2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship


The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 15th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, the annual European international youth football championship contested by the men's under-17 national teams of UEFA member associations. Azerbaijan, which were selected by UEFA on 20 March 2012, hosted the tournament between 5 and 21 May 2016.
A total of 16 teams competed in the final tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 1999 eligible to participate. Each match had a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes with a 15-minute half-time.
Portugal were crowned champions for the second time in the under-17 era, and sixth time overall, after beating Spain in the final 5–4 through a penalty shootout. France were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Qualification

The national teams from all 54 UEFA member associations entered the competition. With Azerbaijan automatically qualified as hosts, the other 53 teams contested a qualifying competition to determine the remaining 15 spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: the qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2015, and the elite round, which took place in spring 2016.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament:
Note: All appearance statistics include only U-17 era.
TeamMethod of qualificationFinals appearanceLast appearancePrevious best performance
—
2011
2015
2013
2015
2015
—
2015
2015
2014
2013
2015
2015
2011
2015
2015

;Notes

Final draw

The final draw was held on 8 April 2016, 12:00 AZT, at the Baku Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. Hosts Azerbaijan were assigned to position A1 in the draw, while the other teams were seeded according to their results in the qualification elite round, with the seven best elite round group winners placed in Pot 1 and drawn to positions 1 and 2 in the groups, and the remaining eight teams placed in Pot 2 and drawn to positions 3 and 4 in the groups.
The tournament was hosted in four venues, all in Baku:

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 18 players.

Match officials

A total of 8 referees, 12 assistant referees and 4 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.
;Referees
;Assistant referees
;Fourth officials
The final tournament schedule was confirmed on 12 April 2016.
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
;Tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points. If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied;
  5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  7. If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their rankings were determined by a penalty shoot-out.
  8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches ;
  9. Drawing of lots.
All times were local, AZT.

Group A


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Group B


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Group C


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Group D


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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner if necessary.
Following a consultation between the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan and UEFA, it was decided to change the venue for the semi-finals and final from the Baku Olympic Stadium to the Dalga Arena and Bakcell Arena, respectively.

Bracket

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Goalscorers

;7 goals
Note: José Gomes scored a total of 16 goals in the 2014–15 and 2015–16 season, making him the competition's all-time top scorer.
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;1 own goal
;Goalkeepers
;Defenders
;Midfielders
;Forwards