UEFA European Under-21 Championship

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Winners Cup of the UEFA Under 21 Championship
Founded	1989
Region	Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams	53 (qualifiers) 12 (finals)
Current champions	Sweden (1st title)
Most successful team(s)	Italy (5 titles)
2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as the UEFA Euro U-21s) is a football competition organised by the sport's European governing body, UEFA. It is held every two years. The competition has existed in its current form since 1978. It was preceded by the Under 23 Challenge Cup which ran from 1967 to 1970. A true Under 23 championship was then formed, starting in 1972.

The age limit was reduced to 21 for the 1978 championship and it has remained so since. To be eligible for the campaign ending in 2017, players need to be born in or after 1994. Many can be actually 23 years old by the time the finals tournament takes place; however, when the qualification process began (2015) all players would have been 21 or under.

Under-21 matches are typically played on the day before senior internationals and where possible, the same qualifying groups and fixtures were played out. This was not true for the shortened 2006-2007 Championship.

This tournament serves as qualifier for the Summer Olympics. It has been considered a stepping stone toward the senior team. Players such as 2014 World Cup winner Mesut Özil, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Luís Figo, Petr Čech, 2010 World Cup winner Iker Casillas, 2006 World Cup winners Francesco Totti, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Alberto Gilardino and Andrea Pirlo, and Euro 2004 winner Georgios Karagounis began their international careers in the youth teams.

Sweden are the reigning champions, defeating Portugal in the 2015 final, on penalties. The finals of the 2015 competition were hosted by Czech Republic.