2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 national teams of Europe. Initially, 12 teams were to play in the tournament, however on 6 February 2019, UEFA's executive committee increased this number to 16. Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to participate.
| 2021-es U21-es labdarúgó-Európa-bajnokság (in Hungarian) Evropsko prvenstvo v nogometu do 21 let 2021 (in Slovene) | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host countries | Hungary Slovenia |
| Dates | 24–31 March 2021 (group stage) 31 May – 6 June 2021 (knockout stage) |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 8 (in 8 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Germany (3rd title) |
| Runners-up | Portugal |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 31 |
| Goals scored | 83 (2.68 per match) |
| Attendance | 13,413 (433 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Lukas Nmecha (4 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Fábio Vieira |
The tournament was co-hosted by Hungary and Slovenia. It was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 26 June 2021. However, the tournament was rescheduled following the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 to June/July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates were to be decided initially on 27 May 2020, but then postponed to 17 June 2020, where the UEFA Executive Committee meeting discussed the calendar and format of the tournament. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the tournament would be played in two stages; the group stage, which took place from 24 to 31 March 2021, and the knockout stage, which took place from 31 May to 6 June 2021. Due to COVID-19 Pandemic the VAR system wasn't used.
Spain were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the knockout phase by Portugal.