Football Association chairman David Bernstein has defended the setup of English football after the Under-21s were knocked out of the European Championship.

A 3-1 defeat against Norway on Saturday saw Stuart Pearce's side eliminated from the tournament in Israel.

Pearce complained after the game that his squad choice was limited due to a number of players being part of the senior England squad for recent friendlies against the Republic of Ireland and Brazil.

"We believe we do everything we can and we put every effort in to helping all of our managers with their squads, trying to get the best possible squads out for various competitions," Bernstein told Sky Sports News.

"We have a lot of competitions at the moment with the Under-21s and the Under-20s. And of course at the same time, which probably complicated matters, we had two important England friendlies - in particular the Brazil match."

Pearce's future has been cast into doubt following the loss on Saturday.