Wales national under-21 football team

Wales Under-21
Nickname(s) Young Dragons
Association Football Association of Wales
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Rob Page
Most caps Shaun MacDonald (25)
Top scorer Ched Evans (13)
FIFA code WAL
First colours
Second colours
First international
 England U-21 0–0 Wales U-21 Wales
(Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton; 15 December 1976)
Biggest win
Wales Wales U-21 6–2 Cyprus U-21 
(Ninian Park, Cardiff; 22 October 1993)
&
Wales Wales U-21 5–1 Luxembourg U-21 
(Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli; 31 March 2009)
Biggest defeat
 Italy U-21 8–1 Wales U-21 Wales
(Stadio Pietro Fortunati, Pavia; 5 September 2003)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances None (first in n/a)
Best result 1st of 5 in Qual.
group, 2009. Lost in play off.

The Wales national under-21 football team, also known as the Wales U21s, is the national under-21 football team of Wales and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. To date Wales haven't yet qualified for the finals tournament but in recent years have shown good form, losing in a playoff (5–4) to England in the 2009 qualifying campaign and finishing second in their group two years later, after leading their group until their last game Wales only needed a draw to qualify for the play-offs but lost 1–0 away to Italy.

The U-21 team came into existence following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976. A goalless draw in a friendly against England at Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium was Wales U21s' first result.

The national under-21 team is the highest level of youth football in Wales, and is open to any players who were born in Wales or whose parents or grandparents were born in Wales. This team is for Welsh players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side and again for the U21s.

Recent history

In recent decades, the team has been viewed by the Welsh national management as more of a hole to be filled than a team to be used to nurture young international players, many of the great Welsh players of recent years having not spent long in the under-21 team. Ryan Giggs only made one appearance for the under-21 team before making his senior debut against Germany the next day.

From 2004 onward however, the former Wales national football team manager John Toshack and former Wales Under 21 manager Brian Flynn used the under-21 team to create a pool of youthful Welsh talent. The team now has a much better tracking system of young Welsh players, and has seen a marked improvement in players and team results. Recent results have seen them achieve big wins against Estonia (5–1), Northern Ireland (4–0) and France (4–2).

Some of the players who have made the step from the U21's to attain over 25 caps for the senior squad are Lewin Nyatanga, Joe Ledley, Chris Gunter, Gareth Bale, Sam Vokes, Simon Church, Wayne Hennessey, David Vaughan, Andrew Crofts, David Edwards, Andy King and Aaron Ramsey.

On 15 May 2008, they played a friendly against England U21s to mark the 100th match in the history of the side, losing 2–0.

A 3–0 victory against Romania in September 2008 meant that the Under-21 side finished top of their qualifying group for the first time in their history. It meant Wales would go into a two-legged play-off against England in October 2008 for a place in the finals of the 2009 UEFA U-21 Championship to be played in Sweden. Wales lost the playoff 5–4 over the course of two legs. Losing 3–2 at home in the first leg and drawing 2–2 away in the second.

Wales started their qualifying campaign for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship with a 1-0 away win against Andorra, a 3-1 away loss against Montenegro, a 1-0 home win against Montenegro, a 1-0 home defeat against Czech Republic and a 0-0 away draw against Armenia.

In May 2012 Brian Flynn vacated his position as Wales under-21 manager at the end of his contract and in July 2012 Geraint Williams was appointed team manager [1] Williams resigned as team manager on 5 December 2016. On 15 March 2017 it was announced that former Port Vale and Northampton Town manager Rob Page had left his position on the coaching staff at Nottingham Forest to become Wales under-21 manager.

Players

Latest squad

Players born on or after 1 January 1994 are eligible for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Wales squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship matches against Armenia on 11 October 2016. Ryan Hedges withdrew and was replaced by Owain Jones[2]

