Greece Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Εθνική Ελπίδων
("National team of Hopes")
AssociationHellenic Football Federation
Head coachNikos Papadopoulos
CaptainKonstantinos Tzolakis
Most capsGiorgos Karagounis (39)
Top scorerNikos Liberopoulos &
Lampros Choutos (15)
First colours
Second colours
Third colours
Biggest win
Greece Greece 6–0 Luxembourg Luxembourg
(Greece; 1993)
Greece Greece 6–0 Latvia Latvia
(Greece; 1999)
Biggest defeat
Hungary Hungary 7–0 Greece Greece
(Hungary; 1976)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances4 (first in 1988)
Best resultRunners-up, 1988, 1998
Greece U-21 team at 5 September 2011

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 insist 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 (providing 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 and it was a draw without goals.

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

Competition Pld W D L
UEFA U-21 Championship2391094585

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

Year Position
1978Did not qualify
1980Did not qualify
1982Did not qualify
1984Did not qualify
1986Did not qualify
1988
1990Did not qualify
1992Did not qualify
France 1994Quarter finalist
Spain 1996Did not qualify
Romania 1998
Slovakia 2000Play-Off for Final Tournament
Switzerland 2002Quarter finalist
Germany 2004Did not qualify
Portugal 2006Did not qualify
Netherlands 2007Did not qualify
Sweden 2009Did not qualify
Denmark 2011Play-Off for Final Tournament
Israel 2013Did not qualify
Czech Republic 2015Did not qualify
Poland 2017Did not qualify
ItalySan Marino 2019Play-Off for Final Tournament
Hungary Slovenia 2021Did not qualify
Romania Georgia (country) 2023Did not qualify
Slovakia 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.

2023

24 March 2023 (2023-03-24) Friendly Greece  0–1  Hungary Athens, Greece
17:00 Report
  • Vitális 62'
 Stadium: Georgios Kamaras Stadium
28 March 2023 (2023-03-28) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Greece  1–1  Belarus Athens, Greece
16:00 (17:00 EEST)
Report
Stadium: Leoforos Alexandras Stadium
Attendance: 150
Referee: Sigurd Kringstad (Norway)
12 September 2023 (2023-09-12) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Andorra  0–1  Greece Andorra la Vella, Andorra
18:00 Report
Stadium: Estadi Nacional
Attendance: 506
Referee: Jamie Robinson (Northern Ireland)
13 October 2023 (2023-10-13) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Greece  2–2  Croatia Tripoli, Greece
17:00
Report
Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium
Attendance: 1,250
Referee: Tom Owen (Wales)
17 October 2023 (2023-10-17) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Portugal  2–0  Greece Guimarães, Portugal
20:00 (19:00 WEST)
Report Stadium: Estádio D. Afonso Henriques
Attendance: 2,231
16 November 2023 (2023-11-16) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Greece  3–0  Faroe Islands Tripoli, Greece
15:00 (16:00 EEST)
Report Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium
Attendance: 250
Referee: Mervan Bejtullahu (Kosovo)
21 November 2023 (2023-11-21) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G Greece  2–1  Portugal Tripoli, Greece
15:00 (16:00 EEST)
Report
Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium
Referee: Nikola Popov (Bulgaria)

2024

Euro 2025 Under-21 Championship qualification

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Portugal 5 4 0 1 17 3 +14 12 Final tournament — 2–0 26 Mar '24 21 Mar '24 3–0 6–1
2  Greece 6 3 2 1 9 6 +3 11 Play-offs 2–1 — 2–2 3–0 26 Mar '24 1–1
3  Croatia 4 3 1 0 9 4 +5 10 10 Sep '24 15 Oct '24 — 5 Sep '24 11 Oct '24 2–0
4  Faroe Islands 5 2 1 2 8 11 −3 7 11 Oct '24 10 Sep '24 2–4 — 2–2 15 Oct '24
5  Andorra 6 0 3 3 3 8 −5 3 15 Oct '24 0–1 21 Mar '24 0–1 — 1–1
6  Belarus (E) 8 0 3 5 5 19 −14 3 0–5 22 Mar '24 0–1 2–3 0–0 —
Updated to match(es) played on 20 November 2023. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

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.

