Wales national under-21 football team

Wales Under-21
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Young Dragons
Association	Football Association of Wales
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Geraint Williams
Most caps	Shaun MacDonald (25)
Top scorer	Ched Evans (13)
FIFA code	WAL
First colours	Second colours
First international
	England U-21 0–0 Wales U-21 ; (Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton; 15 December 1976)
Biggest win
	Wales U-21 6–2 Cyprus U-21 ; (Ninian Park, Cardiff; 22 October 1993) ; &; Wales U-21 5–1 Luxembourg U-21 ; (Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli; 31 March 2009)
Biggest defeat
	Italy U-21 8–1 Wales U-21 ; (Stadio Pietro Fortunati, Pavia; 5 September 2003)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	None (first in n/a)
Best result	1st of 5 in Qual. ; group, 2009. Lost in play off.

The Wales national under-21 football team, also known as the Wales U21s, is the national under-21 football team of Wales and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. To date Wales haven't yet qualified for the finals tournament but in recent years have shown good form, losing in a playoff (5–4) to England in the 2009 qualifying campaign and finishing second in their group two years later, after leading their group until their last game Wales only needed a draw to qualify for the play-offs but lost 1–0 away to Italy.

The U-21 team came into existence following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976. A goalless draw in a friendly against England at Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium was Wales U21s' first result.

The national under-21 team is the highest level of youth football in Wales, and is open to any players who were born in Wales or whose parents or grandparents were born in Wales. This team is for Welsh players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side and again for the U21s.

Recent history

In recent decades, the team has been viewed by the Welsh national management as more of a hole to be filled than a team to be used to nurture young international players, many of the great Welsh players of recent years having not spent long in the under-21 team. Ryan Giggs only made one appearance for the under-21 team before making his senior debut against Germany the next day.

From 2004 onward however, the former Wales national football team manager John Toshack and former Wales Under 21 manager Brian Flynn used the under-21 team to create a pool of youthful Welsh talent. The team now has a much better tracking system of young Welsh players, and has seen a marked improvement in players and team results. Recent results have seen them achieve big wins against Estonia (5–1), Northern Ireland (4–0) and France (4–2).

Some of the young players who subsequently have made the step from the U21's to regular selection for the senior squad are Lewin Nyatanga, Joe Ledley, Chris Gunter, Gareth Bale, Sam Vokes, Ched Evans, Simon Church, Wayne Hennessey, David Cotterill, Neal Eardley, Andrew Crofts, David Edwards, Jack Collison, Andy King, Craig Morgan, Neil Taylor, Darcy Blake and Aaron Ramsey.

On 15 May 2008, they played a friendly against England U21s to mark the 100th match in the history of the side, losing 2–0.

A 3–0 victory against Romania in September 2008 meant that the Under-21 side finished top of their qualifying group for the first time in their history. It meant Wales would go into a two-legged play-off against England in October 2008 for a place in the finals of the 2009 UEFA U-21 Championship to be played in Sweden. Wales lost the playoff 5–4 over the course of two legs. Losing 3–2 at home in the first leg and drawing 2–2 away in the second.

Wales started their qualifying campaign for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship with a 1-0 away win against Andorra, a 3-1 away loss against Montenegro, a 1-0 home win against Montenegro, a 1-0 home defeat against Czech Republic and a 0-0 away draw against Armenia.

In May 2012 Brian Flynn vacated his position as Wales under-21 manager at the end of his contract and in July 2012 Geraint Williams was appointed team manager ^[1]

Players

Latest squad

Players born on or after 1 January 1994 are eligible for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

Wales squad for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship matches against Finland and Lithuania on 5 and 9 September 2014. Daniel Alfei and Lloyd Isgrove withdrew from the squad and were replaced by Gethin Jones and Ryan Hedges respectively. Declan John was promoted to the senior team and was replaced by Jordan Evans.^[2]

Caps and goals as of 9 September 2014. Players in bold have attained full international caps. Clubs as of the date of the announcement.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Danny Ward	(1993-06-22) 22 June 1993 (age 31)	6	0	Liverpool
1GK	Christian Dibble	(1994-05-11) 11 May 1994 (age 30)	0	0	Barnsley