Caps and goals as of 6 September 2016. Players in bold have attained full international caps. Clubs as of the date of the announcement.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Billy O'Brien (1995-11-22) 22 November 1995 8 0 England Manchester City
1GK Michael Crowe (1995-11-13) 13 November 1995 0 0 England Ipswich Town
2DF Declan John (1995-06-30) 30 June 1995 8 0 Wales Cardiff City
2DF Gethin Jones (1995-10-13) 13 October 1995 8 0 England Barnsley (loan)
2DF Tom Lockyer (1994-12-03) 3 December 1994 7 0 England Bristol Rovers
2DF Jordan Evans (1995-09-23) 23 September 1995 6 0 Wales Bala Town
2DF Dominic Smith (1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 2 0 England Shrewsbury Town
2DF Connor Roberts (1995-09-23) 23 September 1995 1 0 Wales Swansea City
2DF Joe Rodon (1997-10-22) 22 October 1997 1 0 Wales Swansea City
3MF Tommy O'Sullivan (1995-01-18) 18 January 1995 14 2 England Colchester United
3MF Josh Sheehan (1995-03-30) 30 March 1995 11 0 Wales Newport County (loan)
3MF Regan Poole (1998-06-18) 18 June 1998 2 0 England Manchester United
4FW Ellis Harrison (1994-01-29) 29 January 1994 13 2 England Bristol Rovers
4FW Jake Charles (1996-02-16) 16 February 1996 8 2 England Barnsley
4FW Harry Wilson (1997-03-22) 22 March 1997 7 2 England Liverpool
4FW George Williams (1995-07-08) 8 July 1995 2 0 England Milton Keynes Dons (loan)
4FW Daniel James (1997-11-10) 10 November 1997 2 0 Wales Swansea City
4FW Owain Jones (1996-10-01) 1 October 1996 1 0 England Yeovil Town (loan)

Recent call-ups

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

Name DOB Club Caps (goals) Most recent call-up
Goalkeepers
Christian Dibble 11 May 1994 England Boston United 1 (0) v  Bulgaria, 31 March 2015
Defenders
Joe Wright 26 February 1995 England Doncaster Rovers 2 (0) v  Denmark, 2 September 2016
Adam Henley 14 June 1994 England Blackburn Rovers 3 (0) v  Denmark, 2 September 2016
Josh Yorwerth 1 January 1995 England Crawley Town 7 (1) v  Romania, 29 March 2016
Liam Shephard 22 November 1994 England Yeovil Town (loan) 2 (0) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
Jordan Williams 6 November 1995 England Liverpool 1 (0) v  Denmark, 9 October 2015 (withdrew)
Elliott Hewitt 30 May 1994 England Notts County 10 (0) v  Lithuania, 9 September 2014
Jordan Holt 4 May 1994 Free Agent 0 (0) v  San Marino, 15 October 2013
Alex Nicholson 1 February 1994 England Blyth Spartans 0 (0) v  Moldova, 22 March 2013
Aaron Oakley 4 October 1994 Free Agent 1 (0) v Iceland Iceland, 6 February 2013
Midfielders
Lee Evans 24 July 1994 England Wolverhampton Wanderers 13 2) v  Denmark, 2 September 2016
Declan Weeks 15 November 1995 Free Agent 2 (0) v  Romania, 29 March 2016
Theo Wharton 15 November 1994 Wales Cardiff City 1 (0) v  Romania, 29 March 2016
Louis Thompson 19 December 1994 England Norwich City 2 (0) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
George Glendon 3 May 1995 England Fleetwood Town (loan) 0 (0) v  Bulgaria, 31 March 2015 (withdrew)
Billy Waters 15 October 1994 England Cheltenham Town 0 (0) v  Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
Alex Bray 25 July 1995 England Rotherham United (loan) 0 (0) v  Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
Chris Dawson 2 September 1994 England Rotherham United 2 (0) v  Finland, 14 August 2013
Forwards
Ryan Hedges 8 July 1995 England Barnsley 11 (0) v  Armenia, 11 October 2016
Tom Lawrence 13 January 1994 England Ipswich Town (loan) 8 (3) v  Denmark, 2 September 2016 (senior squad)
Callum Saunders 26 September 1995 England Crewe Alexandra 1 (0) v  Romania, 17 November 2015
Bradley Reid 15 October 1995 Wales Wrexham (loan) 1 (0) v  Lithuania, 9 September 2014
James Loveridge 16 May 1994 Wales Port Talbot Town 0 (0) v  England, 19 May 2014

See also

References

  1. ↑ Williams appointed to Wales Under 21
  2. ↑ "WALES U21 SQUAD ANNOUNCED: ARMENIA BRINGS CLOSURE TO U21 CAMPAIGN". faw.org.uk. Football Association of Wales. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
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