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	Bryan Gil
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
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 strong 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	15	11	2	2	43	12
2019	Champions	15	13	0	2	45	16
2021	Semifinals	15	12	2	1	27	3
2023
Total	15/23	238	170	34	34	502	169

*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	Santi 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
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'
24 March 2021	2021 UEFA U-21 group stage	Maribor, Slovenia	Slovenia	3–0	Puado 53', Gonzalo Villar 54', Miranda 89'
27 March 2021	2021 UEFA U-21 group stage	Maribor, Slovenia	Italy	0–0
30 March 2021	2021 UEFA U-21 group stage	Celje, Slovenia	Czech Republic	2–0	Dani Gómez 69', 78'
31 May 2021	2021 UEFA U-21 quarter-finals	Maribor, Slovenia	Croatia	2–1	Puado 66', 110'
3 June 2021	2021 UEFA U-21 semi-finals	Maribor, Slovenia	Portugal	0–1
3 September 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Almendralejo, Spain	Russia	4–1	Fer Niño 13', 54', Pino 47', 86'
7 September 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Vilnius, Lithuania	Lithuania	2–0	Francés 32', Pino 78'
8 October 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Seville, Spain	Slovakia	3–2	Guillamón 58', Sergio Gómez 80' (pen.), Miranda 88' (pen.)
12 October 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Seville, Spain	Northern Ireland	3–0	Sergio Gómez 26' (pen.), 32', Abel Ruiz 56'
12 November 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	5–0	Sergio Gómez 23', Abel Ruiz 24', 88', Guillamón 40', Lobete 50'
16 November 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Khimki, Russia	Russia	0–1

Forthcoming fixtures[]

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent
25 March 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Huelva, Spain	Lithuania
29 March 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Žilina, Slovakia	Slovakia
3 June 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland
7 June 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	Malta

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship[]

Group phase[]

Pos	Team v	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	6	5	1	17	4	+13	15	Final tournament	—	4–1	3–2	7 Jun	3–0	25 Mar
2	Russia	6	5	1	15	4	+11	15	Suspended^[a]	1–0	—	3–0	6–0	1–0	3 Jun
3	Slovakia	6	3	3	11	8	+3	9		29 Mar	7 Jun	—	4–0	25 Mar	3–1
4	Malta	6	2	4	7	18	−11	6		0–5	25 Mar	3 Jun	—	4–1	29 Mar
5	Northern Ireland	6	2	4	6	10	−4	6		3 Jun	29 Mar	1–0	0–2	—	4–0
6	Lithuania	6	1	5	3	15	−12	3		0–2	0–3	0–2	2–1	7 Jun	—

Updated to match(es) played on 16 November 2021. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ On 28 February 2022, FIFA suspended Russian national teams from all competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Players[]

The following players were called up for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying matches against Malta and Russia, from 12 to 16 November 2021.^[2]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Joan García	(2001-05-04) 4 May 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Espanyol B
13	1GK	Julen Agirrezabala	(2000-12-26) 26 December 2000 (age 21)	4	0	Athletic Bilbao
23	1GK	Gaizka Ayesa	(2001-04-02) 2 April 2001 (age 20)	0	0	Real Sociedad B

2	2DF	Víctor Gómez	(2000-04-01) 1 April 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Málaga
3	2DF	Juan Miranda	(2000-01-19) 19 January 2000 (age 22)	12	2	Betis
4	2DF	Hugo Guillamón (captain)	(2000-01-31) 31 January 2000 (age 22)	13	3	Valencia
5	2DF	Alejandro Francés	(2002-08-01) 1 August 2002 (age 19)	6	1	Zaragoza
12	2DF	Sergio Carreira	(2000-10-13) 13 October 2000 (age 21)	4	0	Mirandés
15	2DF	José Fontán	(2000-02-11) 11 February 2000 (age 22)	3	0	Celta Vigo
22	2DF	Manu Sánchez	(2000-08-24) 24 August 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Osasuna

