Northern Ireland national under-21 football team

The Northern Ireland national under-21 football team also known as the Northern Ireland under-21s or Northern Ireland U21s, is the national under-21 football team of Northern Ireland and is controlled by the Irish Football Association. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years. To date Northern Ireland haven't yet qualified for the finals tournament.

Northern Ireland Under-21

Association	Irish Football Association
Head coach	Andy Crosby
Most caps	Liam Donnelly (24)
Top scorer	Liam Donnelly Shayne Lavery (5)
First colours Second colours
First international
Rep. of Ireland 1–1 Northern Ireland (Dalymount Park, Phibsborough; 8 March 1978)
Biggest win
Northern Ireland 5–0 Luxembourg (Mourneview Park, Lurgan; 16 November 2007)
Biggest defeat
Northern Ireland 2–6 Greece (The Oval, Belfast; 1 April 2003) Northern Ireland 2–6 Iceland (The Showgrounds, Coleraine; 8 September 2009)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	0

The national under-21 team is the highest level of youth football in Northern Ireland, and is open to any players who were born in Northern Ireland or whose parents or grandparents were born in Northern Ireland. This team is for Northern Irish players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side and again for the U21s.

Competitive Record

For the all-time record of the national team against opposing nations, see the team's all-time record page

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

UEFA Under-21 Football Championship finals record											Qualification record							Manager(s)
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1978	Did not enter										Did not enter							None
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000	Did not qualify										8	1	3	4	5	9		Chris Nicholl
2002											10	2	2	6	12	21		Roy Millar
2004											8	2	1	5	8	16
2006	Did not enter										Did not enter							None
2007	Did not qualify										4	2	0	2	10	7		Roy Millar
2009											8	4	0	4	13	12		Roy Millar, Steve Beaglehole[1]
2011											8	2	1	5	12	16		Steve Beaglehole
2013											8	1	1	6	5	13		Steve Beaglehole, Stephen Robinson[2]
2015											8	1	0	7	3	17		Stephen Robinson, Jim Magilton[3]
2017											10	0	2	8	6	18		Jim Magilton
2019											10	6	2	2	15	11		Ian Baraclough
2021											10	2	3	5	7	13		Ian Baraclough, Andy Crosby[4]
Total	-	0/23	0	0	0	0	0	0	-		92	23	15	54	96	153		-

Results and fixtures

2020

4 September 2021 UEFA U-21 Group 8 Qualifier	Malta	0–2	Northern Ireland	Ta' Qali, Malta
17:00 BST	Larkin  58' Parkhouse  68'	Report		Stadium: Centenary Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Michal Ocenáš (Slovakia)

8 September 2021 UEFA U-21 Group 8 Qualifier	Northern Ireland	0–1	Denmark	Ballymena, Northern Ireland
17:00 BST		Report	Olsen  76' (pen.)	Stadium: Ballymena Showgrounds Attendance: 0 Referee: Igor Pajac (Croatia)

9 October 2021 UEFA U-21 Group 8 Qualifier	Northern Ireland	2–3	Finland	Ballymena, Northern Ireland
18:00 BST	O'Neill  23', 59'	Report	Stavitski  44' Soisalo  62' Skyttä  68'	Stadium: Ballymena Showgrounds Attendance: 0 Referee: Vitor Fernandes Ferreira (Portugal)

13 October 2021 UEFA U-21 Group 8 Qualifier	Northern Ireland	1–0	Ukraine	Ballymena, Northern Ireland
18:00 BST	O'Neill  61'	Report		Stadium: Ballymena Showgrounds Attendance: 0 Referee: Barbeno Luca (San Marino)

17 November 2021 UEFA U-21 Group 8 Qualifier	Ukraine	3–0	Northern Ireland	Kovalivka, Ukraine
16:30 GMT	Babohlo  68' Isaienko  70' Kukharevych  74'	Report		Stadium: Kolos Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Rauf Jabarov (Azerbaijan)

Group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	10	8	2	0	21	9	+12	26	Final tournament		—	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	5–1
2	Romania	10	6	2	2	22	7	+15	20			1–1	—	3–0	4–1	3–0	4–1
3	Ukraine	10	5	1	4	17	11	+6	16			2–3	1–0	—	0–2	3–0	4–0
4	Finland	10	4	1	5	14	15	−1	13			0–1	1–3	0–2	—	1–1	4–0
5	Northern Ireland	10	2	3	5	7	13	−6	9			0–1	0–0	1–0	2–3	—	0–0
6	Malta	10	0	1	9	4	30	−26	1			1–3	0–3	1–4	0–1	0–2	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Players

Current squad

Players born on or after 1 January 1998 will be eligible until the completion of the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[5]

The following players were named in the squad for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier against  Ukraine on the 17 November 2020.[6]

