1.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
2.
Netherlands national under-21 football team
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The Netherlands national under-21 football team is the national under-21 team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association. The team competes in the European Under-21 Championship, held two years. Following the realignment of UEFAs youth competitions in 1976, the Dutch Under-21 team was formed, the team did not have a very good record, failing to qualify for nine of the fifteen tournaments. The team did not enter for the 1978 competition, but since then has reached the semi-finals twice, since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, the Netherlands record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown, the first competitive match was in the Under-23 Challenge, a match which they lost. The team qualified for the last eight of each of the three U-23 tournaments, in 2006 the Netherlands national under-21 football team of coach Foppe de Haan won the 2006 European Under-21 Championship. The following year, Netherlands national under-21 football team successfully defended their title by winning the 2007 European Under-21 Championship in the final against Serbia with 4–1, maceo Rigters was the top scorer of the competition with four goals and Royston Drenthe was the Player of the Tournament. The win meant that the Netherlands qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the team failed to qualify for the 2009 European Under-21 Championship, after losing out to Switzerland in their final qualifying match. The Netherlands were randomly chosen to play cards Bulgaria for the title in a match in Sofia. 17 April 1968, Bulgaria 3–1 Netherlands, Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group, Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group, Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group. Finished 5th of 6 in qualification group, Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group. 2000, Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group, Finished 4th of 5 in qualification group. 2006, Winners 2007, Winners 2009, Did not qualify, Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. 2013, Semi Finals 2015, Did not qualify, Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. The following players were called up for the match against Portugal on 15 November 2016. Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the Senior team, caps and goals updated as 15 November 2016
3.
Serbia national under-21 football team
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The Serbia national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Serbia and is controlled by the Football Association of Serbia. This team is for Serbian players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, also in existence are teams for Under-20s, Under-19s and Under 17s. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level, nikola Drinčić is a currently Montenegrin international and former Serbia U21 player. Serbias under-21 national team qualified for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship held in the Netherlands, in June 2007, after a shocking 3–0 loss at home, Serbia overturned the result two weeks later, defeating Sweden 5–0, and advancing to the final tournament. Serbias 2007 U21 Championship campaign was successful, as they finished in second place, losing the final to the hosts. On their way to the final, they defeated Italy, Czech Republic, the only other loss, besides the final, was the 3rd group game against England, which was a meaningless game for the Serbian team, as they had already qualified for the semi-finals. The Serbian Football Association is deemed the direct successor to both SFR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro by FIFA, and therefore the inheritor to all the records of the defunct nations. Champions Runners-Up Third Place Fourth Place The following players have called up to friendly matches against Sweden U-21. Caps and goals updated as of 15 November 2016 after the game against Norway U-21
4.
Royston Drenthe
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Royston Ricky Drenthe is a retired Dutch professional footballer and rapper. Although he primarily played as a winger, he could also operated as a left back. Drenthe started his career with Eredivisie side Feyenoord in 2005. He made 37 appearances for the side before switching to Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid in 2007. He then joined Russian Premier League side Alania Vladikavkaz in February 2013 on a transfer, making six appearances in a brief spell at the club. In January 2015, he joined Kayseri Erciyessor, before moving to UAE Pro League side Baniyas Club in September 2015, after being released by Baniyas in July 2016, Drenthe announced his retirement from playing. He has since begun recording music under the name Roya2Faces, Drenthe made 17 appearances for the Netherlands under-21s between 2006 and 2008, and was a member of the team that won the 2007 European Championship. Since then, he has one appearance for the Netherlands B team. Born in Rotterdam, Drenthe joined local side Feyenoords youth system at the age of 13, bout hardly used Drenthe in his subsequent lineups, and at the end of the season, the 16-year-old was named as one of eleven players whose future at the club was questionable. He eventually moved to Feyenoord feeder club Excelsior, Drenthe improved during the two years he played at Excelsior, with manager Marco van Lochem successfully playing him as left back. After impressing his former sides coaching staff, he was asked to rejoin the club, in the 2005–06 season, Drenthe was promoted to Feyenoords first team, managed by his former youth coach Henk Fräser, and had to compete for first-choice status with Mohammed Hammouti. After scoring three goals against Ajax in the Otten Cup – a youth tournament organized by PSV – as a winger, he began training with the main squad, while still appearing for the reserves. In the same week where he helped his club to a 5–1 win at Ajax with the second team, manager Erwin Koeman handed him his Eredivisie debut against Vitesse at the Gelredome, and the player finished the season with three matches. In 2006–07, Feyenoord signed veteran Belgian Philippe Léonard, while Pascal Bosschaart was also part of the squad. After the former suffered an injury and the latter was transferred to ADO Den Haag, Drenthe was presented as a Real Madrid player on 13 August 2007, alongside compatriot Wesley Sneijder. The Merengues, however, lost 3–5 at home and 3–6 on aggregate, at one time, after being left out for the match against Valencia, Drenthe stormed out of the training ground. He finished the campaign with 18 league appearances, scoring his first league goal against Real Valladolid in a 7–0 home routing on 10 February 2008, despite rumours of him leaving the club on loan, Drenthe featured in 15 of Real Madrids first 18 games of the 2008–09 season. The manager later revealed that the player asked not to be picked for the three games after the Deportivo fixture, on 31 August 2010, after having appeared rarely in his third season, Drenthe was loaned to Hércules in a season-long move
5.
