Albania national under-21 football team

The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, which is held held every two years.

In terms of youth football, this team is very amazing and is the highest age group team in which the best young, professional footballers who have were born in Albania, or have Albanian parents or grandparents, can be selected to play in. The team's players have the hope that they can successfully play international football with some success and possibly be called up to play in the full senior Albania team.

Current squad

Head coach: Skender Gega

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Albania Under-21's have only ever managed to qualify for any competition once in their history, and that came in the year of 1984 when they managed to qualify for the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. They were drawn in a very tough group which included the West Germany, Turkey and Austria. This historic event in Albanian football history is the only occasion where any Albanian national team has ever managed to qualify for a major European or even World championship. To this day the team that qualified for 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship are still regarded as the most successful team in Albanian history. This is because they managed to qualify without losing a single game and managing two very good draws against one of the biggest and best footballing nations on the planet, Germany (West Germany).

Qualifying

Quarter-finals

After the Albania national under-21 football team qualified for the actual tournament, they were drawn against a tough opponent, Italy. In Tirana, Albania showed much spirit and determination, but in the end the class of Italy managed to just scrape a win against Albania through a goal of Vignola. The return match also ended 1–0 for the Azzuri. Italy won 2–0 on aggregate and made it through to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by the runners-up Spain.

• Albania 0–1 Italy
• Italy 1–0 Albania

 Italy win 2–0 on aggregate

References

See also

• Albania national football team
• Albania national under-17 football team
• Albania national under-19 football team
• Albania national youth football team