France national under-21 football team

France Under-21

Nickname(s)	Les Bleuets (The Little Blues) Les Espoirs (The Hopes)
Association	French Football Federation
Head coach	Sylvain Ripoll
Captain	Corentin Tolisso
Most caps	Mickaël Landreau (43)
Top scorer	Sébastien Haller (13)
First colours Second colours Third colours
First international
U23: France 0–0 Norway Alès, 11 November 1970 U21: France 1–1 Belgium Amiens, 3 September 1976
Biggest win
France 7–0 Yugoslavia Reims, 16 November 1985
Biggest defeat
England 6–0 France Sheffield, 28 February 1984 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	8 (first in 1982)
Best result	Winners (1988)

The France national under-21 football team (French: Equipe de France Espoirs), known in France as Les Espoirs (French pronunciation: ​[ɛs.pwaʁ], The Hopes), is the national under-21 football team of France and is controlled by the French Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. The team was previously coached by former Toulouse manager Erick Mombaerts, however, following the team's failure to qualify for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in October 2012, he agreed to leave the position.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, under-21 football teams in Europe were formed. The team is exclusively for football players that are age 21 or under at the start of the two-year campaign of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship meaning a player can represent the national team until the age of 23. Since the coaching tenure of Aimé Jacquet, there has been an unwritten rule among senior national team coaches that players called up to the national team must have had prior international experience with the under-21 team. Due to the country's multicultural background, France regularly produces under-21 players who have gone on to play for other country's senior national teams. Players such as Mourad Meghni, Issiar Dia, Sébastien Bassong, and Hassan Yebda all represented France at under-21 level before opting to represent their country of origin at senior level.

France has won the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship once in 1988. Notable players on the team that went on to play for the senior national team include Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona, Franck Sauzée, and Jocelyn Angloma, among others.^[1] Blanc was named the tournament's Golden Player.^[2] The team's best finish since was in 2002 when the team finished runner-up to the Czech Republic in Switzerland. Though the 2002 team produced ten players who went on to play for the senior team, only one of them, Sidney Govou, has become a regular international.

The France under-21 team does not have a permanent home. The team plays in stadiums located all around France, particularly grounds of Ligue 2 clubs. Because of the smaller demand compared to the senior national team, smaller facilities are used. Recently, the under-21 team has established the Stade Auguste-Delaune II, home of Stade Reims, as a home residence having played numerous matches there over the past two seasons.

History

Though, under-21 teams weren't formed until 1976, Les Espoirs, a youth national team in France, had existed since 1950 playing its first match on 22 May 1952 defeating England 7–1 at the Stade Jules Deschaseaux in Le Havre. The team's next match was two years later suffering a 3–1 defeat to Italy in Vicenza. For the rest of the decade, the youth team played seven more matches, which included a 1–1 draw with Hungary in Budapest and a 2–0 loss to England in Sunderland in 1959. In the 1960s, Espoirs continued to play matches against fellow national youth sides. However, on 18 December 1968, the team contested a match against Algeria senior team in Algiers recording an impressive 5–2 victory. Four days later, the team draw 1–1 with the under-23 team of Algeria in Oran. On 12 February 1969, the Espoirs played the Hungary senior team at the Stade Gerland in Lyon. The match ended in a 2–2 draw.

Results and fixtures 2017–2019

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kazakhstan	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3	Final tournament		—	23 Mar '18	7 Sep '18	1 Sep '17	12 Oct '18	27 Mar '18
2	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Play-offs if among four best runners-up		5 Sep '17	—	16 Oct '18	5 Oct '17	10 Nov '17	11 Sep '18
3	Slovenia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			11 Sep '18	14 Nov '17	—	10 Nov '17	12 Oct '18	1 Sep '17
4	Montenegro	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			Date TBC	27 Mar '18	9 Oct '17	—	11 Sep '18	12 Oct '18
5	Bulgaria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			6 Oct '17	7 Sep '18	27 Mar '18	14 Nov '17	—	5 Sep '17
6	Luxembourg	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0			1–2	9 Oct '17	5 Oct '17	23 Mar '18	16 Oct '18	—

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up to participate in friendly matches against Albania and Cameroon to be played respectively on 5 and 8 June 2017.^[3]

