Spain surge to tenth Under-19 EURO title

Spain underlined their dominance of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship by claiming their tenth title in 2026 in Wales.

Winners in 2024 and runners-up in 2025, Spain reached a record-equalling third final in a row. And a dominant 2-0 win against Germany in Wrexham meant Spain lifted the trophy without having conceded a goal in the final tournament.

With some of the squad that reached the final in 2025 as well as players that had helped UEFA Youth League victories by Barcelona in 2024/25 and Real Madrid in 2025/26, Spain began with a 7-0 defeat of hosts Wales and went on to beat Denmark 3-0 and Germany 4-0 to top Group A. Germany's exciting 4-3 Matchday 1 win against Denmark was key to them also going through as both were to beat Wales, making their U19 EURO finals debut.

Ukraine secured a maximum nine points in Group B, coming from behind to beat Croatia 3-1 and Serbia 2-1 before a 1-0 win against Italy. Having begun by beating Serbia 2-0, Italy then drew 0-0 with Croatia so sat second going into Matchday 3. But as Italy lost to Ukraine, Croatia beat Serbia 3-0, a penalty three minutes from time taking them up to second on overall goals scored.

The four semi-finalists qualified for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup while Denmark beat Italy on penalties after a 0-0 draw for a spot in the intercontinental play-offs. In the semi-finals, Spain produced another excellent display in defeating Croatia 3-0, while Ukraine this time led only to lose 2-1 as they took the lead late in the first half against Germany only to concede in added time of each period.

Germany showed promise early in the final but goals either side of half-time by Hugo López and Mario Rivas gave Spain their tenth triumph in the 23 editions since the U18 EURO became an U19 competition in 2001/02. Spain's Quim Junyent was named Player of the Tournament while his team-mate José Antonio Morante finished as joint top scorer with Germany's Otto Stange.