Germany national under-21 football team

The Germany national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Germany in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and is controlled by the German Football Association (DFB), the governing body of football in Germany.

Germany Under-21

Association	Deutscher Fußball-Bund
Head coach	Stefan Kuntz
Captain	Johannes Eggestein
Most caps	Fabian Ernst (31)
Top scorer	Pierre Littbarski (18)
First colours Second colours
First international
U-23: West Germany 3–3 Yugoslavia (Frankfurt, Germany; 25 June 1955) U-21: Poland 1–0 West Germany (Toruń, Poland; 10 October 1979)
Biggest win
U-23: West Germany 3–0 Turkey (Augsburg, Germany; 24 April 1971) U-21: San Marino 0–11 Germany Serravalle, San Marino; 17 November 2009)
Biggest defeat
U-23: Soviet Union 3–1 West Germany (Yerevan, USSR; 29 April 1972) U-21: Portugal 5–0 Germany (Olomouc, Czech Republic; 27 June 2015)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	11 (first in 1982)
Best result	Winners (2009, 2017)

Before the reunification of Germany, East Germany and West Germany played as separate entities — the two teams played separately until summer 1990. Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, international under-21 football in Europe began. A West German team, however, did not compete in the U-21 European Championship until the qualifying round (beginning in 1980) of the 1982 competition.

West Germany competed in the first two under-23 competitions, which finished in 1972 and 1974. The first under-21 competition finals were in 1978, and since the under-21 competition rules state that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an under-23 competition.

The current Germany team can be legitimately considered as the current incarnation of the West German team, since the West Germany flag, uniform, and football association all became those of the unified Germany. In effect, the West German team absorbed the East German team to become 'the Germany national under-21 football team'.

For these reasons, the record of West Germany for the U-23 and U-21 competitions is shown below.

Competition records

For the East Germany team record, look here.

Competing as West Germany

UEFA U-23 Championship record

Year	Progress
1972	Quarterfinals
1974	Did not qualify
1976	Did not enter

UEFA U-21 Championship record

Year	Progress
1978	Did not enter
1980	Did not enter
1982	Final
1984	Did not qualify
1986	Did not qualify
1988	Did not qualify
1990	Quarterfinals

Competing as Germany

UEFA U-21 Championship record

Year	Progress
1992	Quarterfinals
1994	Did not qualify
1996	Quarterfinals
1998	Quarterfinals
2000	Did not qualify
2002	Did not qualify
2004	Group Stage
2006	Group Stage
2007	Did not qualify
2009	Champions
2011	Did not qualify
2013	Group Stage
2015	Semifinals
2017	Champions
/ 2019	Runners-up
/ 2021	Qualified

Individual Awards

• Golden Player: Rudi Völler (1982)
• Silver Boot: Kevin Volland (2015)

EURO Under-21 dream team

On 17 June 2015, UEFA revealed an all-time best XI from the previous Under-21 final tournaments.[1]

Included players from Germany:

• Goal: Manuel Neuer
• Defence: Mats Hummels
• Midfield: Mesut Özil

Schedule and results

26 March 2020 Friendly	Germany	Cancelled	Austria	Braunschweig
18:15		Report		Stadium: Eintracht-Stadion
Note: The match was cancelled on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[2]

3 September 2020 2021 UEFA Q	Germany	4–1	Moldova	Wiesbaden
18:15	Berisha  10' Nmecha  62' (pen.) Schlotterbeck  74' Krüger  79'	Report	Carastoian  84'	Stadium: Brita-Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Nejc Kajtazović (Slovenia)
Note: The match was played behind closed doors.

8 September 2020 2021 UEFA Q	Belgium	4–1	Germany	Heverlee
16:00	Ndayishimiye  19', 60' (pen.) De Ketelaere  52' Openda  76'	Report	Nmecha  31' (pen.)	Stadium: Den Dreef Attendance: 0 Referee: Michael Fabbri (Italy)
Note: The match was played behind closed doors.

9 October 2020 2021 UEFA Q	Moldova	0–5	Germany	Chișinău
18:15		Report	Nmecha  19', 25' (pen.) Özcan  41' Burkardt  67' Kother  90+2'	Stadium: Zimbru Stadium Referee: Ferenc Karakó (Hungary)

13 October 2020 2021 UEFA Q	Germany	1–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Fürth
18:15	Nmecha  29'	Report		Stadium: Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer Attendance: 0 Referee: Boris Marhefka (Slovakia)
Note: The match was played behind closed doors.

12 November 2020 Friendly	Germany	1–1	Slovenia	Braunschweig
18:15	Wintzheimer  42' (pen.)	Report	Medved  46' (pen.)	Stadium: Eintracht-Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (Denmark)
Note: The match was played behind closed doors.

17 November 2020 2021 UEFA Q	Germany	2–1	Wales	Braunschweig
18:15	Nmecha  17' (pen.) Burkardt  26'	Report	Harris  34'	Stadium: Eintracht-Stadion Attendance: 0 Referee: Arman Ismuratov (Kazakhstan)
Note: The match was originally scheduled to take place on 17 March 2020, but was postponed due to the due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and played behind closed doors.[2]

24 March 2021 2021 European Championship	Hungary	v	Germany	Székesfehérvár
				Stadium: MOL Aréna Sóstó

27 March 2021 2021 European Championship

Germany

v

Netherlands

30 March 2021 2021 European Championship

Germany

v

Romania

Players

Current squad

Players born in or after 1998 are eligible for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

The following players were called up for the friendly against Slovenia and the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Wales on 12 and 17 November 2020.[3]

Note: Names in italics denote players that have been called up to the senior team.

Caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2020.[4]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Markus Schubert	12 June 1998	6	0	Eintracht Frankfurt
2	DF	Josha Vagnoman	12 November 2000	4	0	Hamburger SV
3	DF	Tim Handwerker	19 May 1998	7	0	1. FC Nürnberg
5	DF	Amos Pieper	17 January 1998	4	0	Arminia Bielefeld
6	MF	Niklas Dorsch	15 January 1998	8	1	Gent
7	FW	Dominik Kother	16 March 2000	3	1	Karlsruher SC
8	MF	Arne Maier (C)	8 January 1999	12	1	Hertha BSC
9	FW	Jonathan Burkardt	11 July 2000	5	2	Mainz 05
10	FW	Lukas Nmecha	14 December 1998	14	8	Anderlecht
11	FW	Mërgim Berisha	11 May 1998	7	1	Red Bull Salzburg
12	GK	Finn Dahmen	27 March 1998	2	0	Mainz 05
13	MF	Salih Özcan (captain)	11 January 1998	11	1	1. FC Köln
14	DF	Lars Lukas Mai	31 March 2000	4	0	Darmstadt 98
15	DF	Ismail Jakobs	17 August 1999	4	0	1. FC Köln
16	MF	Jean-Manuel Mbom	24 February 2000	2	0	Werder Bremen
17	MF	David Raum	22 April 1998	2	0	Greuther Fürth
18	FW	Florian Krüger	13 February 1999	5	1	Erzgebirge Aue
19	DF	Maxim Leitsch	18 May 1998	3	0	VfL Bochum
20	DF	Felix Passlack	29 May 1998	4	0	Borussia Dortmund
21	DF	Ridle Baku	8 April 1998	8	0	VfL Wolfsburg
22	MF	Florian Wirtz	3 May 2003	3	0	Bayer Leverkusen
23	GK	Lennart Grill	12 June 1998	7	0	Bayer Leverkusen
24	FW	Manuel Wintzheimer	10 January 1999	2	1	Hamburger SV
25	DF	Stephan Ambrosius	18 December 1998	1	0	Hamburger SV
26	DF	Paul Jaeckel	22 July 1998	1	0	Greuther Fürth

Recent call ups

The following players have also been called up to the Germany under-21 squad and remain eligible:

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Eike Bansen	21 February 1998	0	0	Zulte Waregem	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
DF	Lennart Czyborra	3 May 1999	0	0	Atalanta	Slovenia 12 November 2020
DF	Nico Schlotterbeck	1 December 1999	7	3	Union Berlin	Slovenia 12 November 2020
DF	Luca Kilian	1 September 1999	7	1	Mainz 05	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
DF	David Raum	22 April 1998	0	0	Greuther Fürth	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
DF	Felix Agu	27 September 1999	2	0	Werder Bremen	Moldova 9 October 2020
DF	Vitaly Janelt	10 May 1998	6	0	Brentford	Belgium 8 September 2020
MF	Robin Hack	27 August 1998	5	3	1. FC Nürnberg	Slovenia 12 November 2020
MF	Dennis Geiger	10 June 1998	5	0	1899 Hoffenheim	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
MF	Yannik Keitel	15 February 2000	3	0	SC Freiburg	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
MF	Roberto Massimo	12 October 2000	1	0	VfB Stuttgart	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020
MF	Linton Maina	23 June 1999	0	0	Hannover 96	Belgium 8 September 2020
FW	Ragnar Ache	28 July 1998	3	1	Eintracht Frankfurt	Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 October 2020

Past squads

• 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
• 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Player records

Most caps No. of caps Player U-21 career 31 Fabian Ernst 1998–2001 30 Levin Öztunalı 2015–2019 27 Andreas Beck 2007–2009 26 Mike Hanke 2003–2005 25 Dennis Aogo 2007–2009 24 Christian Tiffert 2002–2004 Daniel Schwaab 2007–2010 Lewis Holtby 2009–2013 Moritz Leitner 2011–2015 Nadiem Amiri 2016–2019

Most goals No. of goals No. of caps Player U-21 career 18 21 Pierre Littbarski 1979–1982 17 20 Heiko Herrlich 1990–1993 15 23 Benjamin Auer 2002–2004 14 26 Mike Hanke 2003–2005 24 Lewis Holtby 2009–2013 13 21 Rouwen Hennings 2007–2009 11 22 Kevin Volland 2012–2015 10 19 Rudi Völler 1979–1982 22 Christian Nerlinger 1992–1996 15 Luca Waldschmidt 2017–2019

Former coaches

• Hannes Löhr (1990–2002)
• Jürgen Kohler (2002–2003)
• Uli Stielike (2003–2004)
• Dieter Eilts (2004–2008)
• Horst Hrubesch (2008–2009)
• Rainer Adrion (2009–2013)
• Horst Hrubesch (2013–2016)
• Stefan Kuntz (2016–)

See also

• Germany national football team
• Germany national youth football team
• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

References

1. "Our all-time Under-21 EURO dream team". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
2. "Offiziell bestätigt: Länderspiele im März und April abgesagt". dfb.de. 17 March 2020.
3. "Kuntz nominiert 26er-Kader mit zwei Neuen". dfb.de. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
4. "U 21-Nationalteam Männer Team". dfb.de. Retrieved 4 March 2014.

External links

• Site of the Under-21 national team at the German Football Association homepage