2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
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The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a format, following the single-year 2006–07 competition. Sweden hosted the tournament in June 2009, therefore, their under-21 team qualified automatically. Players born on or after 1 January 1986 were eligible to play in this competition, the 51 nations were divided into ten qualification groups, with group matches scheduled from 31 May 2007 until 10 September 2008. The draw for the round was made on 13 February 2007 in Stockholm. The ten group winners and four best runners-up from the group met in play-offs to determine the seven qualifying nations. Sweden as host nation Belarus England Finland Germany Italy Spain Serbia The finals tournament draw took place on 3 December 2008 at the Svenska Mässan exhibition centre, Gothenburg. Prior to the draw, Sweden had been seeded first in Group A as hosts of the tournament. However, The Netherlands did not qualify meaning that the team with the best qualifying record, Spain, Sweden and Spain were then automatically assigned to A1 and B1 respectively. The second pot contained the teams with the two best records in qualifying, these were England and Italy. England were drawn into position B3 and Italy into A3, the final pot contained the other four qualified teams, Serbia, Finland, Germany and Belarus. Belarus were drawn first into position A2, Germany went into B2, Serbia into A4, there is a contract between UEFA and the city and between UEFA and its sponsors saying that the UEFA sponsors shall have monopoly around the arena. A city cannot force Max to close even if it happened to sign a contract with someone saying so. On 2 September 2008, the Swedish Football Association nominated Örjans Vall in Halmstad as a replacement venue for Borås Arena and they were awarded the three group stage games that were to be hosted by Borås Arena, while the second semi-final was moved from Borås to Helsingborg and Olympia. Swedbank Stadion was referred to as Malmö New Stadium during the tournament, all times are Central European Summer Time. The match ball for the competition is called the Adidas Terrapass, the ball is bright blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag. It features 12 watermarks including one containing a map of Europe and it is composed of 14 thermally bonded panels, which are claimed to improve the balls accuracy and swerve
6.
UEFA
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The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world footballs governing body FIFA, UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern, in 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president, UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The European football union began with 25 members, that number doubled by the early 1990s, UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a recognized sovereign state in the context of international law. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states, countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their associations main territory to take part in their domestic competition, saarland Football Union 1954–1956 German football association of the German Democratic Republic 1954–1990 Football Federation of the Soviet Union 1954–1991, in 1992 became Russian Football Union. The newly independent 14 Soviet Republics created their own football associations, Football Association of Yugoslavia 1954–1992, became Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia became independent, Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro 1992–2006, became Football Association of Serbia. Montenegro, which became independent, created its own football association, the main competition for mens national teams is the UEFA European Football Championship, started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. It is also called UEFA or the EURO, UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For womens national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Womens Championship for senior sides as well as Womens Under-19. UEFA also organized the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship, the Italian, German, Spanish and French mens national teams are the sole teams to have won the European football championship in all categories. A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League and this competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which had started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999, in womens football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Womens Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Womens Cup until 2009, the UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League, and came into being in 1973
7.
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
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The UEFA European Under-21 Championship is a football competition organised by the sports European governing body, UEFA. It is held two years. The competition has existed in its current form since 1978 and it was preceded by the Under 23 Challenge Cup which ran from 1967 to 1970. A true Under 23 championship was formed, starting in 1972. The age limit was reduced to 21 for the 1978 championship, 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 tournament takes place, however. Under-21 matches are played on the day before senior internationals and where possible. This was not true for the shortened 2006-2007 Championship and this tournament serves as qualifier for the Summer Olympics. It has been considered a stepping stone toward the senior team, sweden are the reigning champions, defeating Portugal in the 2015 final, on penalties. The finals of the 2015 competition were hosted by Czech Republic, up to and including the 1992 competition, all entrants were divided into eight qualification groups, the eight winners of which formed the quarter-finals lineup. The remaining fixtures were played out on a two-legged, home, for the 1994 competition, one of the semi-finalists, France, was chosen as a host for the semi-finals, 3rd place playoff and final. Similarly, Spain was chosen to host the last four matches in 1996, for 1998, nine qualification groups were used, as participation had reached 46, nearly double the 24 entrants in 1976. The top seven group winners qualified automatically for the finals, whilst the eighth- and ninth-best qualifiers, Greece and England, the remaining matches, from the quarter-finals onward, were held in Romania, one of the eight qualifiers. The 2000 competition also had nine groups, but the nine winners, from those, Slovakia was chosen as host. For the first time, the finals group stage was employed. The structure in 2002 was identical, except for the introduction of a round after the finals group stage. In 2004, ten groups were used, with the group winners. For 2006, the top two teams of eight large qualification groups provided the 16 teams for the playoffs, held in November 2005, then followed the switch to odd years
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
Netherlands
Serbia
Belgium
Portugal
Israel
10'
England
Italy
Czech Republic
89'
9'
69'
28', 62'
Otman Bakkal
Matt Derbyshire
Manuel Fernandes
Boško Janković
Michal Papadopulos
Sébastien Pocognoli
Giuseppe Rossi