Giannis Goumas was the most recent U-21 Greece national team manager
Key: Pld–games played, W–games won, D–games drawn; L–games lost, %–win percentage
Manager Greece tenure Pld W D L Win % Major competitions
Greece Stelios Aposporis 2004–2007 18 9 1 8 050.0 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Nikos Nioplias 2007–2009 19 9 5 5 047.4 2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Georgios Georgiadis 2010–2012 19 10 2 7 052.6 2011 European Championship – Play-offs
2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Kostas Tsanas 2012–2015 18 9 2 7 050.0 2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Michalis Iordanidis 2015 1 1 0 0 100.0 —
Greece Antonis Nikopolidis 2015–2019 33 16 5 12 048.5 2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2019 European Championship – Play-offs
Greece Giannis Goumas 2019–2021 12 4 2 6 033.3 2021 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Georgios Simos 2021–2022 10 5 2 3 050.0 2023 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Greece Nikos Papadopoulos 2022– 1 1 0 0 100.0 —
Totals

Last updated: 23 September 2022. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Players

Current squad

As of 20 November 2023

The following players were called for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against  Faroe Islands on 16 November 2023 and  Portugal on 20 November 2023.[1]

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

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Konstantinos Tzolakis (captain) (2002-11-08) 8 November 2002 19 0 Greece Olympiacos
12 1GK Fotis Sgouris (2002-04-29) 29 April 2002 0 0 Greece Asteras Tripolis
1GK Angelos Angelopoulos (2003-02-19) 19 February 2003 0 0 Greece AEK Athens B
3 2DF Fotis Kitsos (2003-03-31) 31 March 2003 11 0 Greece Volos
4 2DF Panagiotis Panagiotou (2002-01-16) 16 January 2002 6 0 Greece PAOK B
5 2DF Apostolos Konstantopoulos (2002-08-02) 2 August 2002 9 0 Belgium Beerschot
15 2DF Ilias Kostis (2003-02-27) 27 February 2003 4 0 Spain Atlético Madrid B
20 2DF Konstantinos Chrysopoulos (2003-05-21) 21 May 2003 4 0 Greece AEK Athens
22 2DF Argyris Darelas (2003-10-16) 16 October 2003 5 0 Greece PAOK B
23 2DF Apostolos Apostolopoulos (2002-12-11) 11 December 2002 2 0 Greece Olympiacos B
2DF Marcel Wenig (2004-05-04) 4 May 2004 0 0 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
2DF Alexis Kalogeropoulos (2004-07-26) 26 July 2004 0 0 Greece Volos
6 3MF Dimitrios Metaxas (2003-12-16) 16 December 2003 7 0 Greece Volos
8 3MF Christos Kourfalidis (2002-11-11) 11 November 2002 9 0 Italy Feralpisalò
10 3MF Christos Liatsos (2003-09-01) 1 September 2003 2 0 Greece Olympiacos B
11 3MF Nikos Zouglis (2003-11-14) 14 November 2003 6 1 Greece Asteras Tripolis
14 3MF Thomas Karaberis (2002-01-29) 29 January 2002 5 0 Germany Kaiserslautern II
16 3MF Michalis Panagidis (2004-02-11) 11 February 2004 2 1 Greece Aris Thessaloniki
17 3MF Christos Belevonis (2002-07-29) 29 July 2002 6 0 Greece Panetolikos
18 3MF Titos Koutentakis (2003-08-22) 22 August 2003 0 0 Greece OFI
21 3MF Christos Kryparakos (2003-06-12) 12 June 2003 8 0 Greece Panathinaikos B
3MF Vasilios Sourlis (2002-11-16) 16 November 2002 16 2 Greece Asteras Tripolis
3MF Dimitrios Tsopouroglou (2002-06-21) 21 June 2002 2 0 Greece PAOK B
7 4FW Christos Tzolis (2002-01-30) 30 January 2002 7 6 Germany Fortuna Düsseldorf
9 4FW Giannis Niarchos (2002-06-26) 26 June 2002 6 0 Slovakia DAC 1904
4FW Michalis Kosidis (2002-02-09) 9 February 2002 8 2 Netherlands VVV-Venlo
4FW Georgios Koutsias (2004-02-08) 8 February 2004 12 3 United States Chicago Fire

Former squads

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Κλήσεις Εθνικής Ελπίδων". epo.gr. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.