2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Israel |
| Dates | 5–18 June |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
2013 UEFA U-21 Championship will be the 19th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Football Championship. The final tournament will be hosted by Israel between the 5–18 June 2013
The Israeli bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 27 January 2011 in Nyon, Switzerland.[1] This bid defeated the other bids from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England and Wales.
Qualification
The draw for the group stage of qualifying for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship took place on 3 February in Nyon, Switzerland. 52 national teams took part in the qualifying. The group stage of qualifying began on 25 March 2011.[2] There were a total of ten groups, consisting of five or six teams each. All the teams in each group faced each other two times, at home and away. The team at the top of each group and the four best second-placed teams qualified to the playoff round. In the playoff round, the 14 teams were drawn to play seven two-legged matches. The winners joined Israel in the tournament finals.
List of qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship:
Venues
According to Avi Luzon, the Israel Football Association President, the Competition will be played at four venues, Bloomfield (Tel Aviv), Teddy (Jerusalem), HaMoshava (Petah Tikva) and Netanya Municipal Stadium.
| Jerusalem | Netanya | |
|---|---|---|
| Teddy Stadium | Netanya Stadium | |
| Capacity: 34,000 | Capacity: 13,800 | |
|
| |
| Petah Tikva | Tel Aviv | |
| HaMoshava Stadium | Bloomfield Stadium | |
| Capacity: 11,500 | Capacity: 14,413 | |
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Match Officials
In December 2012, it was announced that these six referees would take charge of matches at the final tournament:
- Ivan Bebek (
Croatia) - Serhiy Boiko (
Ukraine) - Antony Gautier (
France) - Paweł Gil (
Poland) - Ovidiu Haţegan (
Romania) - Matej Jug (
Slovenia)
It was furthermore announced that additional assistant referees would be deployed at Israel's final tournament.[3]
Seeding
The draw for the final tournament took place on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv. As the highest-ranked team according to the competition coefficient rankings, Spain are one of the top two seeds alongside hosts Israel. Those two sides will be drawn into separate groups, as will the second and third-ranked teams in the list, England and the Netherlands. The remaining four countries are unseeded and will be placed in the remaining positions in the two four-team sections.[4][5]
| Top seeds | Second seeds | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
Squads
The deadline for the submission of the final 23-man squads is ten days before the opening match: Sunday 26 May 2013.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv.[6]
All times are local (UTC+3).
Group A
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England  | v |  Italy |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group B
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Netherlands  | v |  Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 15 June – Netanya | ||||||
| A1 | ||||||
| 18 June – Jerusalem | ||||||
| B2 | ||||||
| 15 June – Petah Tikva | ||||||
| A2 | ||||||
| B1 | ||||||
Semifinals
| A1 | v | B2 |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | v | A2 |
|---|---|---|
Final
| WSF1 | v | WSF2 |
|---|---|---|
Official match ball
The official ball for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship was unveiled during the draw in Tel Aviv on 28 November 2012.[7] The ball has the same blue and white colours as tournament hosts Israel and its design features the same thermally bonded triangular patterns as the adidas Tango 12, match ball of UEFA Euro 2012.
Calls to boycott tournament
Since Israel was announced as host there have been calls to boycott the tournament. The most prominent petition against the tournament taking place in Israel is organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign which demands UEFA President Michel Platini reverse his decision.[8] Another petition[9] organised by Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK demands that UEFA move the tournament to England after The Daily Mail[10] and The Jewish Chronicle reported[11] that UEFA considered asking The FA to be on standby if the Gaza-Israel conflict continued.
Another petition, organised by former Tottenham Hotspur footballer Frédéric Kanouté,[12] also gained media attention[13] but attracted criticism when some of the names listed on it were disputed. Didier Drogba, for example, claimed he never signed the petition and his name was removed from the list.[14]
References
- ^ "Israel awarded U21 Championship in 2013" (Press release). UEFA. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ^ "Draw signals first steps on road to Israel" (Press release). UEFA. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ http://footballrefereeing.blogspot.de/2013/02/uefa-deploys-additional-assistant.html#.UWqAhMrx93g
- ^ "Under-21 finals lineup complete". UEFA.com. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ^ "Spain and Israel top seeds for Under-21 draw". UEFA.com. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ^ "Spain draw Germany, Israel get England". UEFA.com.
- ^ "U21 tournament ball unveiled in Tel Aviv". UEFA.com.
- ^ PSC boycott site
- ^ 'Move the European Under-21 Football Championship to England from Israel' – MPACUK
- ^ 'England could be set to host Under 21 Euros in 2013 if crisis worsens in Israel'
- ^ 'Uefa postpones match after Tel Aviv bomb blast' – The Jewish Chronicle
- ^ Freddie Kanouté's petition with names listed in support
- ^ "Boycotts criticised"
- ^ "Didier Drogba denies signing petition"
External links
- UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
- 2012–13 in European football
- 2012–13 in Dutch football
- 2012–13 in English football
- 2012–13 in German football
- 2012–13 in Israeli football
- 2012–13 in Italian football
- 2012–13 in Russian football
- 2012–13 in Spanish football
- International association football competitions hosted by Israel
- Scheduled sports events