group stage (2002, 2003, 2005)
England	Elite round Group 2 winners	10th	2017 (champions)	Champions (2017)
Italy	Elite round Group 3 winners	6th	2016 (runners-up)	Champions (2003)
Ukraine	Elite round Group 4 winners	5th	2015 (group stage)	Champions (2009)
Portugal	Elite round Group 5 winners	10th	2017 (runners-up)	Runners-up (2003, 2014, 2017)
France	Elite round Group 6 winners	10th	2016 (champions)	Champions (2005, 2010, 2016)
Turkey	Elite round Group 7 winners	6th	2013 (group stage)	Runners-up (2004)

Final draw

The final draw was held on 30 May 2018, 12:00 EEST (UTC+3), at the Vaasa City Hall in Vaasa, Finland.^[8] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Finland were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

The tournament took place in Vaasa and Seinäjoki.^[9]

Seinäjoki	Seinäjoki Vaasa	Vaasa
OmaSP Stadion		Hietalahti Stadium
Capacity: 5,672		Capacity: 5,572

Match officials

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.^[7]

Referees

Assistant referees

Damir Lazić
Bojan Zobenica
Daniel Norgaard
Aron Härsing
Bryngeir Valdimarsson
Alexandru Cerei
Joakim Nilsson
Ian Bird

Fourth officials

Ville Nevalainen
Petri Viljanen

Squads

Each national team submitted a squad of 20 players (Regulations Article 39).^[6]

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 5 June 2018.^[10]

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The third-placed teams entered the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01 and 16.02):^[6]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams had the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and were tied after applying all criteria above (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);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots.

All times were local, EEST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Knockout stage and 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2	Portugal	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6	Knockout stage and 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
3	Norway	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4	FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off
4	Finland (H)	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

16 July 2018