2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was held in Sweden from 15 to 29 June. It was the 17th edition of the tournament and the first to return to a two-year cycle. The finals featured eight teams, with Sweden automatically qualified as hosts. Players eligible to play were born on or after 1 January 1986.
Qualifying involved 51 teams split into ten groups. The ten group winners and the four best runners-up advanced to play-offs, from which seven teams earned places in the finals.
The finals draw took place on 3 December 2008 in Gothenburg. Sweden and Spain were seeded, with the Netherlands (though a former host nation) not qualifying and Spain taking their seeded spot. Other seeds included England and Italy, with Serbia, Finland, Germany, and Belarus also advancing to the finals.
Four cities hosted the matches after Borås Arena was disqualified due to a sponsor issue; Örjans Vall in Halmstad replaced it, and one semi-final was moved to Helsingborg. Swedbank Stadion in Malmö was referred to as Malmö New Stadium during the tournament.
Germany won their first Under-21 title, beating England in the final. England were runners-up. Marcus Berg of Sweden was the top scorer with seven goals and was named the tournament’s best player. The competition had 15 matches, 38 goals in total, and an attendance of 163,090.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:13 (CET).