Spain national under-21 football team

Spain Under-21

Shirt badge/Association crest
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 Third colours
First international
Yugoslavia 4–1 Spain (Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 9 October 1976)
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]), 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	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	12/20	193	134	30	29	387	138

*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

Players

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	Diego Capel	Sevilla	2007–2011	25
4	Xavi	Barcelona	1998–2001	25
6	Gerard Deulofeu	Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla	2012–	24
6	Óscar García	Barcelona, Albacete	1992–1996	24
6	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–	13
2	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 17 November 2015

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
12 November 2014	Friendly	Ferrol, Spain	Belgium	1 – 4	Munir  49'
26 March 2015	Friendly	Cartagena, Spain	Norway	2 – 0	Munir  16', Deulofeu  19'
30 March 2015	Friendly	León, Spain	Belarus	4 – 0	Shestilovsky  25' (o.g.), Deulofeu  49', Munir  53', Gómez  59'
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'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
24 March 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Spain	Croatia	–
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

Main article: 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6

Players

Current squad

The following players were named in the squad for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Georgia and Croatia, at 13 and 17 November 2015.

• Caps and goals as of 17 November 2015.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1 1GK Kepa Arrizabalaga (1994-10-03) 3 October 1994 12 0 Valladolid 13 1GK Alejandro Remiro (1995-03-24) 24 March 1995 0 0 Athletic Bilbao 19 1GK Pau López (1994-12-13) 13 December 1994 0 0 Espanyol 2 2DF Javi Manquillo (1994-05-05) 5 May 1994 7 0 Marseille 3 2DF José Luis Gayà (1995-05-25) 25 May 1995 6 1 Valencia 4 2DF Jesús Vallejo (1997-01-05) 5 January 1997 4 0 Zaragoza 5 2DF Jonny Castro (1994-03-03) 3 March 1994 7 0 Celta Vigo 12 2DF Jorge Meré (1997-04-17) 17 April 1997 4 0 Sporting Gijón 14 2DF Rubén Duarte (1995-10-10) 10 October 1995 7 0 Espanyol 6 3MF Saúl Ñíguez (1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 15 2 Atlético Madrid 8 3MF Dani Ceballos (1996-08-07) 7 August 1996 7 2 Real Betis 10 3MF Óliver Torres (1994-11-10) 10 November 1994 16 3 Atlético Madrid 11 3MF Marco Asensio (1996-01-21) 21 January 1996 6 2 Espanyol 15 3MF José Rodríguez (1994-12-16) 16 December 1994 6 0 Galatasaray 16 3MF Denis Suárez (1994-01-06) 6 January 1994 9 0 Villarreal 17 3MF Matías Nahuel (1996-10-22) 22 October 1996 1 0 Villarreal 20 3MF Víctor Camarasa (1994-05-28) 28 May 1994 2 0 Levante 7 4FW Gerard Deulofeu (c) (1994-03-13) 13 March 1994 24 13 Everton 9 4FW Iñaki Williams (1994-06-15) 15 June 1994 4 1 Athletic Bilbao 18 4FW Munir El Haddadi (1995-09-01) 1 September 1995 9 5 Barcelona

• 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	Rubén Blanco	(1995-07-25) 25 July 1995	1	0	Celta Vigo	v. Belarus, 30 March 2015
DF	Héctor Bellerín	(1995-03-19) 19 March 1995	3	0	Arsenal	v. Sweden, 13 October 2015
DF	Francisco Valera	(1994-10-26) 26 October 1994	0	0	Real Betis	v. Sweden, 13 October 2015
MF	Sergi Samper	(1995-01-20) 20 January 1995	2	0	Barcelona	v. Belarus, 30 March 2015
MF	Moi Gómez	(1994-06-23) 23 June 1994	3	1	Getafe	v. Belarus, 30 March 2015
FW	Borja Mayoral	(1997-04-05) 5 April 1997	2	1	Real Madrid	v. Sweden, 13 October 2015
FW	Samu Castillejo	(1995-01-18) 18 January 1995	4	0	Villarreal	v. Sweden, 13 October 2015
FW	Santi Mina	(1995-12-07) 7 December 1995	1	0	Valencia	v. Estonia, 2 September 2015

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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

External links

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