England's European Under-21 Football Championship Record

England's European Under-21 Football Championship Record includes winning the European Under-21 Football Championship twice, in 1982 and 1984. England's Under-21s have also been losing semi-finalists on four occasions, and got knocked out in the finals group stage twice. On seven occasions, including the 2004 and the 2006 finals, England have failed to qualify.

About the competition

From 1978 to 1992 there was no finals tournament. Instead, the competition took place as follows: Uefa divided all entrant countries into 8 groups. Eight group winners were determined on a points basis after all teams played each other both home and away. Two points were awarded for a win throughout this period. The eight group winners were paired off and played each other as a knockout competition on a two-legged home & away basis. The final was two legged.

From 1994 there has been a finals tournament and a single host nation, always chosen from the eventual qualifiers. In 1994 and 1996 there were four teams in the finals, but since 1998, there has been eight.

Qualification for 1998 to 2002 involved nine groups, with a playoff between the two group winners with worst records to reduce the count to eight. In 1998 alone, the tournament was a single-legged knockout from the Quarter Finals onwards. 2000 brought about the same finals as we have today - two groups of four, group winners playing the other group's runners-up in the Semi-Finals.

2004 - the top nation of each of ten groups plus the six best runners-up played-off for eight finals spots. 2006 provided a more simple qualification process - eight groups, with the winners playing a runner-up. 2007's one year competition meant a shortened qualification process; between playoffs eliminating the eight weakest and seven of the strongest nations, 14 three-team groups were made. Each team played once at home and once away.

Note: Until 2006, all tournaments have been two-year campaigns. The year represents the year in which the finals actually took place.

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1982 - Winners

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1984 - Winners

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1986 - Reached Semi Final

fbu|21|ESP won.----

1988 - Reached Semi Final

fbu|21|FRA won.----

1990 - Did not qualify

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1992 - Did not qualify

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1994 in France - Did not qualify

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1996 in Spain - Did not qualify

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1998 in Romania - Reached 8th place playoff

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2000 in Slovakia - Reached Finals Group Stage

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2002 in Switzerland - Reached Finals Group Stage

Qualification Playoff

*Netherlands 2-2 England
*England 1-0 Netherlands"England win 3-2 on aggregate and qualify for the Final Tournament"

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2004 in Germany - Did not qualify

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2006 in Portugal - Reached Qualification playoff

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2007 in the Netherlands - Reached Semi Final

Qualification Playoff

*England 1-0 Germany
*Germany 0-2 England

"England win 3-0 on aggregate and qualify for the Final Tournament"

See also

* England national Under-21 Football team
* England national (senior) Football team
* European Under-21 Football Championship

External links

* [http://www.thefa.com/England/U21s Official FA England Under-21 website] Contains listings of current England U-21 players.
* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under21 Uefa Under-21 website] Contains full results archive
* [http://www.englandfootballonline.com England Football Online] England Senior team information.
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/europe-u21.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] Contains full record of U-21 Championship hosts and additional statistics, such as the Group Winners table for the 1998 qualifiers.