Sweden 2009 - UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Finals (15 June 2009 - 29 June 2009)

The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship began on 31 May 2007, and is the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. This is the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006-07 competition, which allowed the change to odd-numbered years. Sweden will host the final tournament in June 2009; therefore, their under-21 team qualify automatically. 51 of the 52 other nations in UEFA's jurisdiction, including Montenegro and Serbia who will compete separately for the first time, will go through a series of qualifiers to decide the seven other teams to join Sweden at the finals. Andorra did not take part. Players born on or after 1 January 1986 are eligible to play in this competition.

Qualified teams
Sweden as host nation
Belarus
England
Finland
Germany
Italy
Spain
Serbia

The finals' tournament draw took place on 3 December 2008 at the Svenska Mässan exhibition centre, Gothenburg. Prior to the final draw, Sweden had been seeded first in group A as hosts of the tournament, while Spain were seeded first in group B.

Final Draw
Pot A
Sweden assigned to A1
Spain assigned to B1

Pot B
England
Italy

Pot C
Serbia
Finland
Germany
Belarus

The first pot contained the top seeds, these would have been host nation Sweden and the reigning champions, The Netherlands. However, The Netherlands did not qualify meaning that the team with the best qualifying record, Spain, took their place. Sweden and Spain were then automatically assigned to A1 and B1 respectively. The second pot contained the teams with the next two best records in qualifying: these were England and Italy. England were drawn into position B3 and Italy into A3. The final pot contained the other four qualified teams: Serbia, Finland, Germany and Belarus. Belarus were drawn first into position A2, Germany went into B2, Serbia into A4 and Finland into B4.


First Round

Group A
16 June 09 Sweden vs Belarus
16 June 09 Italy vs Serbia
19 June 09 Sweden vs Italy
19 June 09 Belarus vs Serbia
23 June 09 Serbia vs Sweden
23 June 09 Belarus vs Italy

Group B
15 June 09 England vs Finland
15 June 09 Spain vs Germany
18 June 09 Germany vs Finland
18 June 09 Spain vs England
22 June 09 Finland vs Spain
22 June 09 Germany vs England

Semi-finals
26 June 09 Winners of Group A vs Runners-up of Group B
26 June 09 Winners of Group B vs Runners-up of Group A

Final
29 June 09