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	Iker Muniain (31)
Top scorer	Rodrigo (15)
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	12 (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 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 biannual 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	Qualifying in progress	6	4	1	1	16	8
Total	12/20	199	138	31	30	403	146

*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
1986	Manolo Sanchís
1998	Francesc Arnau
2011	Juan Mata
2013	Thiago

Player records

Top appearances

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Iker Muniain	Athletic Bilbao	2011–2014	31
2	David de Gea	Atlético Madrid, Manchester United	2009–2013	27
2	Santiago Denia	Albacete, Atlético Madrid	1992–1996	27
4	Gerard Deulofeu	Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla	2012–	26
5	Diego Capel	Sevilla	2007–2011	25
5	Xavi	Barcelona	1998–2001	25
7	Óscar García	Barcelona, Albacete	1992–1996	24
7	Javi Martínez	Athletic Bilbao	2007–2011	24
9	Martín Montoya	Barcelona	2010–2013	22
9	Pablo Sarabia	Getafe	2011–2014	22

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Goals
1	Rodrigo	Benfica	2011–2013	15
2	Gerard Deulofeu	Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla	2012–	14
3	Álvaro Morata	Real Madrid, Juventus	2013–2014	13
4	Óscar García	Barcelona, Albacete	1992–1996	12
5	Isco	Málaga, Real Madrid	2011–2014	10
6	Pablo Couñago	Recreativo, Celta, Ipswich Town	1999–2001	9
6	Adrián	Deportivo La Coruña, Málaga	2007–2011	9
8	Julen Guerrero	Athletic Bilbao	1992–1994	8
8	Raúl	Real Madrid	1995–1996	8
8	Jonathan Soriano	Espanyol	2005	8

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

• Caps and goals correct as of 24 March 2016

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
2 September 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	2 – 0	Gayà  81', Deulofeu  90+1' (pen.)
7 October 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	5 – 2	Munir  2', 73', Asensio  62', Mayoral  67', Ceballos  90'
13 October 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Tenerife, Spain	Sweden	1 – 1	Óliver  20'
12 November 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Almería, Spain	Georgia	5 – 0	Deulofeu  17', 33', 84', Williams  56', Ceballos  65'
17 November 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Rijeka, Croatia	Croatia	3 – 2	Deulofeu  19' (pen.), 54', Asensio  41'
24 March 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Burgos, Spain	Croatia	0 – 3
28 March 2016	Friendly	Murcia, Spain	Norway	1 – 0	Deulofeu  17'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
1 September 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	San Marino	–
5 September 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Sweden	Sweden	–
5 October 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, San Marino	San Marino	–
10 October 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	Estonia	–

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	7	6	0	1	19	4	+15	18	Final tournament		—	1 Sep	2–3	1–0	2–1	4–0
2	Sweden	5	4	1	0	12	1	+11	13	Possible Play-offs		10 Oct	—	5 Sep	3 Jun	5–0	3–0
3	Spain	6	4	1	1	16	8	+8	13			0–3	1–1	—	5–0	10 Oct	1 Sep
4	Georgia (X)	7	3	0	4	12	12	0	9			6 Sep	0–1	2–5	—	3–0	4–0
5	Estonia (E)	7	1	1	5	3	17	−14	4			0–4	6 Oct	0–2	1 Sep	—	0–0
6	San Marino (E)	8	0	1	7	1	21	−20	1			0–3	0–2	5 Oct	0–3	1–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 28 March 2016. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (X) Cannot qualify directly as the top team, but may still qualify for the play-offs.

Players

Current squad

The following players were named in the squad for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Croatia, at 24 March 2016, and for Friendly match against Norway, at 28 March 2016.^[2][3][4]

• Caps and goals as of 28 March 2016.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Pau López	13 December 1994	1	0	Espanyol
13	GK	Rubén Blanco	25 July 1995	2	0	Celta Vigo
19	GK	Kepa Arrizabalaga	3 October 1994	13	0	Valladolid
2	DF	Héctor Bellerín	19 March 1995	5	0	Arsenal
3	DF	Rubén Duarte	10 October 1995	9	0	Espanyol
4	DF	Aritz Elustondo	28 March 1994	1	0	Real Sociedad
5	DF	Jonny Castro	3 March 1994	9	0	Celta Vigo
12	DF	Javi Manquillo	5 May 1994	7	0	Marseille
16	DF	Adrián Marín	9 January 1997	1	0	Villarreal
6	MF	Víctor Camarasa	28 May 1994	3	0	Levante
8	MF	Pablo Fornals	22 February 1996	1	0	Málaga
10	MF	Óliver Torres	10 November 1994	18	3	Atlético Madrid
11	MF	Marco Asensio	21 January 1996	8	2	Espanyol
14	MF	Dani Ceballos	7 August 1996	9	2	Real Betis
17	MF	Alfonso Pedraza	9 April 1996	2	0	Villarreal
20	MF	Saúl Ñíguez	21 November 1994	16	2	Atlético Madrid
7	FW	Gerard Deulofeu (c)	13 March 1994	26	14	Everton
9	FW	Santi Mina	7 December 1995	2	0	Valencia
15	FW	Munir El Haddadi	1 September 1995	11	5	Barcelona
18	FW	Carlos Castro	1 June 1995	3	0	Sporting Gijón

• Player(s) those had been capped in senior level will be shown in italic.

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Alejandro Remiro	24 March 1995	0	0	Athletic Bilbao	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
DF	José Luis Gayà	25 May 1995	6	1	Valencia	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
DF	Jorge Meré	17 April 1997	4	0	Sporting Gijón	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
DF	Jesús Vallejo	5 January 1997	4	0	Zaragoza	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
DF	Francisco Varela	26 October 1994	0	0	Real Betis	v.  Sweden, 13 October 2015
MF	Matías Nahuel	22 October 1996	1	0	Villarreal	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
MF	José Rodríguez	16 December 1994	6	0	Galatasaray	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
MF	Denis Suárez	6 January 1994	9	0	Villarreal	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
FW	Iñaki Williams	15 June 1994	4	1	Athletic Bilbao	v.  Croatia, 17 November 2015
FW	Samu Castillejo	18 January 1995	4	0	Villarreal	v.  Sweden, 13 October 2015
FW	Borja Mayoral	5 April 1997	2	1	Real Madrid	v.  Sweden, 13 October 2015

Former squads

• 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain
• 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Spain

See also

• Spain national football team
• Spain national under-23 football team
• Spain national under-20 football team
• Spain national under-19 football team
• Spain national under-18 football team
• Spain national under-17 football team
• Spain national under-16 football team
• Spain national under-15 football team
• Spain national youth football team

References

1. "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.
2. "José Luis Gayà causa baja en la convocatoria y le sustituye Adrián Marín" (in Spanish). SEFutbol. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
3. "Denis Suárez causa baja y llega en su lugar Carlos Castro" (in Spanish). SEFutbol. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
4. "Cambio en la convocatoria para los encuentros frente a Croacia y Noruega" (in Spanish). SEFutbol. Retrieved 22 March 2016.

External links

• Official website by RFEF
• siemprecantera (Spanish)
• Tournament archive at uefa.com
• Europe – U-23/U-21 Tournaments at rsssf