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 biennial 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.
Individual awards
In addition to team victories, Spanish players have won individual awards at UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
Player records
Top appearances
| Rank |
Player |
Club(s) |
Year(s) |
U-21 Caps |
| 1 | Gerard Deulofeu | Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan | 2012–2017 | 36 |
| 2 | Iker Muniain | Athletic Bilbao | 2011–2014 | 31 |
| 3 | Santiago Denia | Albacete, Atlético Madrid | 1992–1996 | 27 |
| | David de Gea | Atlético Madrid, Manchester United | 2009–2013 | 27 |
| 5 | Xavi | Barcelona | 1998–2001 | 25 |
| | Diego Capel | Sevilla | 2007–2011 | 25 |
| | Saúl | Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano | 2013–2017 | 25 |
| 8 | Dani Ceballos | Betis, Real Madrid | 2015– | 24 |
| | Óscar | Barcelona, Albacete | 1992–1996 | 24 |
| | Javi Martínez | Athletic Bilbao | 2007–2011 | 24 |
| | Jorge Meré | Sporting Gijón, FC Köln | 2015– | 24 |
| | Óliver | Atlético Madrid, Villarreal, Porto | 2013–2016 | 24 |
Note: Club(s) represents all the clubs that players played in at the time they did it too in the Under-21s.
Top goalscorers
| Rank |
Player |
Club(s) |
Year(s) |
U-21 Goals |
| 1 | Gerard Deulofeu | Barcelona, Everton, Sevilla, Milan | 2012–2017 | 17 |
| 2 | Rodrigo | Benfica | 2011–2013 | 15 |
| 3 | Isco | Málaga, Real Madrid | 2011–2014 | 14 |
| 4 | Álvaro Morata | Real Madrid, Juventus | 2013–2014 | 13 |
| 5 | Óscar | Barcelona, Albacete | 1992–1996 | 12 |
| 6 | Borja Mayoral | Real Madrid, VfL Wolfsburg, Levante | 2015– | 10 |
| | Munir | Barcelona | 2014–2016 | 10 |
| 8 | Pablo Couñago | Celta, Recreativo, Ipswich Town | 1999–2001 | 9 |
| | Adrián | Deportivo, Alavés, Málaga, Atlético Madrid | 2007–2011 | 9 |
| | Saúl | Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano | 2013–2017 | 9 |
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 11 October 2018
Recent results
| Date |
Competition |
Location |
Opponent |
Result |
Scorers |
|
| 23 March 2017 |
Friendly |
Murcia, Spain |
 Denmark |
3–1 |
Merino  22', Saúl 70', Suárez 81' |
|
| 27 March 2017 |
Friendly |
Rome, Italy |
 Italy |
2–1 |
Saúl 34', Mayoral 38' |
|
| 17 June 2017 |
2017 UEFA U-21 group stage |
Gdynia, Poland |
 Macedonia |
5–0 |
Saúl 10', Asensio 16', 54', 72', Deulofeu 35' (pen.) |
|
| 20 June 2017 |
2017 UEFA U-21 group stage |
Gdynia, Poland |
 Portugal |
3–1 |
Saúl 21', Sandro 65', Williams 90+3' |
|
| 23 June 2017 |
2017 UEFA U-21 group stage |
Bydgoszcz, Poland |
 Serbia |
1–0 |
Suárez 38' |
|
| 27 June 2017 |
2017 UEFA U-21 semifinals |
Kraków, Poland |
Italy |
3–1 |
Saúl 53', 65', 74' |
|
| 30 June 2017 |
2017 UEFA U-21 Final |
Kraków, Poland |
 Germany |
0–1 |
|
|
| 1 September 2017 |
Friendly |
Toledo, Spain |
Italy |
3–0 |
Merino 23', Mayoral 45+1', Meré 81' |
|
| 5 September 2017 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Tallinn, Estonia |
 Estonia |
1–0 |
Soler 65' |
|
| 10 October 2017 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Poprad, Slovakia |
 Slovakia |
4–1 |
Merino 26', Oyarzabal 49', Rodri 56', Ceballos 69' |
|
| 9 November 2017 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Murcia, Spain |
 Iceland |
1–0 |
Fabián 36' |
|
| 14 November 2017 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Cartagena, Spain |
Slovakia |
5–1 |
Ceballos 38', 55', 61', Córdoba 53', Mayoral 86' |
|
| 22 March 2018 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Portadown, Northern Ireland |
 Northern Ireland |
5–3 |
Oyarzabal 15', 44', Mayoral 47', 75', 84' |
|
| 27 March 2018 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Ponferrada, Spain |
Estonia |
3–1 |
Fabián 8', Mayoral 37', 51' |
|
| 6 September 2018 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Córdoba, Spain |
 Albania |
3–0 |
Oyarzabal 5', Mayoral 56', Mir 90+2' |
|
| 11 September 2018 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Albacete, Spain |
Northern Ireland |
1–2 |
Rafa Mir 90+2' |
|
| 11 October 2018 |
2019 UEFA U-21 qualification |
Tirana, Albania |
Albania |
1–0 |
Rafa Mir 84' |
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Players
Recent callups
The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months.
- Notes
- Players in italics are still active at international level.
- INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury.
- PRE = Not part of the current squad but present in a preliminary list.
External links
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| Statistics | |
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| World Cup Finals | |
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| UEFA Euro Finals | |
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| Rivalries | |
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| Other RFEF teams | |
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| National teams | |
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| League system | | Level 1 | |
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| Level 2 | |
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| Levels 5–10 | |
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| Women's league system | | Level 1 | |
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| Level 2 | |
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| Levels 3–5 |
- Ligas Regionales (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic, Basque, Canary, Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre, Valencia, Ceuta, Melilla)
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| Youth league system | |
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| Domestic cups | |
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| Women's domestic cups | |
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| Youth domestic cups | |
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