Caps and goals updated as of 17 November 2020 after the match against  Ukraine. Names in bold denote players who have been capped for the senior team.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Liam Hughes	19 August 2001	2	0	Celtic
	GK	Oliver Webber	26 June 2000	1	0	Crystal Palace
	DF	Eoin Toal	15 February 1999	13	0	Derry City
	DF	Kofi Balmer	19 September 2000	9	0	Ballymena United
	DF	Caolan Marron	4 July 1998	9	0	Glentoran
	DF	Danny Amos	20 May 1999	7	0	Doncaster Rovers
	DF	Lewis Thompson	10 October 1999	6	1	Blackburn Rovers
	DF	Ciaron Brown	14 January 1998	4	0	Livingston
	DF	Jack Scott	22 September 2002	3	0	Wolves
	DF	Ross Larkin	10 June 1999	2	1	Linfield
	DF	Daniel Finlayson	19 January 2001	1	0	St Mirren
	MF	Alfie McCalmont	25 March 2000	11	1	Oldham Athletic
	MF	Caolan Boyd-Munce	26 January 2000	11	0	Birmingham City
	MF	JJ McKiernan	18 January 2002	2	0	Watford
	MF	Amrit Bansal-McNulty	16 March 2000	2	0	Como
	MF	Andy Scott	19 June 2000	1	0	Larne
	MF	Trai Hume	18 March 2002	1	0	Ballymena United
	MF	Liam Ravenhill	28 November 2002	0	0	Doncaster Rovers
	FW	Shayne Lavery	8 December 1998	14	5	Linfield
	FW	Paul O'Neill	7 January 2000	6	3	Glentoran
	FW	Chris McKee	7 May 2002	0	0	Rangers

Recent call-ups

The following players have previously been called up to the Northern Ireland under-21 squad in the last year and remain eligible.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Aaron Donnelly	27 March 2000	0	0	Cliftonville	v.  Ukraine, 13 October 2020
MF	Luke Wilson	15 February 2000	0	0	Portadown	v.  Ukraine, 17 November 2020 ^COVID
MF	Ethan Galbraith	11 May 2001	11	0	Manchester United	v.  Ukraine, 13 October 2020
FW	Ben Wilson	5 December 2001	0	0	Brighton	v.  Finland, 9 October 2020 ^INJ
FW	Harry Robinson	26 September 2000	1	0	Motherwell	v.  Denmark, 8 September 2020
FW	Christopher Conn	22 November 2001	0	0	Burnley	v.  Denmark, 8 September 2020
^COVID = Player withdrew due to a positive COVID test or from being in close contact with someone with a positive COVID test. ^INJ = Player withdrew from the squad before any games had been played. ^PRE = Preliminary squad / standby. ^SEN = Player withdrew from the squad due to a call up to the senior team. ^SUS = Suspended from national team. ^WTD = Withdrew due to other reasons.

Player records

Top appearances

  Players still active are highlighted in green

Caps and goals updated as of 17 November 2020 after the match against  Ukraine.

Rank	Player	Year(s)	U-21 Caps	U-21 Goals	First Cap	Last Cap
1	Liam Donnelly	2012–2018	24	5	13 November 2012 vs.	16 October 2018 vs.
2	Sean Friars	1998–2001	21	2	21 April 1998 vs.	5 June 2001 vs.
3	Terry McFlynn	2000–2003	19	2	28 March 2000 vs.	10 October 2003 vs.
	Rory McArdle	2006–2008	19	1	6 February 2006 vs.	26 March 2008 vs.
	Thomas Stewart	2006–2008	19	4	6 February 2006 vs.	26 March 2008 vs.
6	Chris Casement	2007–2009	18	2	6 February 2007 vs.	17 November 2009 vs.
	Cameron Dummigan	2014–2018	18	0	9 September 2014 vs.	16 October 2018 vs.
8	Jeff Whitley	1998–2000	17	1	21 April 1998 vs.	10 October 2000 vs.
	Ciarán Toner	2000–2003	17	1	28 March 2000 vs.	1 April 2003 vs.
	Josh Magennis	2009–2012	17	4	11 August 2009 vs.	13 November 2012 vs.
	David Parkhouse	2017–2020	17	3	8 June 2017 vs.	8 September 2020 vs.

Top goalscorers

  Players still active are highlighted in green

Caps and goals updated as of 17 November 2020 after the match against  Ukraine.

