Spain national under-21 football team

Spain national under-21 football team
Medal record
U-21 European Championship

Spain Under-21
Nickname(s)	La Rojita (The Little Red [One])
Association	Royal Spanish Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Luis de la Fuente
Captain	Marc Cucurella
Most caps	Gerard Deulofeu (36)
Top scorer	Gerard Deulofeu (17)
FIFA code	ESP
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
Appearances	13 (first in 1982)
Best result	Winners (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)
Medal record
U-21 European Championship

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
1994	Third Place	12	9	2	1	21	9
1996	Runners-up	14	10	3	1	34	14
1998	Champions	11	10	1	0	21	6
2000	Third Place	14	11	3	0	31	7
2002	Qualification Playoffs	10	6	1	3	15	9
2004	Qualification Playoffs	10	6	2	2	17	5
2006	Qualifying Stage	10	6	2	2	37	8
2007	Qualification Playoffs	4	2	1	1	8	4
2009	Group Stage	13	10	1	2	27	7
2011	Champions	15	12	2	1	31	8
2013	Champions	15	14	1	0	47	5
2015	Qualification Playoffs	10	7	2	1	25	8
2017	Runners-up	17	11	4	2	44	13
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
1986	Manolo Sanchís
1998	Francesc Arnau
2011	Juan Mata	Adrián
2013	Thiago	Álvaro Morata
2017	Dani Ceballos	Saúl
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 3 September 2020.

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
6 September 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	1–0	Dani Olmo 28' (pen.)
10 September 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Castellón, Spain	Montenegro	2–0	Dani 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'
3 September 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Skopje, North Macedonia	North Macedonia	1–0	Hugo Duro 84' (pen.)
8 October 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Tórsvøllur, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	2–0	Brahim Díaz 51', 90+1'
13 October 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Alcorcón, Spain	Kazakhstan	3–0	Guillamón 65', Dani Gómez 71', 85'
12 November 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Marbella, Spain	Faroe Islands	2–0	Pedrosa 67', Roberto López 87'
17 November 2020	2021 UEFA U-21 qualification	Marbella, Spain	Israel	3–0	Roberto López 65' (pen.), Barrenetxea 75', Moncayola 89'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group phase

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

The following players were called up for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against the Faroe Islands and Israel on 12 and 17 November 2020 respectively.^[2]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Álvaro Fernández	13 April 1998	5	0	Huesca
13	GK	Josep Martínez	27 May 1998	3	0	RB Leipzig
23	GK	Iñaki Peña	2 March 1999	1	0	Barcelona B

2	DF	Pedro Porro	13 September 1999	7	0	Sporting CP
3	DF	Jorge Cuenca	17 November 1999	7	0	Almería
4	DF	Hugo Guillamón	31 January 2000	4	1	Valencia
5	DF	Enrique Clemente	4 March 1999	3	0	Logroñés
15	DF	Manu Hernando	19 July 1998	2	0	Ponferradina
17	DF	Manu Sánchez	24 August 2000	1	0	Atlético Madrid
18	DF	Adrià Pedrosa	13 May 1998	7	2	Espanyol

6	MF	Manu Garcia	2 January 1998	5	2	Sporting Gijón
7	MF	Alejandro Pozo (Captain)	22 February 1999	8	0	Eibar
8	MF	Fran Beltrán	3 February 1999	10	0	Celta Vigo
10	MF	Óscar Rodríguez	28 June 1998	8	1	Sevilla
14	MF	Martín Zubimendi	2 February 1999	3	0	Real Sociedad
20	MF	Jon Moncayola	13 May 1998	4	1	Osasuna
21	MF	Pedri	25 November 2002	4	0	Barcelona

9	FW	Dani Gómez	30 July 1998	6	2	Levante
11	FW	Brahim Díaz	3 August 1999	5	2	Milan
12	FW	Roberto López	24 April 2000	2	2	Real Sociedad
16	FW	Bryan Gil	11 February 2001	3	0	Eibar
19	FW	Javi Puado	25 May 1998	5	0	Espanyol
22	FW	Ander Barrenetxea	27 December 2001	2	1	Real Sociedad

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	8 July 1998	3	0	Betis	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020

DF	Fran García	14 August 1999	1	0	Rayo Vallecano	v. Kazakhstan, 13 October 2020
DF	Pipa	26 January 1998	3	0	Huddersfield Town	v. Kazakhstan, 13 October 2020
DF	Juan Miranda	19 January 2000	3	0	Betis	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020

MF	Marc Cucurella (Captain)	22 July 1998	7	1	Getafe	v. Faroe Islands, 12 November 2020
MF	Riqui Puig	13 August 1999	3	0	Barcelona	v. Kazakhstan, 13 October 2020
MF	Gonzalo Villar	23 March 1998	5	0	Roma	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020
MF	Carles Aleñá	5 January 1998	3	0	Barcelona	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020

FW	Antoñín	16 April 2000	2	0	Rayo Vallecano	v. Kazakhstan, 13 October 2020
FW	Andrés Martín	11 July 1999	7	0	Rayo Vallecano	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020
FW	Hugo Duro	30 July 1998	1	1	Real Madrid B	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020
FW	Valery Fernández	23 November 1999	0	0	Girona	v. North Macedonia, 3 September 2020

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.
^COV = Not part of the current squad due to testing positive in SARS-CoV-2.

Former squads

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain

Notes

References

^ "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.
^ Los dorsales para los partidos ante Islas Feroe e Israel.

External links

[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.

[2] Los dorsales para los partidos ante Islas Feroe e Israel.

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