The U21 European Championship 2025 in Slovakia will take place without Switzerland. The U21 national team loses the final qualifying match against Romania 1:3 and slips to 3rd place.
Almost a year after the 2:2 draw in Neuchâtel after trailing twice in the first duel, things did not go the Swiss' way in Bucharest for a long time. In front of 9,000 spectators, Romania's Ianis Stoica scored twice to give the initially inferior home team the lead after a quarter of an hour with the first goal, and the Swiss were still short-handed before going 2-0 down in the 35th minute.
Luca Jaquez, scorer of the 1:1 against Finland in stoppage time on Friday, hit his opponent in the face with his foot. In the ensuing melee, Romania coach Daniel Pancu and substitute Vladislav Blanuta also picked up red cards, but only Switzerland were outnumbered, with Albian Hajdari (65 minutes) only scoring a short-lived equalizer.
Because Finland beat Montenegro 2:1 in the parallel match, coach Sascha Stauch's team slipped to 3rd place. This is the fifth time in the last six attempts that the Swiss U21s have missed out on the European Championship finals.
Switzerland went into the last round of European Championship qualifying as group leaders. However, they lost their leading position on Friday with a 1:1 draw against Finland in Lucerne. With a win in Romania, they could have qualified directly after all, and with Montenegro's help against Finland, they could still have made it through the play-off against another group runner-up in November.
Telegram, results and ranking:
Romania U21 - Switzerland U21 3:1 (2:0)
Bucharest. - 9056 spectators. - SR Nagtegaal (NED). - Goals: 16. Stoica 1:0. 35. Stoica 2:0. 65. Hajdari 2:1. 68. Akdag 3:1.
Switzerland: Marvin Keller; Jaquez, Amenda, Hajdari; Athekame, Matoshi (61. Villiger), Surdez (85. Aaron Keller), Avdullahu; Sanches (81. Muci), Dos Santos (85. Fosso); Fink (46. Okoh).
Comments: Switzerland without captain Jashari (yellow suspension). 28th red card against Jaquez. 28th red card against Pancu (coach Romania). 28th red card against Blanuta (Romania substitute).
U21. European Championship qualification. Group E. 10th and final round. In Bucharest: Romania - Switzerland 3:1 (2:0). In Tampere: Finland - Montenegro 2:1 (1:1). In Tirana: Albania - Armenia 1:0 (0:0).
Final ranking (10 matches each):1. Romania 22. 2. Finland 20. 3. Switzerland 18. 4. Albania 16. 5. Montenegro 7. 6. Armenia 2. - Switzerland not qualified for the European Championship 2025 in Slovakia from June 11 to 28. Romania qualified, Finland in the play-off.
