Wales national under-21 football team

Wales Under-21
Nickname(s) Young Dragons
Association Football Association of Wales
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Geraint Williams
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]

Players

Latest squad

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

Wales squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship matches against Bulgaria and Romania on 25 and 29 March 2015. Liam Shephard, Harry Wilson, Daniel James and Louis Thompson withdrew and were replaced by Connor Roberts, Declan Weeks and Theo Wharton respectively.[2]

Caps and goals as of 29 March 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 6 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 England Chesterfield (loan)
2DF Josh Yorwerth (1995-01-01) 1 January 1995 7 1 England Crawley Town (loan)
2DF Gethin Jones (1995-10-13) 13 October 1995 6 0 England Everton
2DF Tom Lockyer (1994-12-03) 3 December 1994 5 0 England Bristol Rovers
2DF Jordan Evans (1995-09-23) 23 September 1995 4 0 England Oxford United (loan)
2DF Dominic Smith (1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 1 0 England Shrewsbury Town
2DF Connor Roberts (1995-09-23) 23 September 1995 1 0 England Yeovil Town (loan)
3MF Lee Evans (1994-07-24) 24 July 1994 13 2 England Bradford City (loan)
3MF Tommy O'Sullivan (1995-01-18) 18 January 1995 12 2 Wales Newport County (loan)
3MF Josh Sheehan (1995-03-30) 30 March 1995 9 0 Wales Swansea City
3MF Declan Weeks (1995-11-15) 15 November 1995 2 0 England Wolverhampton Wanderers
3MF Theo Wharton (1994-11-15) 15 November 1994 1 0 Wales Cardiff City
4FW Wes Burns (1994-11-23) 23 November 1994 16 6 England Fleetwood Town (loan)
4FW Ellis Harrison (1994-01-29) 29 January 1994 11 2 England Bristol Rovers
4FW Ryan Hedges (1995-07-08) 8 July 1995 9 0 England Stevenage (loan)
4FW Jake Charles (1996-02-16) 16 February 1996 6 1 England Huddersfield Town

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 Barnsley 1 (0) v  Bulgaria, 31 March 2015
Defenders
Liam Shephard 22 November 1994 Wales Swansea City 2 (0) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
Joe Wright 26 February 1995 England Accrington Stanley (loan) 2 (0) v  Romania, 17 November 2015
Jordan Williams 6 November 1995 England Swindon Town (loan) 1 (0) v  Denmark, 9 October 2015 (withdrew)
Elliott Hewitt 30 May 1994 England Notts County 10 (0) v  Lithuania, 9 September 2014
Adam Henley 14 June 1994 England Blackburn Rovers 3 (0) v  England, 5 March 2014 (withdrew)
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
Louis Thompson 19 December 1994 England Swindon Town (loan) 2 (0) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
George Glendon 3 May 1995 England Manchester City 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 Wales Swansea City 0 (0) v  Finland, 5 September 2014 (standby)
George Williams 7 September 1995 England Oldham Athletic (loan) 2 (0) v  England, 19 May 2014
Chris Dawson 2 September 1994 England Rotherham United 2 (0) v  Finland, 14 August 2013
Forwards
Daniel James 10 November 1997 Wales Swansea City 0 (0) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
Harry Wilson 22 March 1997 England Liverpool 5 (2) v  Bulgaria, 25 March 2016 (withdrew)
Callum Saunders 26 September 1995 England Crewe Alexandra 1 (0) v  Romania, 17 November 2015
Owain Jones 1 October 1996 Wales Swansea City 1 (0) v  Armenia, 13 November 2015
Bradley Reid 15 October 1995 England Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (0) v  Lithuania, 9 September 2014
James Loveridge 16 May 1994 Wales Port Talbot Town 0 (0) v  England, 19 May 2014
Tom Lawrence 13 January 1994 Wales Cardiff City (loan) 8 (3) v  England, 19 May 2014 (withdrew)

See also

References

  1. Williams appointed to Wales Under 21
  2. "WALES U21 SQUAD ANNOUNCED FOR CRUCIAL QUALIFIERS". faw.org.uk. Football Association of Wales. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

External links

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