The 2025 U21 European Championship gets underway on Wednesday, June 11, in Slovakia.

We've got three Outright Winner tips ahead of the start of the competition, as England will look to retain their crown from 2023. There are plenty of Free Bets available for the U21 Euros, too.

England to Win the U21 European Championship

England lifted this trophy back in 2023, beating Spain 1-0 in the final thanks to a Cole Palmer deflected free kick and a late penalty save from James Trafford. Neither of those players are in the squad this time around having been promoted to the senior side, but there is still a significant talent pool to pull from which includes some Premier League stars.

The likes of Archie Gray, Tino Livramento, Adam Wharton, Harvey Elliott and Liam Delap are all expected to link up with the U21 squad for this tournament. There aren’t many sides in the competition that can boast this level of experience and depth, naturally making England one of the favourites to go deep in this competition.

England performed strongly in their qualification group, winning eight of their 10 games and scoring 41 goals in the process - more than double the next top scoring side in their group. They also only conceded six goals across these games which further strengthens their case for reaching the latter stages of the tournament. 

England have been drawn in a group with Germany who are one of the other pre-tournament favourites but should be able to navigate their group comfortably, the other two sides are Slovenia and Czechia.

Netherlands to Win the U21 European Championship

Netherlands come into this tournament with plenty of momentum, they were the only side in qualifying to win all 10 of their matches. They scored 32 goals across these games and conceded just three. 

Winning this competition will mean going toe-to-toe with one of Germany, England and Spain at some point, but they can take confidence from this qualifying campaign. Sweden and Georgia were in their qualifying group and while these sides are not among the elite, they still can be stubborn which shows that Netherlands should have the beating of the majority of sides in the competition.

Netherlands have been drawn into a group with Finland, Denmark and Ukraine so it would be incredibly surprising if they were not to top the group given their performances against a similar level of opposition during the qualifying stage. 

The main challenge for the Dutch will be against the elite sides, they should comfortably navigate the early stages of the tournament and be tested in the latter stages by the more elite sides. However, a favourable draw or a slice of luck could be just the fuel that Netherlands need to get their hands on this trophy for the first time since 2007, encouraged by their qualifying performance.

Germany to Win the U21 European Championship

Germany are the joint favourites to win the competition alongside Spain, who have won this tournament more times than any other country (5). Germany recently beat Spain 3-1 in a friendly which could act as a potential warm up for a big clash at this tournament, one that Germany have stolen a psychological edge for. 

The Germans have not lost a game since June 2023, which was against England. That was a particularly poor German side that finished bottom of their group and failed to win a game, but this team comes with a lot more confidence that they can break into the latter stages of the tournament.

Germany won eight and drew two of their 10 qualifying games in the run up to this tournament. Their group wasn’t stacked with quality, but both Poland and Bulgaria gave good accounts of themselves during qualifying.

Brighton’s Brajan Gruda is worth keeping an eye on after a strong end to the season for his club side, while many of the squad play regularly in the Bundesliga, which should prove invaluable experience at this level of competition.

We'll be all over the U21 Euros, but it’s not just English football we cover on Andy’s Bet Club either, with a range of Football Betting Tips & Predictions on the site every day.

We have a litany of the top UK bookmakers on offer for you to join and build up your free bet credits, as well including our Best Accumulator Bookmakers article.

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* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

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