2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship


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The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (18th edition if the Under-18 era is included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the women's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Israel hosted the tournament.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 1996 were eligible to participate in this competition.

2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
אליפות אירופה בכדורגל נשים עד גיל 19 - 2015
Tournament details
Host countryIsrael
Dates15–27 July
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Sweden (3rd title)
Runners-up Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played15
Goals scored39 (2.6 per match)
Attendance18,603 (1,240 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sweden Stina Blackstenius (6 goals)
Best player(s)Sweden Stina Blackstenius

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2016 →

Same as previous editions held in odd-numbered years, the tournament acted as the UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The four semi-finalists qualified for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea as the UEFA representatives.[2]

A total of 48 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Israel qualifying automatically, the other 47 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: Qualifying round, which took place in autumn 2014, and Elite round, which took place in spring 2015.[3]

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.[4][5]

Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).

Team Method of qualification Finals appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
  Israel Hosts 1st Debut Debut
  Spain Elite round Group 1 winners 10th 2014 Champions (2004)
  Sweden Elite round Group 2 winners 9th 2014 Champions (2012)
  France Elite round Group 3 winners 11th 2013 Champions (2003, 2010, 2013)
  England Elite round Group 4 winners 11th 2014 Champions (2009)
  Norway Elite round Group 4 runners-up[^] 10th 2014 Runners-up (2003, 2008, 2011)
  Germany Elite round Group 5 winners 12th 2013 Champions (2002, 2006, 2007, 2011)
  Denmark Elite round Group 6 winners 6th 2013 Semi-finals (2002, 2006, 2012)

Notes

  1. ^

    The best runners-up among all six elite round groups qualified for the final tournament.

The final draw was held in Haifa, Israel on 20 May 2015, 20:15 IDT (UTC+3).[6][7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. There were no seeding except that the hosts Israel were assigned to position A1 in the draw.

The matches were played at four venues in four host cities.[8]

Netanya Rishon LeZion
Netanya Stadium Haberfeld Stadium
Capacity: 13,610 Capacity: 6,000
   
Lod Ramla
Lod Municipal Stadium Ramla Municipal Stadium
Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 2,000
   

Each national team had to submit a squad of 18 players.[3]

A total of 6 referees, 8 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials were appointed for the final tournament.[10]

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

Tiebreakers

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:[3]

  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 (not used if more than two teams had the same number of points, or if their rankings were not relevant for qualification for the next stage).
  8. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in the group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, IDT (UTC+3).

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   France 3 3 0 0 6 0 +6 9 Advance to knockout stage
2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
2   Sweden 3 2 0 1 4 1 +3 6
3   Denmark 3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 3
4   Israel (H) 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0

Source: UEFA
(H) Hosts

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Germany 3 2 0 1 3 3 0 6[a] Advance to knockout stage
2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
2   Spain 3 2 0 1 7 2 +5 6[a]
3   Norway 3 1 1 1 2 4 −2 4
4   England 3 0 1 2 2 5 −3 1

Source: UEFA
Notes:

  1. ^ a b Ranked by head-to-head result (Germany 1–0 Spain)

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[3]

Semi-finalsFinal
      
24 July – Lod
  France1 (4)
27 July – Netanya
  Spain (p)1 (5)
  Spain1
24 July – Netanya
  Sweden3
  Germany3 (2)
  Sweden (p)3 (4)
6 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goals

Source: UEFA.com[11]

Team of the tournament

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Source: UEFA.com[12]

Golden player:   Stina Blackstenius[13]

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

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The following four teams from UEFA qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[14]

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament1
  Sweden 18 July 2015 1 (2010)
  Spain 21 July 2015 1 (2004)
  France 18 July 2015 5 (2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014)
  Germany 21 July 2015 7 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)

1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.