2DF	Jordan Evans	(1995-09-23) 23 September 1995 (age 28)	1	0	Fulham
2DF	Morgan Fox	(1993-09-21) 21 September 1993 (age 30)	7	0	Charlton Athletic
2DF	Gethin Jones	(1995-10-13) 13 October 1995 (age 28)	1	0	Everton
2DF	George Ray	(1993-10-13) 13 October 1993 (age 30)	5	0	Crewe Alexandra
2DF	Joe Walsh	(1992-05-13) 13 May 1992 (age 32)	11	0	Crawley Town
2DF	Elliott Hewitt	(1994-05-30) 30 May 1994 (age 30)	10	0	Ipswich Town
2DF	Jordan Williams	(1995-11-06) 6 November 1995 (age 28)	1	0	Liverpool

3MF	Gwion Edwards	(1993-03-01) 1 March 1993 (age 31)	6	1	Crawley Town
3MF	Lee Evans	(1994-07-24) 24 July 1994 (age 30)	6	2	Wolverhampton Wanderers
3MF	Ryan Hedges	(1995-09-07) 7 September 1995 (age 29)	2	0	Swansea City
3MF	Tommy O'Sullivan	(1995-01-18) 18 January 1995 (age 29)	5	0	Cardiff City
3MF	Theo Wharton	(1994-11-15) 15 November 1994 (age 29)	1	0	Cardiff City
3MF	Josh Sheehan	(1995-03-30) 30 March 1995 (age 29)	2	0	Swansea City

4FW	Wes Burns	(1994-11-23) 23 November 1994 (age 29)	10	3	Bristol City
4FW	Ellis Harrison	(1994-01-29) 29 January 1994 (age 30)	4	1	Bristol Rovers
4FW	Bradley Reid	(1995-10-15) 15 October 1995 (age 28)	1	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Wales under-21 squad and remain eligible (clubs as of when called up).

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Most recent call-up
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Declan John	(1995-06-30) 30 June 1995 (age 29)	Cardiff City	2 (0)	v Finland, 5 September 2014 (withdrew)
Josh Yorwerth	(1995-01-01) 1 January 1995 (age 29)	Cardiff City	0 (0)	v Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
Adam Henley	(1994-06-14) 14 June 1994 (age 30)	Blackburn Rovers	3 (0)	v England, 5 March 2014 (withdrew)
Jordan Holt	(1994-05-04) 4 May 1994 (age 30)	Notts County	0 (0)	v San Marino, 15 October 2013
Alex Nicholson	(1994-02-01) 1 February 1994 (age 30)	Preston North End	0 (0)	v Moldova, 22 March 2013
Aaron Oakley	(1994-10-04) 4 October 1994 (age 29)	Swindon Town	1 (0)	v Iceland, 6 February 2013
Midfielders
Billy Waters	(1994-10-15) 15 October 1994 (age 29)	Crewe Alexandra	0 (0)	v Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
Alex Bray	(1995-07-25) 25 July 1995 (age 29)	Swansea City	0 (0)	v Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
George Williams	(1995-09-07) 7 September 1995 (age 29)	Fulham	2 (0)	v England, 19 May 2014
Chris Dawson	(1994-09-02) 2 September 1994 (age 30)	Leeds United	2 (0)	v Finland, 14 August 2013
Louis Thompson	(1994-12-19) 19 December 1994 (age 29)	Swindon Town	0 (0)	v Moldova, 22 March 2013
Forwards
James Loveridge	(1994-05-16) 16 May 1994 (age 30)	Swansea City	0 (0)	v England, 19 May 2014
Tom Lawrence	(1994-01-13) 13 January 1994 (age 30)	Leicester City	8 (3)	v England, 19 May 2014 (withdrew)

Fixtures and results

2015 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification

Template:2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification Group 1 NB: Ranking of second placed teams. Because some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in the ranking of second placed teams.

All times listed here are CET (UTC+01:00).

22 March 2013