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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) organizes many prestigious football tournaments, but the UEFA European Under 21 Championship is a special one because it provides a glimpse of tomorrow's heroes on an international platform. Many legendary names in the football world today first cut their teeth in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship before progressing onto greater deeds.

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship was first held in 1978 when a packed Pod Bijelim Bregom stadium saw a thriller of a game between the erstwhile Yugoslavia and East Germany. The inaugural UEFA European Under-21 Championship had 24 teams competing for the honor of being youth champions

Initially the format divided these 24 teams into eight groups of three each. The winners of each group advanced to the quarter-finals. Yugoslavia beat England in the quarter-finals in 1978 to advance for a final showdown with East Germany.

The East German team beat Bulgaria in their semi-final tie to face Yugoslavia in what is billed as the most memorable match in the history of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Yugoslavia led the tie 1-0 carrying over the goal from East Germany. The final was a thriller with Vahid Halilhodžić scoring a first-half hat-trick in the game that eventually ended in a 4-4 draw. Yugoslavia won the finals on 5-4 aggregate.

History

The idea to stage a youth cup or "Challenge Cup for national representative teams aged under-23" was first mooted to member nations by UEFA in 1967. Early on Bulgaria and Yugoslavia dominated this competition, which was staged in much the same manner as a boxing tie, where the champions had to defend the title against the challengers. Hence the name "Challenge Cup."

In 1976 the age limit was changed to under-21 because UEFA felt there was a big gap between under-18 and under-23 competitions. The European Under-21 teams used to play one day before the senior matches were due to take place. Usually the fixtures were also the same. However all this changed with the 2006-07 tournament.

Format Change

Over the years, the format of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship has changed many times, but the principle behind staging the trophy has remained intact. This being to give a platform for exciting young talent to showcase their potential on an appropriate stage.

And the stars have not disappointed. Names like Roberto Mancini, Zinédine Zidane, Rudi Völler, Davor Šuker, Luís Figo, Raúl González and Frank Lampard gained initial recognition in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship before going on to gain fame and fortune with club and country.

When the tournament began in 1978, teams were divided into eight groups of three each with the winners contesting in home and away quarter-finals and semi-finals. The finals were also played in a home and away fixture. This format persisted until the 1992 competition.

In the 1994 competition there was only one leg of semi-finals with the host being chosen to host them. In the 1996 event Spain hosted the final four games, which were again played in a single leg format. For the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, there were nine qualification groups as the member nations were 46 in number.

The winners of the seven groups were given automatic qualification while the eighth and ninth-best qualifiers were asked to have a play-off to decide the final team.

There was a slight change in the 2000 competition as the nine group winners and seven best-placed second teams went into a play-off to decide the final eight teams. This format was also followed in 2002.

In the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, there were ten qualification groups with the winners playing the six best runners-up in the play-offs to decide the final eight teams. In 2006 the structure underwent a change with eight groups providing 16 teams to compete in the play-offs.

In 2007 though UEFA decided to hold the European Under-21 Championship in odd years so as to avoid clashes with either the World Cup or the Euro competition. Here the host nation were the automatic qualifiers, while the preliminary and the play-offs were held to decide the seven teams that would accompany the host nation.

This time around the UEFA coefficient ranking system comes into play to seed the teams and divide them into groups of four each. The Netherlands, who are also the defending champions, will be seeded on a similar basis with three other teams in the group.

Basically matches played in the group stage are along similar lines to league format with three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat. The tournament, which runs from June 10 to June 23, will have two semi-finals and one final match. The top two teams in each group will compete in the semi-finals.

Memorable Moments

Italy have dominated the UEFA European Under-21 Championship winning it five times out of the last eight competitions. Last year they could not make it through the group stages and that must have rankled the World Cup winners. Big names like Andrea Pirlo shone first at the 2000 edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship before going on to win fame for Italy and AC Milan. Pirlo's curling free-kick in that year is one of the vintage moments of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

In 2002 the Czech Republic made its mark on the tournament thanks to one Petr Cech. The Chelsea goalkeeper saved a penalty in the 2002 edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship to ensure that his team trumpeted its arrival on the World stage.

The Soviet Union, France, England and the Netherlands have also won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Last year the Netherlands won the trophy and being the host nation this year they will be looking to defend on home soil.

The Trophy

The new 37-centimetre-high trophy was crafted in 1996-98 tournament after Italy kept the previous one because they had captured it three times. It was crafted by Bertoni in Milan and cost 10,000 Swiss Francs. From this year the winners will retain the UEFA European Under-21 Championship trophy till the 2009 draw after which they will be given a small replica.

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