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Spain national under-21 football team

Football team of Spain

Spain national under-21 football team

Football team of Spain

FieldValue
NameSpain U-21
Badge_size135px
NicknameLa Rojita (The Little Red One)
AssociationReal Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF)
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
CoachDavid Gordo
CaptainCristhian Mosquera
Most capsGerard Deulofeu (36)
Top scorerGerard Deulofeu (17)
FIFA TrigrammeESP
pattern_la1_esp24h
pattern_b1_esp24h
pattern_ra1_esp24h
pattern_sh1_esp24h
pattern_so1_esp24h
leftarm1FF0000
body1FF0000
rightarm1FF0000
shorts10000FF
socks1FF0000
pattern_la2_esp24a
pattern_b2_esp24a
pattern_ra2_esp24a
pattern_sh2_esp24a
pattern_so2_esp24a
leftarm2FFFF99
body2FFFF99
rightarm2FFFF99
shorts2FFFF99
socks2FFFF99
First game4–1
(Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 9 October 1976)
Largest win14–0
(El Ejido, Spain; 8 February 2005)
Largest loss5–0
(Utrecht, Netherlands; 16 February 1983)
UEFAu21Champ apps17
UEFAu21Champ first1982
UEFAu21Champ bestWinners (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019)

| Sub-confederation = (Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 9 October 1976) | (El Ejido, Spain; 8 February 2005) | (Utrecht, Netherlands; 16 February 1983)

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), competes in the biennial UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Spain under-21 team was formed. Spain has a strong record (competition winners five times and runners-up twice); having consecutively won the 2011 and 2013 Championships. They hold the joint record with Italy for the most wins of the competition.

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

YearRoundGPWD*LGSGATotal17/252521813635537181
1978Qualifying Stage420258
1980Qualifying Stage412142
1982Quarter-finals6501145
1984Runners-up105231111
1986Champions10712189
1988Quarter-finals8422104
1990Quarter-finals640254
1992Qualifying Stage732265
FRA 1994Third Place12921219
Spain 1996Runners-up1410313414
ROU 1998Champions111010216
SVK 2000Third Place141130317
SUI 2002Qualification Playoffs10613159
GER 2004Qualification Playoffs10622175
POR 2006Qualifying Stage10622378
NED 2007Qualification Playoffs421184
SWE 2009Group Stage131012277
DEN 2011Champions151221318
ISR 2013Champions151410475
CZE 2015Qualification Playoffs10721258
POL 2017Runners-up1511224312
ITA 2019Champions1513024516
HUNSVN 2021Semifinals151221273
ROUGEO 2023Runners-up1312115010
SVK 2025Quarter-finals1411213512

*Denotes draws including 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

Spanish players have won individual awards at UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

YearGolden PlayerGolden BootEUR 1986Manolo SanchísROU 1998Francesc ArnauDEN 2011Juan MataAdriánISR 2013ThiagoÁlvaro MorataPOL 2017Dani CeballosSaúlITA SMR 2019Fabián RuizGEO ROU 2023Sergio Gómez

Player records

Top appearances

RankPlayerClub(s)Year(s)U-21 Caps
1Gerard DeulofeuBarcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan2012–201736
2Borja MayoralReal Madrid, VfL Wolfsburg, Levante2015–201931
Jorge MeréSporting Gijón, FC Köln2015–201931
Iker MuniainAthletic Bilbao2011–201431
5Dani CeballosBetis, Real Madrid2015–201929
Beñat TurrientesReal Sociedad2021–202529
7Santi DeniaAlbacete, Atlético Madrid1992–199627
David de GeaAtlético Madrid, Manchester United2009–201327
Abel RuizBarcelona, Sporting Braga2019–202327
10Diego CapelSevilla2007–201125
Mikel OyarzabalReal Sociedad2017–201925
SaúlAtlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano2013–201725
XaviBarcelona1998–200125

Note: Club(s) represents all the clubs that players played in at the time they did it too in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClub(s)Year(s)U-21 Goals
1Gerard DeulofeuBarcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan2012–201717
2Borja MayoralReal Madrid, VfL Wolfsburg, Levante2015–201916
3RodrigoBenfica2011–201315
4IscoMálaga, Real Madrid2011–201414
5Álvaro MorataReal Madrid, Juventus2013–201413
Abel RuizBarcelona, Sporting Braga2019–202313
7ÓscarBarcelona, Albacete1992–199612
8MunirBarcelona2014–201610
9Pablo CouñagoCelta, Recreativo, Ipswich Town1999–20019
AdriánDeportivo, Alavés, Málaga, Atlético Madrid2007–20119
SaúlAtlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano2013–20179

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 21 June 2025.