6	3MF	Unai Vencedor	(2000-11-15) 15 November 2000 (age 21)	6	0	Athletic Bilbao
7	3MF	Gaspar Campos	(2000-03-27) 27 March 2000 (age 21)	3	0	Sporting Gijón
8	3MF	Oihan Sancet	(2000-04-25) 25 April 2000 (age 21)	4	0	Athletic Bilbao
10	3MF	Rodri Sánchez	(2000-05-16) 16 May 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Betis
14	3MF	Francho Serrano	(2001-10-17) 17 October 2001 (age 20)	2	0	Zaragoza
16	3MF	Beñat Turrientes	(2002-01-31) 31 January 2002 (age 20)	6	0	Real Sociedad B
18	3MF	Julen Lobete	(2000-09-18) 18 September 2000 (age 21)	2	1	Real Sociedad B
20	3MF	José Gragera	(2000-11-30) 30 November 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Sporting Gijón

9	4FW	Abel Ruiz	(2000-01-28) 28 January 2000 (age 22)	11	3	Braga
11	4FW	Nico Williams	(2002-07-12) 12 July 2002 (age 19)	5	0	Athletic Bilbao
17	4FW	Sergio Gómez	(2000-09-04) 4 September 2000 (age 21)	6	4	Anderlecht
19	4FW	Jon Karrikaburu	(2002-09-19) 19 September 2002 (age 19)	1	0	Real Sociedad B
21	2DF	Sergio Camello	(2001-02-10) 10 February 2001 (age 21)	2	0	Mirandés

Recent call-ups[]

The following players have been called up for the team within the last twelve months and are still eligible to represent.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK		(2001-05-30) 30 May 2001 (age 20)	2	0	Barcelona B	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021

DF	Urko González de Zárate	(2001-03-20) 20 March 2001 (age 21)	0	0	Real Sociedad B	v. Malta, 12 November 2021^INJ
DF	Víctor Chust	(2000-03-05) 5 March 2000 (age 22)	1	0	Cádiz	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
DF	Miguel Gutiérrez	(2001-07-27) 27 July 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Real Madrid	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
DF	Guille Rosas	(2000-05-17) 17 May 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Sporting Gijón	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021
DF	Mateu Morey	(2000-03-02) 2 March 2000 (age 22)	0	0	Borussia Dortmund	UEFA EURO U21, 19 March 2021 ^INJ

MF	Nico González	(2002-01-03) 3 January 2002 (age 20)	2	0	Barcelona	v. Malta, 12 November 2021 ^INJ
MF	Nico Melamed	(2001-04-11) 11 April 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Espanyol	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
MF	Antonio Blanco	(2000-07-23) 23 July 2000 (age 21)	3	0	Real Madrid	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
MF	Raúl Moro	(2002-12-05) 5 December 2002 (age 19)	1	0	Lazio	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
MF	Roberto López	(2000-04-24) 24 April 2000 (age 21)	3	2	Real Sociedad B	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021

FW	Fer Niño	(2000-10-24) 24 October 2000 (age 21)	5	2	Mallorca	v. Northern Ireland, 12 October 2021
FW	Bryan Gil	(2001-02-11) 11 February 2001 (age 21)	7	0	Tottenham Hotspur	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021
FW	Yeremi Pino	(2002-10-20) 20 October 2002 (age 19)	6	3	Villarreal	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021
FW	Ander Barrenetxea	(2001-12-27) 27 December 2001 (age 20)	5	1	Real Sociedad	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021
FW	Iván Azón	(2002-12-24) 24 December 2002 (age 19)	1	0	Zaragoza	v. Lithuania, 7 September 2021
FW	Rober	(2001-01-06) 6 January 2001 (age 21)	0	0	Betis	v. Russia, 3 September 2021 ^INJ

Notes

Players in italics have played at senior 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[]

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
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.
^ OFICIAL | Lista de convocados de la Selección española Sub-21 para la Fase de Clasificación para la EURO 2023. SEFútbol (in Spanish). 30 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.

External links[]

[table_note_res_DQ0.24550873890776-2] On 28 February 2022, FIFA suspended Russian national teams from all competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[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.

[3] OFICIAL | Lista de convocados de la Selección española Sub-21 para la Fase de Clasificación para la EURO 2023. SEFútbol (in Spanish). 30 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.

[1]

[a]

[2]

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