Germany

After their UEFA European Under-17 Championship title defence was ended in the elite round by Switzerland last season, Germany are back in the finals following a 2-0 win against their neighbours. Steffen Freund's team in fact were victors by the same scoreline in every game of a tough elite round group, albeit at home, having also beaten Turkey and Switzerland, to complete a perfect six-match qualifying campaign, something also managed by England on their way to lifting the trophy last year.

The class of 2009 included gifted playmaker Mario Götze, now a full international, and this year's No10 Levent Aycicek caught the eye in qualifying, as did eight-goal top scorer Samed Yesil. He was on target in all three elite round games and indeed only failing to strike once in the campaign, the opener against Estonia when he did not start.

Qualifying round: Estonia 5-0, Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-1, Austria 2-1 (Group 2 winners)

Elite round: Turkey 2-0, Ukraine 2-0, Switzerland 2-0 (Group 4 winners)

Key players
Samed Yesil (forward, Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Emre Can (midfielder, FC Bayern München), Levent Aycicek (midfielder, VfL Wolfsburg)

Coach: Steffen Freund

Date of Birth: 19 January 1970
Nationality: German
Playing career: BSG Stahl Brandenburg, FC Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur FC, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Leicester City FC
Coaching career: Germany U16/U17

Born in Brandenburg in the former East Germany (who he helped to the 1988 European U18 semi-finals), Freund left his local side for Schalke in 1991 but it was when he joined Dortmund two years later that the midfielder's career blossomed. He aided them to Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996 and was in the squad that won the 1997 UEFA Champions League and European/South American Cup. The year before he has been in England as Germany won EURO '96, and it was to London that he moved after the 1998 FIFA World Cup, becoming a very popular figure at Tottenham, lifting the 1999 League Cup.

After ending his career with short spells at Kaiserslautern and Leicester, Freund retired in 2004. Having worked as a youth coach, he assisted Frank Engel with the Germany U20s in 2007 and Berti Vogts with Nigeria at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. After his full qualification in 2009, he took over the Germany U16 squad that has now reached the 2011 U17 finals.

Team records

Qualifying top scorer
Samed Yesil: 8

UEFA European Under-17 Championship best
Winners: 2009

Honours in UEFA youth competitions
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Winners: 2008
UEFA European Under-18 Championship
Winners: 1981 (West Germany), 1985 (East Germany)
Runners-up: 1994, 1998
UEFA European Under-16 Championship
Winners: 1984 (West Germany), 1992
Runners-up: 1982 (West Germany), 1989 (East Germany)
International Youth Tournament (U18)
Winners: 1965, 1970 (both East Germany)
Runners-up: 1954 (West Germany), 1969, 1973 (both East Germany)

Other honours:
FIFA World Youth Cup (U20)
Runners-up: 1987 (West Germany)