Greece national under-21 football team explained

The Greece national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

The under-21 competition rules stipulate that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, so technically it is up to an U-23 competition. To be eligible for the Greece National Team, all the football players must hold Hellenic (Greek) nationality and comply with the provisions of Article 15 of the regulations governing the Application of FIFA Statutes. A list of 35 football players must be submitted to the UEFA administration 30 days before the European Under-21 Football Championship opening match. Only 22 of the 35 players listed are authorised to take part in the final tournament and 3 of them must be goalkeepers.

As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U-21s, senior side and again for the U-21s, as Sotiris Ninis has done recently. It is also possible to play more than one country at youth level or different at youth level and different at senior level (provided the player is eligible). But a football player can represent only the senior national team that capped him first.

Also in existence are national teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under-17s. Greece also has a women's national team.

History

The first time that Greece's national team of hopes were formed was in 1968, with the aim of participating in the first Balkan Youth Championship that took place at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki.

In their maiden match she played with the corresponding team in Turkey; the match ended in a goalless draw.

The first eleven were the following: Tourkomenis, B. Intzoglou (59' Dimitriou), Chaliambalias, Kyriazis, Athanasopoulos, Karafeskos, Filakouris, Sarafis (46' Stoligas), K. Papaioannou, Koudas, Kritikopoulos (70' Alexiadis).

In the following years, Greece won twice the Balkan Youth Championship (1969 and 1971), and they fought twice (1988 and 1998) in the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Competition Record

As of 23 September 2022

Competitionwidth=50Pldwidth=50Wwidth=50Dwidth=50L
UEFA U-21 Championship2391094585

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

YearPosition
1978Did not qualify
1980Did not qualify
1982Did not qualify
1984Did not qualify
1986Did not qualify
1988
1990Did not qualify
1992Did not qualify
1994Quarter finalist
1996Did not qualify
1998
2000Play-Off for Final Tournament
2002Quarter finalist
2004Did not qualify
2006Did not qualify
2007Did not qualify
2009Did not qualify
2011Play-Off for Final Tournament
2013Did not qualify
2015Did not qualify
2017Did not qualify
2019Play-Off for Final Tournament
2021Did not qualify
2023Did not qualify
2025To be determined
Total4/23

Honours

Winners (2): 1969, 1971

Third place (2):, 2015, 2018

Results and schedule

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2024

Euro 2025 Under-21 Championship qualification

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

See main article: 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group G.

Coaching staff

Managers

The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Greece team manager including their results regarding European Under-21 Championship.

Key: Pld–games played, W–games won, D–games drawn; L–games lost, %–win percentage

ManagerGreece tenurePldWDLWin %Major competitions
2004–2007 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2007–2009 2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2010–2012 2011 European Championship – Play-offs
2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2012–2015 2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2015
2015–2019 2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2019 European Championship – Play-offs
2019–2021 2021 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2021–2022 2023 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2022–
Totals
Last updated: 23 September 2022. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against on 22 March 2024 and on 26 March 2024.[1]

Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the senior team.

Former squads

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Εθνική Ελπίδων: η αποστολή για Λευκορωσία και Ανδόρα . epo.gr . 13 March 2024.