Recent results

DateCompetitionLocationOpponentResultScorers
8 September 20232025 UEFA U-21 qualificationPaola, Malta6–0Diego López , Gabri Veiga {{goal14
11 September 20232025 UEFA U-21 qualificationJaén, Spain1–0Turrientes
13 October 2023FriendlyTashkent, Uzbekistan0–0
17 October 20232025 UEFA U-21 qualificationAstana, Kazakhstan4–0Fermín López , Diego López , Fran Pérez , Omorodion
17 November 20232025 UEFA U-21 qualificationHuelva, Spain2–0Carlos Martín , Pablo Torre
21 November 20232025 UEFA U-21 qualificationLeuven, Belgium1–1Omorodion
21 March 2024FriendlyJerez, Spain0–2
26 March 20242025 UEFA U-21 qualificationAlmería, Spain1–0Joseph
6 September 20242025 UEFA U-21 qualificationEdinburgh, Scotland2–1Huijsen , Joseph
10 September 20242025 UEFA U-21 qualificationSzeged, Hungary1–0Navarro
10 October 20242025 UEFA U-21 qualificationLa Línea, Spain4–3Joseph {{goal15
15 October 20242025 UEFA U-21 qualificationAlgeciras, Spain6–0Omorodion {{goal5
15 November 2024FriendlyLa Línea, Spain0–0
19 November 2024FriendlyAlbacete, Spain2–1Javi Guerra , Joseph
21 March 2025FriendlyLorca, Spain2–2Joseph , Tárrega
25 March 2025FriendlyDarmstadt, Germany1–3Gabri Veiga
6 June 2025FriendlyAlcorcón, Spain0–1
11 June 20252025 UEFA U-21Bratislava, Slovakia3–2Pubill , Joseph , Tárrega
14 June 20252025 UEFA U-21Bratislava, Slovakia2–1Jauregizar , Fernández
17 June 20252025 UEFA U-21Trnava, Slovakia1–1Jesús Rodríguez
21 June 20252025 UEFA U-21Trnava, Slovakia1–3Javi Guerra
5 September 20252027 UEFA U-21 qualificationSoria, Spain3–0Obrador , Yarek , Pablo García
9 September 20252027 UEFA U-21 qualificationPristina, Kosovo3–0Joel Roca , Iker Bravo , Adrián Niño
10 October 2025FriendlyGuadalajara, Spain4–1Simo , Ángel Ortiz , Gonzalo , Miguel Carvalho
14 October 20252027 UEFA U-21 qualificationCastellón, Spain2–1Mayenda , Gonzalo
14 November 20252027 UEFA U-21 qualificationLugo, Spain7–0Virgili {{goal19
18 November 20252027 UEFA U-21 qualificationSibiu, Romania2–0Gonzalo , Fresneda

Forthcoming fixtures

DateCompetitionLocationOpponent

2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group phase

Main article: 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group A

Players

Players born in 2004 or later are eligible for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Players in bold have been already capped with the senior team.

Current squad

The following players were named in the squad for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against San Marino and Romania on 14 and 18 November 2025, respectively.

Caps and goals as of 18 November 2025, after the match against Romania.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last twelve months are still eligible for selection.

Honours

Titles

Former squads

Notes

References

References

  1. (9 June 2011). "La sub 21 regresa al lugar donde nació el 'tiqui-taca'". [[Marca (newspaper).
  2. (7 November 2025). "Esta es la lista de David Gordo para los compromisos de Noviembre". Royal Spanish Football Federation.
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