Only ended the World Cup among 20 year olds, as the European Championship starts among youth teams.

Despite the absence of the World Cup or European Championship, fans will be able to observe the rivalry of the best youth teams of the Old World.

What do you need to know about the upcoming tournament?.

Host country The European Championship U-21 will be held in neighboring Poland. For the Poles this is the first time they accept this tournament.

The opening match will be held on June 16, with the active winners of the tournament - the Swedish national team, which will be opposed by the British.

Matches will take six cities located throughout the country - Lublin, Kielce, Gdynia, Bydgoszcz, Karkov and Tychy. The final match will be held on June 30 at the Cracow Stadium in Krakow.

History of the tournament Italy is the most successful country in the history of the competition, having won the competition five times, including the very first that took place in 1978. The last "victoria" of Italians dates back to 2004, when the team was played by Daniele de Rossi and Andrea Barzalli.

The Netherlands won two consecutive years in 2006 and in 2007, when the tournament moved from an even year to an odd. Germany won in 2009.

In 2011, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, David de Hea and Thiago Alcantara brought victory to Spain, and two years later, the current midfielder of Bavaria, with the support of Isco and Alvaro Morata, won again.

The last European championship was won by the Swedish team, which, led by Victor Lindelof and Jon Guidetti, beat Portugal in the finals.

Participants and format of the tournament This year the tournament was modified, increasing the number of participants. In previous years, there were 8 teams participating in the Youth Euro, but in 2017 there will be 12.

The teams were divided into three groups of 4 teams. In Group A, the hosts of the tournament were the Poles, as well as England, Sweden and Slovakia.

Group B were Portugal, Serbia, Spain and the debutants of the tournament - Macedonia. In Group C will play Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark and Italy.

In the semi-finals of the tournament winners of the groups and the best of the teams that took the second place in the groups.

The national team of Ukraine did not qualify for the tournament, having occupied only the fourth place in its qualifying group. The winner of the group was Macedonia. In total, Ukrainians played in such a tournament twice, in 2006 reaching the finals, and in 2011 they failed to leave the group.

Who has the right to play?.

Participation in the tournament, despite the fact that this is the European Under 21, footballers who are already 23.

The fact that the player was supposed to be 21 at the beginning of the year, in which the selection for the championship began. Thus, all players who were born after 1 January 1994 are available.

For example, for England, there will be Jordan Pickford and Nathan Redmont, and for Spain Gerard Deulofeuu and Denis Suarez (born Barca midfielder a week earlier, would not have played at this tournament), who are already 23 years old.

Favorites of the tournament The main favorites of the championship, according to the bookmakers, are Germans and Spaniards.

For the national team of Germany will play already experienced football players, such as Max Meyer and Jonathan Ta, newcomers Borussia D Mahmoud Dahud and Maximilian Philip and Serge Gnabri, who moved to Bavaria.

Furia Rocha will also be represented by well-known players - Hector Belierin, Saul Nigies and Marco Asensio.

Italy, led by Gianluigi Donnarumma, will be another team that will claim victory in the tournament.

The main outsiders of the championship are not frequent guests such championships - Macedonia and Slovakia.

In the victory of the Swedes also believe little, but on the last youth Euro Scandinavians also were not in the favorites, but still managed to win.