Jump to content

Spain national under-21 football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Wikiffeine (talk | contribs) at 09:54, 23 June 2020 (Minor grammar edit.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Spain Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)La Rojita (The Little Red [One])
AssociationRoyal Spanish Football Federation
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachLuis de la Fuente
Most capsGerard Deulofeu (36)
Top scorerGerard Deulofeu (17)
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
Appearances13 (first in 1982)
Best resultWinners (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
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
Gold medal – first place 2019 Italy Team
Silver medal – second place 1984 Team
Silver medal – second place 1996 Spain Team
Silver medal – second place 2017 Poland 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 five times and runners-up twice); having consecutively won the 2011 and 2013 Championships. They hold the joint record with Italy for the most wins of the competition.

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
1978 Qualifying Stage 4 2 0 2 5 8
1980 Qualifying Stage 4 1 2 1 4 2
1982 Quarter-Finals 6 5 0 1 14 5
1984 Runners-up 10 5 2 3 11 11
1986 Champions 10 7 1 2 18 9
1988 Quarter-Finals 8 4 2 2 10 4
1990 Quarter-Finals 6 4 0 2 5 4
1992 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 Runners-up 17 11 4 2 44 13
Italy 2019 Champions 15 13 0 2 45 16
Total 14/22 225 157 34 33 476 167

*Denotes draws including 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 Golden Boot
Europe 1986 Manolo Sanchís
Romania 1998 Francesc Arnau
Denmark 2011 Juan Mata Adrián
Israel 2013 Thiago Álvaro Morata
Poland 2017 Dani Ceballos Saúl
Italy 2019 Fabián Ruiz

Player records

Top appearances

Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Caps
1 Gerard Deulofeu Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan 2012–2017 36
2 Borja Mayoral Real Madrid, VfL Wolfsburg, Levante 2015–2019 31
  Jorge Meré Sporting Gijón, FC Köln 2015–2019 31
  Iker Muniain Athletic Bilbao 2011–2014 31
5 Dani Ceballos Betis, Real Madrid 2015–2019 29
6 Santiago Denia Albacete, Atlético Madrid 1992–1996 27
  David de Gea Atlético Madrid, Manchester United 2009–2013 27
8 Diego Capel Sevilla 2007–2011 25
  Mikel Oyarzabal Real Sociedad 2017–2019 25
  Saúl Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano 2013–2017 25
  Xavi Barcelona 1998–2001 25

Note: Club(s) represents all the clubs that players played in at the time they did it too in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Goals
1 Gerard Deulofeu Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan 2012–2017 17
2 Borja Mayoral Real Madrid, VfL Wolfsburg, Levante 2015–2019 16
3 Rodrigo Benfica 2011–2013 15
4 Isco Málaga, Real Madrid 2011–2014 14
5 Álvaro Morata Real Madrid, Juventus 2013–2014 13
6 Óscar Barcelona, Albacete 1992–1996 12
7 Munir Barcelona 2014–2016 10
8 Pablo Couñago Celta, Recreativo, Ipswich Town 1999–2001 9
  Adrián Deportivo, Alavés, Málaga, Atlético Madrid 2007–2011 9
  Saúl Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano 2013–2017 9

Note: Club(s) represents all the clubs that players played in at the time they did it too in the Under-21s.

