Germany national under-21 football team

The Germany national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Germany in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and is controlled by the German Football Association (DFB), the governing body of football in Germany.

Before the reunification of Germany, East Germany and West Germany played as separate entities — the two teams played separately until summer 1990. Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, international under-21 football in Europe began. A West German team, however, did not compete in the U-21 European Championship until the qualifying round (beginning in 1980) of the 1982 competition.

West Germany competed in the first two under-23 competitions, which finished in 1972 and 1974. The first under-21 competition finals were in 1978, and since the under-21 competition rules state that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an under-23 competition.

The current Germany team can be legitimately considered as the current incarnation of the West German team, since the West Germany flag, uniform, and football association all became those of the unified Germany. In effect, the West German team absorbed the East German team to become 'the Germany national under-21 football team'.

For these reasons, the record of West Germany for the U-23 and U-21 competitions is shown below.

UEFA U-23 Championship record

Competing as West Germany:

• 1972: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1974: Did not qualify. Finished second of three in qualification group.
• 1976: Did not enter.

Competing as East Germany:

• 1972: Did not qualify. Finished third of three in qualification group.
• 1974: Runners-up. 3–2,0–4 against Hungary
• 1976: Did not qualify. Finished second of three in qualification group.

UEFA U-21 Championship record

Competing as West Germany:

• 1978: Did not enter.
• 1980: Did not enter.
• 1982: Runners-up.
• 1984: Losing semi-finalists.
• 1986: Did not qualify. Finished third of four in qualification group.
• 1988: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1990: Losing quarter-finalists.

East Germany:

• 1978: Runners-up. losing final vs. Yugoslavia 0–1, 4–4
• 1980: Runners-up. losing final vs. Soviet Union 0–0, 0–1
• 1982: Did not qualify. Finished third of four in qualification group.
• 1984: Did not qualify. Finished second of three in qualification group.
• 1986: Did not qualify. Finished second of four in qualification group.
• 1988: Did not qualify. Finished second of four in qualification group.
• 1990: Did not qualify. Finished second of four in qualification group.

Competing as unified Germany:

• 1992: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1994: Did not qualify. Finished second of five in qualification group.
• 1996: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1998: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 2000: Did not qualify. Finished second of five in qualification group. Were ninth-best runner-up (top seven qualified for playoffs)
• 2002: Did not qualify. Finished third of five in qualification group.
• 2004: Finished third of four in finals group.
• 2006: Finished third of four in finals group.
• 2007: Playoff for Final Tournament
• 2009: Champion
• 2011: Did not qualify.

Euro 2013 Under-21 Championship

Group 1

Players

Current squad

Players born in or after 1990 are eligible for the next UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

The following players were named in the squad for the Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against Greece on 11 November 2011 and Cyprus on 15 November 2011.^[1]

Caps and goals as of 15 November 2011.

Note: Names in italics denote players that have been capped for the senior team.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Germany under-21 squad and remain eligible:

Notes

^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.

Former coaches

• Hannes Löhr (1990–2002)
• Jürgen Kohler (2002–2003)
• Uli Stielike (2003–2004)
• Dieter Eilts (2004–2008)
• Horst Hrubesch (2008–2009)

See also

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
• Germany national football team
• Germany national youth football team

References

External links

• The German Under-21 Football Team: Multi-culti Is Dead, Long Live Multi-Culti!
• UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
• Site of the Under-21 national team at the German Football Association homepage.