UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

2025 U21 EURO final analysis

The UEFA Technical Observer Group discuss three key themes from England's 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final win over Germany.

Omari Hutchinson celebrates England's victory in the final
Omari Hutchinson celebrates England's victory in the final Getty Images

Lee Carsley's young footballers achieved a piece of history on Saturday night by successfully defending their U21 EURO crown against Germany – repeating a feat first achieved by an England team in 1984.

As the dust settled on a thrilling final in Bratislava, UEFA's Technical Observers identified three key themes, starting with England's success in playing through Germany's press. As Player of the Tournament Harvey Elliott said afterwards: "The plan was the same through the whole game – to play out from back and find the gaps in between their midfield. We did it so many times in the first half and we scored two great goals from it. In the second half it was harder because we had a lot of pressure on ourselves."

The following analysis will explore just how England did it as well as looking at how Germany got back into the contest, and also the game management with which Carsley's side got over the line in extra time.

As is happened: England 3-2 Germany

England's variations in build-up

"The manager wanted us to start fast," said England winger Omari Hutchinson and Carsley's youngsters certainly did that, building a two-goal lead inside 24 minutes through strikes from Elliott and Hutchinson himself.

The key to that impressive attacking display was their ability to play through Germany's press – and to do it in different ways, according to UEFA Technical Observer Steve Cooper. "England had clear team solutions to play through Germany’s effective four-diamond-two press that had served them well through the tournament," he explained.

"They had strategies of whether to play centrally through the press, down the sides around the press or even over the press with a longer pass – and each player knew their role to make it effective.

"Through the movement of the full-backs and midfielders they managed to pull the Germany players out of their positions and create bigger spaces to play out with obvious passing lines. All resulted in the outcome of leaving Germany players behind them, resulting in dangerous attacks at the top end of the pitch."

U21 final tactical analysis: England's variation and speed

The video above offers three examples of England playing through the press in the first period, and the first clip highlights how quick and incisive they were – Hutchinson's shot coming nine seconds after breaking through the press.

The third clip, which features Hutchinson's goal, is noteworthy for displaying a longer pass in the build-up as an example of England's ability to vary their approach. This brought an element of unpredictability which Cooper saw as a difference from their approach, with a different group of players, when winning the tournament two years ago. "They had the technical ability to receive and support the longer pass to then get into dangerous moments," he added.

"From a coaching point of view, as a coach, with a goal kick you have to say to yourself 'What is the objective of the goal kick?'. You know about the objective of a corner or a free-kick but what is a good result from a goal kick? We should compliment England on their variety of strategies for using goal kicks and playing out from the back to end up creating the best chances of the game."

Group stage analysis

Germany revived by balls into the box

On the road to Saturday's final, Germany's forwards had scored three headed goals between them. As coach Antonio Di Salvo acknowledged on the eve of the match: "Of course in Nick [Woltemade], Neli [Nelson Weiper] and Nicolò Tresoldi, we have three very tall players so crosses can always be dangerous. For this reason, part of our game is to create goalscoring opportunities by means of crosses."

In that context, it was no surprise that Germany got into the game with a cross into the box and a headed goal by Weiper, a striker who had already scored with his head against England in the group stage.

U21 final tactical analysis: Germany play to strengths

The video above shows both goals that took the game into extra time, the first following a Paul Nebel cross in the second phase of a set play, the second Nebel's own strike following a corner. This was a team playing to their strengths and that also included the work of Nebel, combining with his full-back on the left and finding space between the lines.

In the first clip, UEFA Technical Observer Håkan Ericson explained that while the action came following a corner, it was similar to how Germany had attacked many times in open play during the tournament. "With the connection between Nebel and the full-back [Nathaniel] Brown and often also Woltemade, they created enough space to find quick passes to feet inside the box or often early inswinging crosses from the half-space area, aimed towards the far post," he said.

With the boost of that goal, Ericson then saw "more aggressiveness and more successful high-press actions" from Germany in the second period as they drew level and almost snatched a winner through Nebel's late deflected effort against the crossbar.

All the U21 EURO results

England's game management

The third feature to focus on is England's clever game management, which included their effective use of substitutes and their excellent low-block defending as they held on to their 3-2 lead late in extra time thanks to some superb defensive actions in the penalty box.

U21 final tactical analysis: England game management

As the first clip shows, England regained their advantage through a goal that was the work of three of their substitutes. Brooke Norton-Cuffy set up the crossing opportunity for Tyler Morton, who delivered the centre that Jonathan Rowe converted with a flying header.

As Cooper explained, Carsley sent on "athletic players with speed and quality and the substitutes took their opportunity, with the goal a strong example of that."

Rowe himself told UEFA: "I wasn't starting, but I knew that at some point all of us on the bench would have to come and make a difference to help the team push it over the line." For Cooper, here were players "taking the opportunity and being ready, which is the sign of a strong culture".

With that 3-2 advantage England did not just look to defend, Cooper added, though they did that superbly in the closing stages, both as a unit, as in clip two, and in the final clip which shows two decisive interventions from centre-back Charlie Cresswell.

"England were brilliant at picking their moments at staying on the ball and creating even more chances but also brilliant at recognising they had to see the game out through low-block defending," said Cooper. "You need individuals to have big moments and there were some notable examples of that too."

Coaching Reflections

"The belief factor was the main thing," said England match winner Rowe when reflecting on Carsley's impact on his players. But how does a national team coach go about instilling such belief in a squad of players brought together from different clubs? Here Ericson and Cooper – coaches who have led Sweden and England to U21 EURO and FIFA U17 World Cup titles respectively – share their thoughts.

Håkan Erikson, UEFA Technical Observer

"From my experience as a coach, I believe that you need to build on clear principles of how you will play – some of them set in stone, which never change, and others which are adjustable depending on your line-up and the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents.

"National team players need to understand and stay true to a playbook and game plan that is different from the way they work at their clubs. They need to deliver them having often had little time to work on them, especially at the start of a tournament.

"What was impressive about England was they were so good in the first half at following the coach's plan. What we saw was good players following a smart game plan, prepared in a clever way to counter the opponents' strengths and marked by the good principles their own team have.

"We also saw in Carsley a coach who is used to handling stressful situations and important games with calmness and the ability to make the right decisions. When you can do this as a coach, your players will feel it and benefit from that and the final was a good example as Carsley's body language on the side and his clever decisions with his tactics and substitutions set up England to win the game."

Steve Cooper, UEFA Technical Observer

"To see how dominant England were in the first half of the final is a reflection of Lee Carsley's influence – not only in terms of his technical and tactical approach but the way he got his players to believe in it as much as they did in a final.

"Germany looked overwhelmed in that opening period and you could see that England were so together and believed in their way so much and that reflects so well on Carsley and his coaching team.

"To get to that point takes consistency with your plan. As a coach, you cannot panic. Lee himself said there had been times at the start of the tournament where they didn't quite get it right but he never wavered from his plan and, when you do that, players will respond and the belief will grow. Therefore it's about consistency and sticking to the plan and not getting too high or too low, and it came together in the final where England came up against an equally good team.

"What made the difference was that in the first half, they had the confidence and belief to deliver their plan more than Germany did and for that the coaching team deserve enormous credit.

"They did it in the 'England way' too, which is the style that England teams now play with across the different age groups."

Selected for you