2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

The final tournament of the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 24th UEFA European Under-19 Championship, UEFA's premier competition for players under the age of 19. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic with matches played from 14 July to 26 July 2008. Players born after 1 January 1989 were eligible to participate in this competition. The top three teams in each group qualified for the 2009 U-20 World Cup.

2008 UEFA Under-19 Championship

Mistrovství Evropy ve fotbale hráčů do 19 let 2008
Tournament details
Host country	Czech Republic
Dates	14–26 July
Teams	8
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Germany (2nd title)
Runners-up	Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	37 (2.47 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Tomáš Necid (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Lars Bender Sven Bender[1]
← 2007 2009 →

Qualification

Qualification for the final tournament was played over two stages. The first qualifying stage divided the remaining 52 UEFA nations (minus the hosts, the Czech Republic) into 13 groups of four teams. Matches in the first stage were played from 24 September 2007 to 15 November 2007. The top two teams in each group and the two best third-placed teams then qualified for the elite qualifying stage, where the 28 teams were divided into seven groups of four. Matches in the elite qualifying stage were played from 1 March 2008 to 31 May 2008, when the top team from each group advanced to the final tournament.

The following teams qualified for the tournament:

•  Czech Republic (as host)
•  Bulgaria
•  England
• Germany
•  Greece
•  Hungary
•  Italy
•  Spain

Squads

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship squads

Final group stage

The groups were drawn on 1 June 2008 in Prague by the first vice-chairman of the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee, Jim Boyce, and senior Czech internationals Petr Čech and Martin Fenin.^[2]

In the following tables:

Key: Pld Matches played, W Won, D Drawn, L Lost, GF Goals for, GA Goals against, GD Goal Difference, Pts Points

Team qualified for the Semi-Final

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	7	2	+5	9
Hungary	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
Spain	3	1	0	2	5	3	+2	3
Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	0	8	−8	0

14 July

17:30 CET

Bulgaria	0–1	Hungary
	Report[dead link]	Németh 10'

FK Viktoria Stadion, Prague

Referee: Albert Toussaint (Luxembourg)

14 July

19:30 CET

Germany	2–1	Spain
Sukuta-Pasu 7' Toprak 56'	Report	Alba 66'

Stadion města Plzně, Plzeň

Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

---

17 July

18:00 CET

Spain	0–1	Hungary
	Report	Nagy 71'

Na Litavce, Příbram

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (Macedonia)

17 July

20:30 CET

Germany	3–0	Bulgaria
Diekmeier 16' Nsereko 43' L. Bender 56'	Report

Stadion města Plzně, Plzeň

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)

---

20 July

20:00 CET

Hungary	1–2	Germany
Simon 74'	Report[dead link]	Reinartz 36' Risse 76'

Na Litavce, Příbram

Referee: Dejan Filipović (Serbia)

20 July

20:00 CET

Spain	4–0	Bulgaria
Aarón 14' Nsue 17', 52' Mérida 64'	Report[dead link]

FK Viktoria Stadion, Prague

Referee: Olivier Thual (France)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	1	2	0	5	4	+1	5
Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
England	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
Greece	3	0	2	1	1	4	−3	2

14 July

17:30 CET

Czech Republic	2–0	England
Necid 54', 58'	Report

Stadion Střelnice, Jablonec nad Nisou

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (Macedonia)

14 July

19:30 CET

Greece	1–1	Italy
Pavlis 23'	Report[dead link]	Paloschi 90' (pen.)

Městský stadion, Mladá Boleslav

Referee: Dejan Filipović (Serbia)

---

17 July

18:00 CET

Czech Republic	0–0	Greece
	Report[dead link]

Stadion u Nisy, Liberec

Attendance: 6,623^[3]

Referee: Albert Toussaint (Luxembourg)

17 July

20:00 CET

England	0–0	Italy
	Report

Stadion Střelnice, Jablonec nad Nisou

Referee: Olivier Thual (France)

---

20 July

18:00 CET

Italy	4–3	Czech Republic
Poli 22', 79' Bonaventura 56' Paloschi 72' (pen.)	Report[dead link]	Necid 23' Morávek 58', 86'

Městský stadion, Mladá Boleslav

Attendance: 5,000^[4]

Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

20 July

18:00 CET

England	3–0	Greece
Mee 48' Sears 68' (pen.) Sturridge 85'	Report

Stadion u Nisy, Liberec

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)

Knock-out stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	23 July – Mladá Boleslav
	Germany (aet)	2
					26 July – Jablonec nad Nisou
	Czech Republic	1
					Germany	3
	23 July – Plzeň
					Italy	1
	Italy	1
	Hungary	0

Semi-finals

23 July

17:30

Italy	1–0	Hungary
Forestieri 65'	Report

Štruncovy Sady Stadion, Plzeň

Attendance: 3023

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)

---

23 July

20:15

Germany	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Czech Republic
Risse 17' Sukuta-Pasu 119'	Report[dead link]	Necid 24'

Městský Stadion, Mladá Boleslav

Attendance: 5,000^[5]

Referee: Olivier Thual (France)

Final

26 July

19:00

Germany	3–1	Italy
L. Bender 24' Sukuta-Pasu 61' Gebhart 80'	Report	Garibaldi 78'

Střelnice Stadion, Jablonec nad Nisou

Attendance: 4,100

Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

2008 UEFA U-19 European champions
Germany Second title

Goalscorers

4 goals Tomáš Necid 3 goals Richard Sukuta-Pasu 2 goals Jan Morávek Lars Bender Marcel Risse Alberto Paloschi Andrea Poli Emilio Nsue 1 goal Benjamin Mee Freddie Sears Daniel Sturridge

1 goal, cont. Dennis Diekmeier Timo Gebhart Savio Nsereko Stefan Reinartz Ömer Toprak Michalis Pavlis Olivér Nagy Krisztián Németh András Simon Giacomo Bonaventura Fernando Forestieri Silvano Raggio Garibaldi Jordi Alba Fran Mérida Aarón

Countries to participate in 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup

• Germany
•  Hungary
•  Spain
•  Italy
•  Czech Republic
•  England

Team of the tournament

After the final, the UEFA technical team selected 22 players to integrate the "team of the tournament".^[6]

Goalkeepers David Button Péter Gulácsi Vincenzo Fiorillo

Defenders Jan Polák Ben Mee Dennis Diekmeier Alexander Eberlein Stefan Reinartz Vassilis Lambropoulos András Debreceni

Midfielders Jan Morávek Deniz Naki Savio Nsereko Kyriakos Papadopoulos Vladimir Koman Aarón Ñíguez

Forwards Tomáš Necid Timo Gebhart Richard Sukuta-Pasu Krisztián Németh Fernando Forestieri Emilio Nsue