2016 UEFA European Under 19 Championship

Qualification

The national teams from all 54 UEFA member associations entered the competition. With Germany automatically qualified as hosts, the other 53 teams contested a qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: the qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2015, and the elite round, which took place in spring 2016.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:

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

Final draw

The final draw was held on 12 April 2016, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There was no seeding, except that hosts Germany were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

Venues

The tournament was hosted in ten venues:

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 18 players.

Match officials

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

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 18 April 2016.

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The third-placed teams entered the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off.

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied;
5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
7. If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out (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).
8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, CEST (UTC+2).

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.

On 2 May 2016, the UEFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board's trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time. In the FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off, Michel Vlap of the Netherlands became the first ever fourth substitute, replacing Laros Duarte at half-time in extra time, followed later by Emmanuel Iyoha of Germany replacing Jannes Horn in the 110th minute.

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

Winner qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Goalscorers

Source: UEFA.com

Tournament select squad

Source: UEFA Technical Report

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following five teams from UEFA qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.