Spain national under-21 football team

Spain Under-21
Nickname(s)	La Furia; (The Wrath)
Association	Real Federación; Española de Fútbol
Head coach	López Caro (2008-); Iñaki Sáez (2004-)
Most caps	Daniel Jarque (14)
Top scorer	Jonathan Soriano (8)
	Home colours
	Away colours
First international
	U-23: Yugoslavia 3-0 Spain; Novi Sad, June 18, 1969; U-21:Yugoslavia 4-1 Spain; Zagreb, October 9, 1976
Biggest win
	Spain 14-0 San Marino; El Ejido, February 8, 2005
Biggest defeat
	Netherlands 5-0 Spain; Utrecht, February 16, 1983; Records for competitive; matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	9 (First in 1982)
Best result	Winners (1986, 1998)

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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 Real Federación Española de Fútbol. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Spanish Under-21 team was formed. The team has a very good record - competition winners twice and runners-up twice. Only Italy have won the competition more times. Spain's tally of six qualification failures may seem high, but of all the countries to enter all fifteen competitions, only Italy have failed to qualify fewer times. The tally of six failures includes the forthcoming 2006 tournament finals, which will take place in May and June.

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. Actually, Spain played only three competitive U-23 matches. The first was in the "Under-23 Challenge", which they lost. 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.

[edit] UEFA U-23 Championship Record

Spain were randomly chosen to play holders Yugoslavia for the title in a one-off match, which Spain lost.

June 18, 1969: Yugoslavia 3-0 Spain
1972: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification "group".
1974: Did not enter.
1976: Did not enter.

[edit] UEFA U-21 Championship Record

1978: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
1980: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
1982: Losing quarter-finalists.
1984: Runners-up.
1986: Winners.
1988: Losing quarter-finalists.
1990: Losing quarter-finalists.
1992: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 5 in qualification group.
1994: Third.
1996: Runners-up.
1998: Winners.
2000: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
2002: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
2004: Did not qualify. Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
2006: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group.
2007: Did not qualify. Finished 1st of 3 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
2009: Qualified

[edit] Current squad

The following players were called up for the match against Portugal on November 18, 2008.^[1]. Players born in 1986 or later are eligible for the 2009 UEFA European U-21 Championship. [1]

Caps and goals as of November 18, 2008.

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Club
GK	Sergio Asenjo	June 28, 1989	Real Valladolid
GK	David De Gea	November 7, 1990	Atlético Madrid B
DF	César Azpilicueta	August 28, 1989	Osasuna
DF	Álvaro Domínguez	May 16, 1989	Atlético Madrid B
DF	Ion Echaide	January 5, 1988	Osasuna B
DF	Manuel Castellano	March 27, 1989	Real Murcia
DF	Roberto Canella	February 7, 1988	Sporting Gijón
MF	Javi Martínez	September 2, 1988	Athletic Bilbao
MF	Mikel Balenziaga	May 2, 1988	Athletic Bilbao
MF	Fran Mérida	March 4, 1990	Arsenal
MF	Ignacio Camacho	May 4, 1990	Atlético Madrid
MF	Sergio Busquets	July 16, 1988	Barcelona
MF	Jordi Alba	March 21, 1989	Gimnàstic de Tarragona
MF	Daniel Parejo	April 16, 1989	Queens Park Rangers
FW	Raúl Ruiz	March 25, 1990	Hércules
FW	Adrián López	January 8, 1988	Málaga
FW	Aarón Ñíguez	April 26, 1989	Rangers
FW	Alberto Bueno	March 20, 1988	Real Madrid Castilla