2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship
2012. aasta U-19 Euroopa meistrivõistlused jalgpallis
Tournament details
Host country	Estonia
Dates	3–15 July
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (9th title)
Runners-up	Greece
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	49 (3.27 per match)
Attendance	46,022 (3,068 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jesé (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Gerard Deulofeu
	← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 61st edition of UEFA's European Under-19 Championship (the eleventh since the age competition change to an Under-19 level) and took place in Estonia from 3 to 15 July.^[1] Spain were the defending champions. This competition also acted as a qualifying competition for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup, as six sides from Europe qualify.

Players born after 1 January 1993 were eligible to participate in this competition.

Qualification

Qualification for the final tournament occurred in two stages: a qualifying round and an elite round. During these rounds, 51 national teams competed to determine the seven teams that would join the automatically qualified host nation Estonia.

The qualifying round was played between 21 September and 16 November 2011. Liechtenstein did not enter and England, France and Spain received a bye to the elite round as a result of their UEFA ranking coefficient. The remaining 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four teams, with each group being contested as a mini-tournament hosted by one of the group's teams. After all matches were played, the 12 group winners, 12 group runners-up and the best third-placed team advanced to the elite round.

The elite round was played between 23 and 31 May 2012. The 28 teams entering this phase were split into seven groups of four teams for a further round of mini-tournaments. The seven group winners qualified for the final tournament.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:

Country	Qualified as	Previous appearances in final tournament¹ only U-19 era (since 2002)
Estonia	Hosts	0 (debut)
France	Winner of Group 1	5 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010)
England	Winner of Group 2	6 (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Serbia	Winner of Group 3	4 (2005², 2007, 2009, 2011)
Portugal	Winner of Group 4	4 (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010)
Greece	Winner of Group 5	4 (2005, 2007, 2008, 2011)
Croatia	Winner of Group 6	1 (2010)
Spain	Winner of Group 7	8 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

² As Serbia and Montenegro

Venues

Stadium	Location	Capacity^[2]	Notes^[3]
A. Le Coq Arena	Tallinn	9,692	Three group games, semifinals and the final
Haapsalu linnastaadion	Haapsalu	869	Three group matches
Kadrioru staadion	Tallinn	5,000	Three group matches
Rakvere linnastaadion	Rakvere	2,500	Three group matches

Tallinn

Haapsalu

Rakvere

Match officials

UEFA named six referees and eight assistant referees for the tournament on 18 June 2012, all who are young and upcoming top referees in Europe. Additionally two Estonian referees were chosen as fourth officials for the group stage matches.^[4]

Country	Referee
Denmark	Kenn Hansen
Italy	Paolo Valeri
Latvia	Vadims Direktorenko
Netherlands	Danny Makkelie
Northern Ireland	Arnold Hunter
Switzerland	Alain Bieri

Squads

Results

Group stage

The draw was held on 6 June 2012 in Tallinn, Estonia.^[5]^[6]

Each group winner and runner-up advanced to the semifinals. The top three teams in each group also qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.^[7]

Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
If, after applying criteria 1) to 3) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 3) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5) and 7) will apply
Results of all group matches:
1. Superior goal difference
2. Higher number of goals scored
Respect Fair Play ranking of the teams in question
Drawing of lots

Additionally, if two teams which have the same number of points and the same number of goals scored and conceded play their last group match against each other and are still equal at the end of that match, their final rankings are determined by the penalty shoot-out and not by the criteria listed above. This procedure is applicable only if a ranking of the teams is required to determine the group winner and the runner-up.

Legend
Advanced to semifinals and qualified for the 2013 U-20 World Cup
Qualified for the 2013 U-20 World Cup

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7
Greece	3	2	0	1	8	5	+3	6
Portugal	3	1	1	1	8	6	+2	4
Estonia	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

3 July 2012

17:30

Greece	1–2	Spain
Diamantakos 66'	Report	Jesé 30' Derik 40'

Haapsalu Stadium, Haapsalu

Attendance: 1,350^[8]

Referee: Vadims Direktorenko (Latvia)

3 July 2012