2023 Under-17 EURO final preview: Germany vs France

Germany face reigning champions France in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday.

The lowdown

Given their pedigree at senior level, it is difficult to believe that Germany have only won the U17 EURO title once in its current format. That 2009 triumph has been followed by three unsuccessful final appearances, most recently a 4-1 loss to a France side featuring the likes of Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Ikoné in 2015.

Christian Wück's men certainly look well positioned to add to their country's honours in this age category, however, having come through a tough-looking Group C with a 100% record. Nevertheless, the Germany coach does not believe their 3-1 defeat of France en route to the knockout stage counts for much.

Robert Ramsak and Paris Brunner have contributed greatly to Germany's tally of 16 goals in five matches so far, including a hugely impressive 5-3 semi-final defeat of Poland. Their penalty shoot-out win against Switzerland in the last eight (in which they played for 75 minutes with ten men) also showed they have what Wück described as "a German mentality".

France find themselves back in the final for a second campaign in a row, the first time ever they have achieved that feat at this level. Jean-Luc Vannuchi's team have picked up momentum after a group stage in which they only secured runners-up spot with a nervy draw against Portugal.

Their form in the knockout phase has been more convincing. After defeating England via a late Mathis Lambourde penalty, Les Bleuets overcame Spain in the semi-finals to give themselves a chance of joining the Netherlands on a competition-best four U17 EURO titles.

Views from the camps

Christian Wück, Germany coach: "The group stage game is in the past – it's over. The final is a new match. Both nations know each other, so we have no secrets. We have done very well from the first game against Portugal to the match against Poland. We've played well from the very first minute."

"We've not had a U17 title for a long time. We have focused on the mentality of young players, never giving up, thinking positive all the time, and the quarter-final was the best example of that."

Jean-Luc Vannuchi, France coach: "We lost the group stage game [against Germany]. We've learned from that, but it's a new match. Both sides have all their players available. It's going to be a very good game, a very good final.

"We know Germany very well. We've analysed them before and during the tournament. We know they're very strong going forward, but we're not focusing on that. Against Spain, we scored three times in the last 20 minutes after going 1-0 down. We got a lot of confidence from that."