The draw for the group stage of qualifying for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship took place on 3 February in Nyon, Switzerland. 52 national teams took part in the qualifying. The group stage of qualifying began on 25 March 2011. There were a total of ten groups, consisting of five or six teams each. All the teams in each group faced each other two times, at home and away. The team at the top of each group and the four best second-placed teams qualified to the playoff round. In the playoff round, the 14 teams were drawn to play seven two-legged matches. The winners joined Israel in the tournament finals.
In December 2012, it was announced that these six referees would take charge of matches at the final tournament:
Ivan Bebek
Serhiy Boiko
Antony Gautier
Paweł Gil
Ovidiu Haţegan
Matej Jug
It was furthermore announced that additional assistant referees would be deployed at Israel's final tournament.
Seeding
The draw for the final tournament took place on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv. As the highest-ranked team according to the competition coefficient rankings, Spain are one of the top two seeds alongside hosts Israel. Those two sides will be drawn into separate groups, as will the second and third-ranked teams in the list, England and the Netherlands. The remaining four countries are unseeded and will be placed in the remaining positions in the two four-team sections.
Top seeds
Second seeds
Unseeded
Squads
The deadline for the submission of the final 23-man squads was ten days before the opening match: Sunday 26 May 2013.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 28 November 2012 in Tel Aviv. All times are local.
Group A
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Group B
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Knockout stage
Bracket
Semifinals
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Final
Team of the Tournament
The UEFA Technical Team was charged with naming a squad composed of the 23 best players over the course of the tournament. Spain, with eleven, have the most players in the team of the tournament. ;UEFA Team of the Tournament
The official ball for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship was unveiled during the draw in Tel Aviv on 28 November 2012. The ball has the same blue and white colours as tournament hosts Israel and its design features the same thermally bonded triangular patterns as the adidas Tango 12, match ball of UEFA Euro 2012.
Calls to boycott tournament
After Israel was announced as host, there were calls by some to boycott the tournament. The most prominent petition against the tournament taking place in Israel was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which demanded UEFA President Michel Platini reverse his decision. Another petition organised by Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK demanded that UEFA move the tournament to England after the Daily Mail and The Jewish Chronicle reported that UEFA considered asking the FA to be on standby if the Gaza-Israel conflict continued. Another petition, organised by former Sevilla footballer Frédéric Kanouté and containing the name of 50 professional footballers who had signed it, also gained media attention but attracted criticism when some of the names listed on it were disputed. Didier Drogba, for example, claimed he never signed the petition and his name was removed from the list.
Broadcast from UEFA European Under-21 Championship
