Spain national under-21 football team

Spain Under-21

Nickname(s)

La Rojita (The Little Red [One])

Association

Royal Spanish Football Federation

Confederation

UEFA (Europe)

Head coach

Albert Celades (2014–)

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)

Medal record

Spain national under-21 football team
Medal record
U-21 European Championship
	1986	Team
	1998 Romania	Team
	2011 Denmark	Team
	2013 Israel	Team
	1984	Team
	1996 Spain	Team
	2017 Poland	Team
	1994 France	Team
	2000 Slovakia	Team

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 four times and runners-up twice); having consecutively won the 2011 and 2013 Championships. Only Italy with five titles has won the competition more often than Spain.

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
Total	13/21	210	145	34	31	431	151

*Denotes draws include 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 López
2013	Thiago	Morata
2017	Dani Ceballos	Saúl

Player records

Top appearances

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Gerard Deulofeu	Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan	2012–2017	36
2	Iker Muniain	Athletic Bilbao	2011–2014	31
3	David de Gea	Atlético Madrid, Manchester United	2009–2013	27
	Santiago Denia	Albacete, Atlético Madrid	1992–1996	27
5	Diego Capel	Sevilla	2007–2011	25
	Saúl	Rayo Vallecano, Atlético Madrid	2013–2017	25
	Xavi	Barcelona	1998–2001	25
8	Óscar	Barcelona, Albacete	1992–1996	24
	Javi Martínez	Athletic Bilbao	2007–2011	24
	Óliver	Atlético Madrid, Porto	2013–2016	24

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	Rodrigo	Benfica	2011–2013	15
3	Álvaro Morata	Real Madrid, Juventus	2013–2014	13
4	Óscar	Barcelona, Albacete	1992–1996	12
5	Isco	Málaga, Real Madrid	2011–2014	10
	Munir	Barcelona	2014–2016	10
7	Pablo Couñago	Celta, Ipswich Town	1999–2001	9
	Adrián	Deportivo, Atlético Madrid	2007–2011	9
	Saúl	Rayo Vallecano, Atlético Madrid	2013–2017	9
10	Julen Guerrero	Athletic Bilbao	1992–1994	8
	Raúl	Real Madrid	1995–1996	8
	Jonathan Soriano	Espanyol	2005	8

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 30 June 2017

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
23 March 2017	Friendly	Murcia, Spain	Denmark	3 – 1	Merino 22', Saúl 70', Suárez 81'
27 March 2017	Friendly	Rome, Italy	Italy	2 – 1	Saúl 34', Mayoral 38'
17 June 2017	2017 UEFA U-21 group stage	Gdynia, Poland	Macedonia	5 – 0	Saúl 10', Asensio 16', 54', 72', Deulofeu 35' (pen.)
20 June 2017	2017 UEFA U-21 group stage	Gdynia, Poland	Portugal	3 – 1	Saúl 21', Sandro 65', Williams 90+3'
23 June 2017	2017 UEFA U-21 group stage	Bydgoszcz, Poland	Serbia	1 – 0	Suárez 38'
27 June 2017	2017 UEFA U-21 semifinals	Kraków, Poland	Italy	3 – 1	Saúl 53', 65', 74'
30 June 2017	2017 UEFA U-21 Final	Kraków, Poland	Germany	0 – 1

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent
1 September 2017	Friendly	Toledo, Spain	Italy
8 September 2017	2019 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Estonia	Estonia
October 2017	Friendly	TBD, TBD	TBD
10 October 2017	2019 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Slovakia	Slovakia
9 November 2017	2019 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	Iceland
14 November 2017	2019 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	Slovakia

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group phase

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Northern Ireland	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3	Final tournament	—	31 Aug '17	10 Oct '17	22 Mar '18	16 Oct '18	26 Mar '18
2	Albania	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	Play-offs if among four best runners-up	10 Nov '17	—	0–0	11 Oct '18	23 Mar '18	10 Oct '17
3	Estonia	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1		1–2	16 Oct '18	—	5 Sep '17	1 Sep '17	14 Nov '17
4	Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		11 Sep '18	6 Sep '18	27 Mar '18	—	14 Nov '17	9 Nov '17
5	Slovakia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		5 Sep '17	27 Mar '18	12 Oct '18	10 Oct '17	—	5 Oct '17
6	Iceland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		11 Oct '18	4 Sep '17	6 Sep '18	16 Oct '18	11 Sep '18	—

Updated to match(es) played on 12 June 2017. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.^[2]
All caps and goals as of 30 June 2017.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Kepa Arrizabalaga	(1994-10-03) 3 October 1994	22	0	Athletic Bilbao
13	1GK	Rubén Blanco	(1995-07-25) 25 July 1995	2	0	Celta Vigo
16	1GK	Pau	(1994-12-13) 13 December 1994	5	0	Espanyol

