Spain national under-21 football team

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Spain Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)La Rojita (The Little Red [One])
AssociationRoyal Spanish Football Federation
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachAlbert Celades (2014–)
Most capsIker Muniain (31)
Top scorerRodrigo & Gerard Deulofeu (15)
FIFA codeESP
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Yugoslavia 4–1 Spain 
(Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 9 October 1976)
Biggest win
 Spain 14–0 San Marino 
(El Ejido, Spain; 8 February 2005)
Biggest defeat
 Netherlands 5–0 Spain 
(Utrecht, Netherlands; 16 February 1983)
Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances12 (first in 1982)
Best resultWinners (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013)
Medal record
Spain national under-21 football team
Medal record
U-21 European Championship
Gold medal – first place 1986 Team
Gold medal – first place 1998 Romania Team
Gold medal – first place 2011 Denmark Team
Gold medal – first place 2013 Israel Team
Silver medal – second place 1984 Team
Silver medal – second place 1996 Spain Team
Bronze medal – third place 1994 France Team
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Slovakia Team
The 2011 winning team

The Spain national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Spain and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The team, nicknamed La Rojita (The Little Red [One]),[1] competes in the biennial UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Spanish under-21 team was formed. Spain has a fantastic record (competition winners four times and runners-up twice); having consecutively won the 2011 and 2013 Championships. Only Italy with five titles has won the competition more often than Spain.

Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, Spain's brief record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown, though in actuality, Spain played only three competitive U-23 matches. The first was in the "under-23 Challenge", which they lost, while the next two were in a two-team qualification "group" for the 1972 competition (facing the Soviet Union team, they lost 2–1 at home then drew 1–1 away and failed to qualify. Spain did not enter a team in the other two U-23 competitions, but have been ever present in under-21 competitions).

Spain's youth development programs has been challenging the South American dominance in the FIFA U-17 World Championship and the FIFA U-20 World Cup. In fact, 20 of the Spanish 23-man squad that won the Euro 2008 came through the ranks of the youth teams; most of them had won titles at the youth level as well.

Competitive record

UEFA European Under-21 Championship record

Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
Europe1978 Qualifying Stage 4 2 0 2 5 8
Europe1980 Qualifying Stage 4 1 2 1 4 2
Europe1982 Quarter-Finals 6 5 0 1 14 5
Europe1984 Runners-up 10 5 2 3 11 11
Europe1986 Champions 10 7 1 2 18 9
Europe1988 Quarter-Finals 8 4 2 2 10 4
Europe1990 Quarter-Finals 6 4 0 2 5 4
Europe1992 Qualifying Stage 7 3 2 2 6 5
France 1994 Third Place 12 9 2 1 21 9
Spain 1996 Runners-up 14 10 3 1 34 14
Romania 1998 Champions 11 10 1 0 21 6
Slovakia 2000 Third Place 14 11 3 0 31 7
Switzerland 2002 Qualification Playoffs 10 6 1 3 15 9
Germany 2004 Qualification Playoffs 10 6 2 2 17 5
Portugal 2006 Qualifying Stage 10 6 2 2 37 8
Netherlands 2007 Qualification Playoffs 4 2 1 1 8 4
Sweden 2009 Group Stage 13 10 1 2 27 7
Denmark 2011 Champions 15 12 2 1 31 8
Israel 2013 Champions 15 14 1 0 47 5
Czech Republic 2015 Qualification Playoffs 10 7 2 1 25 8
Poland 2017 Qualifying in progress 7 5 1 1 19 8
Total 12/20 200 139 31 30 406 146

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

  • Gold background color indicates first-place finish. Silver background color indicates second-place finish. Bronze background color indicates third-place finish.
  • Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Individual awards

In addition to team victories, Spanish players have won individual awards at UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

Year Golden Player
Europe 1986 Manolo Sanchís
Romania 1998 Francesc Arnau
Denmark 2011 Juan Mata
Israel 2013 Thiago

