Germany secure maiden U17 crown

Germany won the UEFA European Under-17 Championship for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 2-1 through substitute Florian Trinks's extra-time free-kick in front of a competition record 24,000 crowd at the Stadion Magdeburg.

Trinks winner
The tournament hosts had to come from behind but were deserved winners. Luc Castaignos had opened the scoring with an emphatic early strike, but Germany – who had beaten the Netherlands 2-0 in the group stage – were on level terms by half-time thanks to Lennart Thy's close-range header. Germany poured forward after the break, but could not force a winner in normal time. However, with penalties looming, Trinks struck a magnificent free-kick into the top corner to hand Germany the title.

Early shock
Both coaches named unchanged lineups from the semi-finals but, as had been the case in a number of their games, Germany started nervously and the early dominance of the Netherlands paid off in the eighth minute. Shabir Isoufi drove down the right channel and slipped in fellow Feyenoord forward Castaignos whose first-time effort whistled in at Marc-André ter Stegen's near post. Seeing the tournament hosts fall behind stunned the large crowd but Germany responded well. Kevin Scheidhauer fired wide after being released by Matthias Zimmermann and then Mario Götze shot over when well placed.

Dead-ball danger
Dynamic play from the Netherlands' forward line was still causing Germany's defence a headache, though, and in the 22nd minute, Castaignos sped clear and beat Ter Stegen again only for his shot to come back off the post. With the majority of the noisy crowd behind them, Germany were beginning to dictate the pace and looked especially dangerous at set-pieces. It was from one of these, in the 34th minute, that they equalised. Christopher Buchtmann's deep free-kick was headed against the bar by Scheidhauer and Thy was on hand to nod in the rebound. The goalscorer then nearly added a second only to be brilliantly denied by Patrick ter Mate following another dead-ball delivery as Germany finished the half with a flourish.

Germany pressure
Germany started the second period on the front foot as Scheidhauer turned Mats van Huijgevoort and poked through for Götze whose shot was blocked by the solid Ter Mate. The hosts were looking increasingly menacing and a succession of corners had the Jong Oranje scrambling to clear. The lively Götze then narrowly shot over from Bienvenue Basala-Mazana's cross as the pressure mounted on the Netherlands.

Trinks intervention
Götze forced Ter Mate to spill a cross and Thy just failed to reach Trinks's centre, but as they flooded men forward, Germany were nearly caught on the counterattack, substitute striker Rangelo Janga spurning two gilt-edged opportunities. The decider moved into extra time, with Germany again looking the more likely to break the deadlock and so it proved as Götze won a free-kick with three minutes remaining which Trinks fired into the top corner to cue huge celebrations in Magdeburg.

*Germany also won the Fair Play award, topping the rankings just ahead of the Netherlands.