  • Caps and goals correct as of 30 June 2019

Recent results

Date Competition Location Opponent Result Scorers
1 September 2017 Friendly Toledo, Spain  Italy 3–0 Merino 23', Mayoral 45+1', Meré 81'
5 September 2017 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Tallinn, Estonia  Estonia 1–0 Soler 65'
10 October 2017 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Poprad, Slovakia  Slovakia 4–1 Merino 26', Oyarzabal 49', Rodri 56', Ceballos 69'
9 November 2017 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Murcia, Spain  Iceland 1–0 Fabián 36'
14 November 2017 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Cartagena, Spain  Slovakia 5–1 Ceballos 38', 55', 61', Córdoba 53', Mayoral 86'
22 March 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Portadown, Northern Ireland  Northern Ireland 5–3 Oyarzabal 15', 44', Mayoral 47', 75', 84'
27 March 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Ponferrada, Spain  Estonia 3–1 Fabián 8', Mayoral 37', 51'
6 September 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Córdoba, Spain  Albania 3–0 Oyarzabal 5', Mayoral 56', Mir 90+2'
11 September 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Albacete, Spain  Northern Ireland 1–2 Rafa Mir 90+2'
11 October 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Tirana, Albania  Albania 1–0 Rafa Mir 84'
16 October 2018 2019 UEFA U-21 qualification Reykjavík, Iceland  Iceland 7–2 Oyarzabal 24' (pen.), Rafa Mir 25', 40', Gunnarsson 45+2' (o.g.), Carlos Soler 54' Mayoral 87', Fabián 90'
14 November 2018 Friendly Logroño, Spain  Denmark 4–1 Mayoral 25', 32', 55', Meré 45'
19 November 2018 Friendly Caen, France  France 1–1 Oyarzabal 10' (pen.)
21 March 2019 Friendly Granada, Spain  Romania 1–0 Merino 67'
25 March 2019 Friendly Algeciras, Spain  Austria 3–0 Soler 53', 61', Roca 81'
16 June 2019 2019 UEFA U-21 group stage Bologna, Italy  Italy 1–3 Ceballos 9'
19 June 2019 2019 UEFA U-21 group stage Reggio Emilia, Italy  Belgium 2–1 Olmo 7', Fornals 89'
22 June 2019 2019 UEFA U-21 group stage Bologna, Italy  Poland 5–0 Fornals 17', Oyarzabal 35', Fabián 39', Ceballos 71', Mayoral 90'
27 June 2019 2019 UEFA U-21 semifinals Reggio Emilia, Italy  France 4–1 Roca 28', Oyarzabal 45+5' (pen.), Olmo 47', Mayoral 66'
30 June 2019 2019 UEFA U-21 Final Udine, Italy  Germany 2–1 Fabián 7', Olmo 69'
6 September 2019 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan  Kazakhstan 1–0 Olmo 28' (pen.)
10 September 2019 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification Castellón de la Plana, Spain  Montenegro 2–0 Olmo 3', 9'
10 October 2019 Friendly Córdoba, Spain  Germany 1–1 Manu García 10'
15 October 2019 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification Podgorica, Montenegro  Montenegro 2–0 Buñuel 34', Cucurella 62'
14 November 2019 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification Alcorcón, Spain  North Macedonia 3–0 Manu García 7', Serafimov 47' (o.g.), Pedrosa 87'
19 November 2019 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification Ramat Gan, Israel  Israel 1–1 Óscar 50'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date Competition Location Opponent
26 March 2020 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification TBD, Faroe Islands  Faroe Islands
31 March 2020 2021 UEFA U-21 qualification TBD, Spain  Kazakhstan

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group phase

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 10 9 1 0 20 1 +19 28 Final tournament — 3–0 3–0 3–0 2–0 2–0
2  North Macedonia 10 5 3 2 20 12 +8 18 0–1 — 1–1 1–1 7–1 2–1
3  Israel 10 3 4 3 12 14 −2 13 1–1 1–1 — 1–2 3–1 0–0
4  Kazakhstan 10 3 1 6 12 21 −9 10 0–1 1–4 1–2 — 2–3 0–4
5  Faroe Islands 10 3 0 7 11 25 −14 9 0–2 1–2 3–1 1–3 — 1–0
6  Montenegro 10 2 1 7 11 13 −2 7 0–2 1–2 1–2 1–2 3–0 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against North Macedonia and Israel on 14 and 19 November 2019.

Caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2019, after the match against Israel.
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Álvaro Fernández (1998-04-13) 13 April 1998 (age 26) 3 0 Spain Huesca
13 1GK Josep Martínez (1998-05-27) 27 May 1998 (age 26) 0 0 Spain Las Palmas
23 1GK Iñaki Peña (1999-03-02) 2 March 1999 (age 25) 0 0 Spain Barcelona B
2 2DF Pedro Porro (1999-09-13) 13 September 1999 (age 24) 4 0 Spain Valladolid
3 2DF Francisco Montero (1999-01-14) 14 January 1999 (age 25) 1 0 Spain Deportivo de La Coruña
4 2DF Eric García (2001-01-09) 9 January 2001 (age 23) 5 0 England Manchester City
5 2DF José Amo (1998-04-09) 9 April 1998 (age 26) 3 0 Spain Sevilla
12 2DF Aitor Buñuel (1998-02-10) 10 February 1998 (age 26) 4 1 Spain Racing Santander
17 2DF Marc Cucurella (Captain) (1998-07-22) 22 July 1998 (age 26) 5 1 Spain Getafe
18 2DF Adrià Pedrosa (1998-05-13) 13 May 1998 (age 26) 4 1 Spain Espanyol
19 2DF Enrique Clemente (1999-03-04) 4 March 1999 (age 25) 1 0 Spain Zaragoza
6 3MF Manu Garcia (1998-01-02) 2 January 1998 (age 26) 3 2 Spain Sporting Gijón
7 3MF Alejandro Pozo (1999-02-22) 22 February 1999 (age 25) 6 0 Spain Sevilla
8 3MF Fran Beltrán (1999-02-03) 3 February 1999 (age 25) 7 0 Spain Celta Vigo
10 3MF Óscar Rodríguez (1998-06-28) 28 June 1998 (age 26) 4 1 Spain Leganés
14 3MF Pepelu (1998-08-11) 11 August 1998 (age 26) 3 0 Portugal Tondela
16 3MF Gonzalo Villar (1998-03-23) 23 March 1998 (age 26) 4 0 Spain Elche
20 3MF Ferrán Torres (2000-02-29) 29 February 2000 (age 24) 6 0 Spain Valencia
21 3MF Pol Lozano (1999-10-06) 6 October 1999 (age 24) 4 0 Spain Espanyol
9 4FW Abel Ruiz (2000-01-28) 28 January 2000 (age 24) 3 0 Portugal Braga
11 4FW Andrés Martín (1999-07-11) 11 July 1999 (age 25) 6 0 Spain Rayo Vallecano
15 4FW Ansu Fati (2002-10-31) 31 October 2002 (age 21) 2 0 Spain Barcelona
22 4FW Sergio Gómez (2000-09-04) 4 September 2000 (age 24) 2 0 Spain Huesca

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and still eligible for 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Dani Martín (1998-07-08) 8 July 1998 (age 26) 3 0 Spain Betis v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
DF Jorge CuencaINJ (1999-11-17) 17 November 1999 (age 24) 4 0 Spain Barcelona B v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
DF Juan Miranda (2000-01-19) 19 January 2000 (age 24) 2 0 Germany Schalke 04 v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
DF Gonzalo Ávila (1998-01-26) 26 January 1998 (age 26) 1 0 Spain Espanyol v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
MF Dani Olmo (1998-05-07) 7 May 1998 (age 26) 14 6 Germany RB Leipzig v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
MF Oihan Sancet (2000-04-15) 15 April 2000 (age 24) 1 0 Spain Athletic Club v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
MF Carles Aleñá (1998-01-05) 5 January 1998 (age 26) 2 0 Spain Betis v.  Montenegro, 10 September 2019
MF Manu Morlanes (1999-01-12) 12 January 1999 (age 25) 1 0 Spain Villarreal v.  Montenegro, 10 September 2019
MF Oriol Busquets (1999-01-20) 20 January 1999 (age 25) 1 0 Netherlands Twente v.  Montenegro, 10 September 2019
FW Dani Gómez (1998-07-30) 30 July 1998 (age 26) 2 0 Spain Tenerife v.  Montenegro, 15 October 2019
FW Carles PérezINJ (1998-02-16) 16 February 1998 (age 26) 1 0 Italy Roma v.  Germany, 10 October 2019
FW Javi Puado (1998-05-25) 25 May 1998 (age 26) 1 0 Spain Espanyol v.  Montenegro, 10 September 2019
Notes
  • Players in italics are still active at international level.
  • INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury.
  • PRE = Not part of the current squad but present in a preliminary list.

Former squads

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "La sub 21 regresa al lugar donde nació el 'tiqui-taca'" [The under-21 team returns to the birthplace of tiki-taka] (in Spanish). MARCA. 2011-06-09.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spain national under-21 football team.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spain_national_under-21_football_team&oldid=964054841"