Player records

Top appearances

Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Caps
1 Iker Muniain Athletic Bilbao 2011–2014 31
2 Gerard Deulofeu Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla 2012– 30
3 David de Gea Atlético Madrid, Manchester United 2009–2013 27
  Santiago Denia Albacete, Atlético Madrid 1992–1996 27
5 Diego Capel Sevilla 2007–2011 25
  Xavi Barcelona 1998–2001 25
7 Óscar García Barcelona, Albacete 1992–1996 24
  Javi Martínez Athletic Bilbao 2007–2011 24
9 Martín Montoya Barcelona 2010–2013 22
  Pablo Sarabia Getafe 2011–2014 22
  Óliver Torres Atlético Madrid, Villarreal, Porto 2013– 22

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Goals
1 Gerard Deulofeu Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla 2012– 15
  Rodrigo Benfica 2011–2013 15
3 Álvaro Morata Real Madrid, Juventus 2013–2014 13
4 Óscar García Barcelona, Albacete 1992–1996 12
5 Isco Málaga, Real Madrid 2011–2014 10
  Munir El Haddadi Barcelona, Valencia 2014– 10
7 Pablo Couñago Recreativo, Celta, Ipswich Town 1999–2001 9
  Adrián Deportivo La Coruña, Málaga 2007–2011 9
9 Julen Guerrero Athletic Bilbao 1992–1994 8
  Raúl Real Madrid 1995–1996 8
  Jonathan Soriano Espanyol 2005 8

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

  • Caps and goals correct as of 10 October 2016

Recent results

Date Competition Location Opponent Result Scorers
2 September 2015
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Tallinn, Estonia  Estonia
2 – 0
Gayà 81', Deulofeu 90+1' (pen.)
7 October 2015
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Tbilisi, Georgia  Georgia
5 – 2
Munir 2', 73', Asensio 62', Mayoral 67', Ceballos 90'
13 October 2015
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Tenerife, Spain  Sweden
1 – 1
Óliver 20'
12 November 2015
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Almería, Spain  Georgia
5 – 0
Deulofeu 17', 33', 84', Williams 56', Ceballos 65'
17 November 2015
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Rijeka, Croatia  Croatia
3 – 2
Deulofeu 19' (pen.), 54', Asensio 41'
24 March 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Burgos, Spain  Croatia
0 – 3
28 March 2016
Friendly
Murcia, Spain  Norway
1 – 0
Deulofeu 17'
1 September 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Castellón, Spain  San Marino
6 – 0
D. González 14', Munir 17', 36', Santi Mina 45', 84', Williams 88'
5 September 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Malmö, Sweden  Sweden
1 – 1
Deulofeu 50'
5 October 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino
3 – 0
Munir 16', Denis Suárez 68', Meré 79'
10 October 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification
Pontevedra, Spain  Estonia
5 – 0
Denis Suárez 36', Asensio 38', 90', Munir 86', 90+3'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date Competition Location Opponent Result Scorers
7 November 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification play-offs
TBD, Austria  Austria
–
15 November 2016
2017 UEFA U-21 qualification play-offs
TBD, Spain  Austria
–

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group phase

Main article: 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6

Template:2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6

Play-offs

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Austria   Spain 7 Nov 15 Nov

Players

Current squad

The following players were named in the squad for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against San Marino, at 5 October 2016, and Estonia, at 10 October 2016.

