- France national under-21 football team
European national under-21 football team
Name = France Under-21
Badge = Le nouveau logo FFF.png
(patterned after "Les Bleus",
nickname for the senior team) Espoirs
Association = Fédération Française
de Football
Coach = flagicon|FRA Eric Mombaerts
Captain =Yohan Cabaye
Most caps =Bacary Sagna (28)
Top scorer =Yoann Gourcuff (4)
pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=0000FF|body1=0000FF|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=F01010
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=0000FF|socks2=FFFFFF
First game = U23: France 0-0 NorwayAlès ,November 11 1970
U21: France 1-1 BelgiumAmiens ,September 3 1976
Largest win = France 7-0 YugoslaviaReims ,November 16 1985
Largest loss = England 6-1 FranceSheffield ,February 28 1984
"Records for competitive
matches only."
UEFAu21Champ apps = 8
UEFAu21Champ first = 1982
UEFAu21Champ best = Winners 1988France and is controlled by theFrench Football Federation . The team competes in theEuropean Under-21 Football Championship , held every two years.Following the realignment of
UEFA 's youth competitions in 1976, the French Under-21 team was formed. The team has a good record - it has finished first, second, third and fourth in the competition on one occasion each.Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start ot a two year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, France's record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown. France did not enter a team in the first two U-23 competitions, but reached the quarter finals in the third.
UEFA U-23 Championship Record
* 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
* 1974: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
* 1976: Losing quarter-finalists.UEFA U-21 Championship Record
* 1978: "Did not qualify". Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
* 1980: "Did not qualify". Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
* 1982: Losing quarter-finalists.
* 1984: Losing quarter-finalists.
* 1986: Losing quarter-finalists.
* 1988: Winners.
* 1990: "Did not qualify". Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
* 1992: "Did not qualify". Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
* 1994: Losing semi-finalists. Finished fourth.
* 1996: Losing semi-finalists. Finished third.
* 1998: "Did not qualify". Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
* 2000: "Did not qualify". Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
* 2002: Runners-up.
* 2004: "Did not qualify". Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
* 2006: Losing semi-finalists.
* 2007: "Did not qualify". Lost qualification play-off.Current squad
The following players have been called up to participate in a two-legged UEFA 2009 U-21 Championship play-off match against Germany on
October 10 andOctober 15 ,2008 . Caps and goals are as current as the recent friendly match against Germany.Current and recent players
Players born in 1986 or later are eligible for the 2007-09 UEFA European U-21 Championship, 1988 or later are eligible for the 2009-11 UEFA European U-21 Championship and so on. The Under-19 team will be the most obvious source of the next crop of Under-21s.
Those players in "italics" have caps for the senior team. Details of exactly which players have been selected for the March 2007 fixture against Denmark and Norway are available [http://essonne.fff.fr/selections/espoirs/70194.shtml here] .
"See also:
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squads ."See also
*
France national football team
*European Under-21 Football Championship ources/External links
* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under21 UEFA Under-21 website] Contains full results archive
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/europe-u21.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