2	2DF	Héctor Bellerín	(1995-03-19) 19 March 1995	14	0	Arsenal
3	2DF	José Luis Gayà	(1995-05-25) 25 May 1995	15	1	Valencia
4	2DF	Jorge Meré	(1997-04-17) 17 April 1997	16	1	1. FC Köln
5	2DF	Jesús Vallejo	(1997-01-05) 5 January 1997	11	0	Real Madrid
19	2DF	Jonny	(1994-03-03) 3 March 1994	18	0	Celta Vigo
17	2DF	Álvaro Odriozola	(1995-12-14) 14 December 1995	3	0	Real Sociedad
23	2DF	Diego González	(1995-01-28) 28 January 1995	4	1	Málaga

6	3MF	Dani Ceballos	(1996-08-07) 7 August 1996	17	2	Real Madrid
8	3MF	Saúl (Vice-captain)	(1994-11-21) 21 November 1994	25	9	Atlético Madrid
10	3MF	Denis Suárez	(1994-01-06) 6 January 1994	21	4	Barcelona
11	3MF	Marco Asensio	(1996-01-21) 21 January 1996	18	7	Real Madrid
14	3MF	Mikel Merino	(1996-06-22) 22 June 1996	7	1	Newcastle United
18	3MF	Mikel Oyarzabal	(1997-04-21) 21 April 1997	5	0	Real Sociedad
20	3MF	Carlos Soler	(1997-01-02) 2 January 1997	1	0	Valencia
21	3MF	Rodrigo Hernández	(1996-06-22) 22 June 1996	1	0	Villarreal
22	3MF	Marcos Llorente	(1995-01-30) 30 January 1995	9	0	Real Madrid

7	4FW	Gerard Deulofeu (Captain)	(1994-03-13) 13 March 1994	36	17	Barcelona
9	4FW	Borja Mayoral	(1997-04-05) 5 April 1997	11	2	Real Madrid
12	4FW	Sandro	(1995-07-09) 9 July 1995	7	1	Everton
15	4FW	Iñaki Williams	(1994-06-15) 15 June 1994	17	3	Athletic Bilbao

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Antonio Sivera	(1996-08-11) 11 August 1996	0	0	Valencia	v. Italy, 27 March 2017

DF	Aarón Martín	(1997-04-22) 22 April 1997	0	0	Espanyol	v. Austria, 15 November 2016
DF	Adrián Marín	(1997-01-09) 9 January 1997	1	0	Villarreal	v. Estonia, 10 October 2016

Notes

Players in italic are still active at international level.
^INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury.

Former squads

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.
↑ "Lista de la @SeFutbol Sub-21 para la #U21EURO/U21 Spain's Call up" (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. 19 May 2017.

External links

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

Spain national under-21 football team – managers
Meana (1959) Costa, Gabilondo & Lasplazas (1959–60) Biosca (1976–78) Santamaría (1978–80) Suárez (1980–88) Pereda (1988–92) Goikoetxea (1992–96) Sáez (1996–2002) Santisteban & Ufarte (2002–04) Sáez (2004–08) López Caro (2008–10) Milla (2010–12) Lopetegui (2012–14) Celades (2014–)

Spain national football team
General	History Managers
Venues	Ciudad del Fútbol Home venues
Statistics	Results and Fixtures Records Head to head World Cup record Hat-tricks
Players	20+ caps captains World Cup & Euro Championship squads Other categories
World Cup Finals	Summary 1934 1950 1962 1966 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
UEFA Euro Finals	Summary 1964 1980 1984 1988 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Other tournaments	FIFA Confederations Cup The Olympics
Rivalries	Rivalry with Italy Rivalry with Portugal
Other RFEF teams	Men Under-23 Under-21 Under-20 Under-19 Under-18 Under-17 Under-16 Under-15 Women Results Under-20 Under-19 Under-17

Football in Spain

National teams

Men's national team
- U-23
- U-21
- U-20
- U-19
- U-18
- U-17
- U-16
- U-15
Women's national team
- U-20
- U-19
- U-17

League system

Level 1	Primera División
Level 2	Segunda División
Level 3	Segunda División B (4 groups)
Level 4	Tercera División (18 groups)
Levels 5–10	Divisiones Regionales (Andalusia Aragon Asturias Balearic Basque Canary Cantabria Castile-La Mancha Castile and León Catalonia Extremadura Galicia La Rioja Madrid Murcia Navarre Valencia Ceuta, Melilla)

Women's league system

Level 1	Primera División
Level 2	Segunda División (7 groups)
Levels 3–5	Ligas Regionales (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic, Basque, Canary, Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre, Valencia, Ceuta, Melilla)

Youth league system

División de Honor Juvenil (7 groups)
Liga Nacional Juvenil (21 groups)

Domestic cups

Women's domestic cups

Copa de la Reina

Youth domestic cups

National under-21 men's football teams of Europe (UEFA)

Active

Defunct

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