  • Caps and goals as of 10 October 2016.
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Kepa Arrizabalaga (1994-10-03) 3 October 1994 (age 29) 16 0 Spain Athletic Bilbao
13 1GK Rubén Blanco (1995-07-25) 25 July 1995 (age 28) 2 0 Spain Celta
19 1GK Álex Remiro (1995-03-24) 24 March 1995 (age 29) 0 0 Spain Levante
2 2DF Héctor Bellerín (1995-03-19) 19 March 1995 (age 29) 9 0 England Arsenal
3 2DF José Luis Gayà (1995-05-25) 25 May 1995 (age 28) 9 1 Spain Valencia
4 2DF Jorge Meré (1997-04-17) 17 April 1997 (age 27) 8 1 Spain Sporting Gijón
5 2DF Jesús Vallejo (1997-01-05) 5 January 1997 (age 27) 5 0 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
12 2DF Jonny Castro (1994-03-03) 3 March 1994 (age 30) 11 0 Spain Celta Vigo
14 2DF Adrián Marín (1997-01-09) 9 January 1997 (age 27) 1 0 Spain Leganés
6 3MF Marcos Llorente (1995-01-30) 30 January 1995 (age 29) 1 0 Spain Alavés
8 3MF Óliver Torres (1994-11-10) 10 November 1994 (age 29) 22 3 Portugal Porto
10 3MF Denis Suárez (1994-01-06) 6 January 1994 (age 30) 13 2 Spain Barcelona
11 3MF Marco Asensio (1996-01-21) 21 January 1996 (age 28) 10 4 Spain Real Madrid
15 3MF Mikel Merino (1996-06-22) 22 June 1996 (age 27) 3 0 Germany Borussia Dortmund
16 3MF Dani Ceballos (1996-08-07) 7 August 1996 (age 27) 11 2 Spain Betis
7 4FW Gerard Deulofeu (c) (1994-03-13) 13 March 1994 (age 30) 30 15 England Everton
9 4FW Iñaki Williams (1994-06-15) 15 June 1994 (age 29) 8 2 Spain Athletic Bilbao
17 4FW Munir El Haddadi (1995-09-01) 1 September 1995 (age 28) 15 10 Spain Valencia
18 4FW Borja Mayoral (1997-04-05) 5 April 1997 (age 27) 5 1 Germany Wolfsburg
20 4FW Samu Castillejo (1995-01-18) 18 January 1995 (age 29) 4 0 Spain Villarreal
  • Player(s) those had been capped in senior level will be shown in italic.

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Pau López (1994-12-13) 13 December 1994 (age 29) 2 0 England Tottenham v.  Sweden, 5 September 2016
DF Álex Grimaldo (1995-09-20) 20 September 1995 (age 28) 2 0 Portugal Benfica v.  San Marino, 5 October 2016
DF Diego González (1995-01-28) 28 January 1995 (age 29) 1 1 Spain Sevilla v.  Sweden, 5 September 2016
DF Rubén Duarte (1995-10-28) 28 October 1995 (age 28) 9 0 Spain Espanyol v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
DF Aritz Elustondo (1994-03-28) 28 March 1994 (age 30) 1 0 Spain Real Sociedad v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
DF Javier Manquillo (1994-05-05) 5 May 1994 (age 30) 7 0 England Sunderland v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
MF Saúl Ñíguez (1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 (age 29) 17 2 Spain Atlético Madrid v.  Sweden, 5 September 2016
MF Sergi Samper (1995-01-20) 20 January 1995 (age 29) 3 0 Spain Granada v.  Sweden, 5 September 2016
MF Víctor Camarasa (1994-05-28) 28 May 1994 (age 29) 3 0 Spain Alavés v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
MF Pablo Fornals (1996-02-22) 22 February 1996 (age 28) 1 0 Spain Málaga v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
MF Alfonso Pedraza (1996-04-09) 9 April 1996 (age 28) 2 0 Spain Lugo v.  Croatia, 24 March 2016
MF Matías Nahuel (1996-10-22) 22 October 1996 (age 27) 1 0 Spain Betis v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
MF José Rodríguez (1994-12-16) 16 December 1994 (age 29) 6 0 Germany Mainz 05 v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
FW Santi Mina (1995-12-07) 7 December 1995 (age 28) 3 3 Spain Valencia v.  Sweden, 5 September 2016

Former squads

See also

References

  1. ^ "La sub 21 regresa al lugar donde nació el 'tiqui-taca'" (in Spanish). MARCA. 2011-06-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

External links

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