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

Caps and goals as of 8 June 2017, after the team's match against Cameroon.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
23	1GK	Florian Escales	(1996-02-03) 3 February 1996	1	0	Marseille
16	1GK	Maxence Prévot	(1997-04-09) 9 April 1997	1	0	Sochaux
1	1GK	Bingourou Kamara	(1996-10-21) 21 October 1996	0	0	Strasbourg
21	2DF	Benjamin Pavard	(1996-03-28) 28 March 1996	11	0	Stuttgart
4	2DF	Abdou Diallo	(1996-05-04) 4 May 1996	4	0	Mainz 05
2	2DF	Kelvin Amian	(1998-02-08) 8 February 1998	2	0	Toulouse
5	2DF	Mouctar Diakhaby	(1996-12-19) 19 December 1996	2	1	Lyon
12	2DF	Nordi Mukiele	(1997-11-01) 1 November 1997	2	0	Montpellier
18	2DF	Malang Sarr	(1999-01-23) 23 January 1999	2	0	Nice
3	2DF	Romain Perraud	(1997-09-22) 22 September 1997	0	0	Nice
7	3MF	Marcus Coco	(1996-06-24) 24 June 1996	8	0	Guingamp
17	3MF	Adama Diakhaby	(1996-07-07) 7 July 1996	2	0	Monaco
6	3MF	Angelo Fulgini	(1996-08-20) 20 August 1996	2	0	Angers
10	3MF	Maxime Lopez	(1997-12-04) 4 December 1997	2	0	Marseille
8	3MF	Kevin N'Doram	(1996-01-22) 22 January 1996	2	0	Monaco
15	3MF	Olivier Ntcham	(1996-02-09) 9 February 1996	2	0	Celtic
11	3MF	Jonathan Ikoné	(1998-05-02) 2 May 1998	1	0	Montpellier
9	4FW	Moussa Dembélé	(1996-07-12) 12 July 1996	6	4	Celtic
22	4FW	Jonathan Bamba	(1996-03-26) 26 March 1996	2	1	Saint-Étienne
14	4FW	Yann Karamoh	(1998-07-08) 8 July 1998	2	1	Caen
19	4FW	Lys Mousset	(1996-02-08) 8 February 1996	2	2	Bournemouth
20	4FW	Theoson Siebatcheu	(1996-04-26) 26 April 1996	2	1	Reims

Recent call-ups

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

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Lucas Hernández	(1996-02-14) 14 February 1996	5	0	Atlético Madrid	v.  England, 14 November 2016
DF	Issa Diop	(1997-01-09) 9 January 1997	4	0	Toulouse	v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2016
MF	Lucas Tousart	(1997-04-29) 29 April 1997	2	0	Lyon	v.  England, 14 November 2016
MF	Alexis Blin	(1996-09-16) 16 September 1996	2	0	Toulouse	v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2016
FW	Jean-Kévin Augustin	(1997-06-16) 16 June 1997	6	4	RB Leipzig	v.  England, 14 November 2016
FW	Ousmane Dembélé	(1997-05-15) 15 May 1997	4	0	Borussia Dortmund	v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2016
FW	Kingsley Coman	(1996-06-13) 13 June 1996	9	2	Bayern Munich	v.  Scotland, 10 October 2015

Notes

• ^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
• ^SEN Player withdrew from the squad due to a call up to the senior team.

Previous squads

Coaching staff

As of 9 September 2013

Position	Name	Nationality
Manager	Pierre Mankowski	French
Assistant manager	Patrice Gonfalone	French
Assistant manager	José Alcocer	French
Goalkeeping coach	Sylvain Matrisciano	French
Doctor	François Brochet	French
Physiotherapist	Guy Puravet	French

Competitive record

For single-match results of the under-21 national team, see French football single-season articles.

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

• 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
• 1974: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1976: Losing quarter-finalists.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1978	Did not qualify	4	0	1	3	4	6
1980	Did not qualify	4	2	1	1	3	2
1982	Quarterfinals	6	3	1	2	9	8
1984	Quarterfinals	6	3	1	2	11	9
1986	Quarterfinals	8	2	3	3	13	13
1988	Champions	12	6	5	1	21	13
1990	Did not qualify	6	3	2	1	11	7
1992	Did not qualify	8	3	2	3	7	5
1994	Fourth Place	14	10	2	2	24	8
1996	Third Place	14	8	4	2	30	5
1998	Did not qualify	8	4	3	1	13	8
2000	Did not qualify	8	6	2	2	19	6
2002	Runners-Up	15	12	3	0	27	7
2004	Did not qualify	10	8	1	1	20	7
2006	Semi-finals	14	10	2	2	24	10
2007	Did not qualify	4	2	1	1	6	3
2009	Did not qualify	10	5	3	2	17	7
2011	Did not qualify	8	4	3	1	12	6
2013	Did not qualify	10	8	0	2	23	7
2015	Did not qualify	10	8	1	1	31	11
2017	Did not qualify	10	6	2	2	17	8
Total	1 title	191	113	43	35	334	152

*Draws include knockout matches decided by penalty shootout.

**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won. Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Honours

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Champions (1): 1988

Finalists (1): 2002

• Toulon Tournament

Champions (11): 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 1997, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1985, 1984, 1977

Finalists (11): 2009, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1993, 1991, 1986, 1980, 1978, 1976, 1975

Broadcaster

France's under-21 football friendlies and qualifying matches are broadcast by Direct 8.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to France national under-21 football team.

• Official site
• UEFA.com U-21 site
• U-21 Championships archives