Rank	Player	Year(s)	U-21 Goals	U-21 Caps	Goals per game	First Goal	Last Goal
1	Liam Donnelly	2012–2018	5	24	0.21	8 June 2017 vs.	11 September 2018 vs.
	Shayne Lavery	2016–2020	5	14	0.36	10 November 2017 vs.	25 March 2019 vs.
3	Adrian Coote	1998–1999	4	12	0.33	21 April 1998 vs.	17 August 1999 vs.
	David Healy	1998–1999	4	8	0.50	17 November 1998 vs.	17 August 1999 vs.
	Sam Morrow	2005–2006	4	4	1.00	8 February 2005 vs.	12 April 2006 vs.
	Thomas Stewart	2006–2008	4	19	0.21	16 May 2006 vs.	26 March 2008 vs.
	Josh Magennis	2009–2012	4	17	0.24	8 September 2009 vs.	7 September 2012 vs.
	Oliver Norwood	2009–2012	4	11	0.36	13 November 2009 vs.	2 March 2010 vs.
9	Gary Hamilton	2000–2001	3	12	0.25	2 June 2000 vs.	10 October 2000 vs.
	Mo Harkin	2000–2001	3	9	0.33	28 March 2000 vs.	10 October 2000 vs.
	Grant McCann	2000–2001	3	11	0.27	10 October 2000 vs.	5 October 2001 vs.
	Lee McEvilly	2002–2003	3	9	0.33	6 September 2002 vs.	1 April 2003 vs.
	Chris Turner	2006–2008	3	12	0.25	1 June 2007 vs.	16 November 2007 vs.
	Andrew Little	2008–2010	3	6	0.50	18 November 2008 vs.	3 September 2010 vs.
	Billy Kee	2009–2011	3	10	0.30	10 August 2011 vs.	10 August 2011 vs.
	David Parkhouse	2017–2020	3	17	0.18	8 June 2017 vs.	4 September 2020 vs.
	Paul O'Neill	2019–	3	6	0.50	9 October 2020 vs.	13 October 2020 vs.

Under-21 graduates

Players who have won 25 or more Northern Ireland 'Full' caps after playing for Northern Ireland U21.

  Players still active are highlighted in green

Full caps and goals updated as of 18 November 2020 after the Northern Ireland senior team match against  Romania.

Name	U21 Caps	U21 Goals	U21 Career	Full Caps	Full Goals	Full Career
Chris Baird	6	1	2002–2003	79	0	2003–2016
Kingsley Black	1	0	1990	30	1	1988–1994
Liam Boyce	9	0	2010–2012	27	2	2011–
Noel Brotherston	1	0	1978	27	3	1980–1985
Chris Brunt	2	1	2005–2006	65	3	2004–2017
Roy Carroll	11	0	1998–1999	45	0	1997–2017
Craig Cathcart	15	0	2006–2009	57	2	2010–
Sammy Clingan	11	1	2003–2006	39	0	2006–2014
Stuart Dallas	2	0	2011–2012	52	3	2011–
Steven Davis	3	0	2003–2004	124	12	2005–
Mal Donaghy	1	0	1978	91	0	1980–1994
Iain Dowie	1	1	1990	59	12	1990–1999
Stuart Elliott	3	0	1998–1999	39	4	2000–2007
Corry Evans	10	0	2008–2010	64	2	2009–
Jonny Evans	3	0	2006	89	4	2006–
Warren Feeney	8	2	2001–2003	46	5	2002–2011
Shane Ferguson	11	0	2008–2012	46	1	2009–
Keith Gillespie	1	0	1994	86	2	1995–2008
Danny Griffin	10	1	1998–1999	29	1	1996–2004
Billy Hamilton	1	0	1978	41	5	1979–1989
David Healy	8	4	1998–1999	95	36	2000–2013
Michael Hughes	1	0	1990	71	5	1991–2004
Damien Johnson	11	0	1998–1999	56	0	1999–2009
Kyle Lafferty	2	0	2006	79	20	2006–
Neil Lennon	2	0	1990–1994	40	2	1994–2002
Josh Magennis	17	4	2009–2012	57	8	2010–
Jim Magilton	1	0	1990	52	5	1991–2002
Grant McCann	11	3	2000–2001	39	4	2001–2012
George McCartney	5	0	2000–2001	34	1	2001–2010
David McCreery	1	0	1978	67	0	1976–1990
Michael McGovern	10	0	2005–2006	33	0	2010–
Conor McLaughlin	7	0	2010–2012	42	1	2011–
Paddy McNair	2	0	2014	42	4	2015–
Philip Mulryne	5	1	1998–1999	27	3	1997–2007
Jimmy Nicholl	1	0	1978	73	1	1976–1986
Oliver Norwood	11	4	2009–2012	57	0	2010–2018
John O'Neill	1	0	1978	39	2	1980–1986
Michael O'Neill	1	0	1994	31	4	1988–1996
James Quinn	1	0	1994	50	4	1996–2006
Maik Taylor	1	0	1998	88	0	1999–2011
Jamie Ward	7	2	2006–2008	35	4	2011–2018

Managers

  Current manager highlighted in green

Last updated after the match against  Ukraine on 17 November 2020.

Manager	First Game	Last Game	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Draw %	Loss %
Danny Blanchflower	8 March 1978 vs.	8 March 1978 vs.	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%
Billy Bingham	3 April 1990 vs.	3 April 1990 vs.	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Bryan Hamilton	22 March 1994 vs.	22 March 1994 vs.	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%
Roy Millar	21 April 1998 vs.	21 April 1998 vs.	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Chris Nicholl	20 May 1998 vs.	8 October 1999 vs.	13	3	5	5	11	13	–2	23.08%	38.46%	38.46%
Roy Millar	28 March 2000 vs.	26 March 2008 vs.	48	18	8	22	64	79	–15	37.50%	16.67%	45.83%
Steve Beaglehole	19 August 2008 vs.	15 November 2011 vs.	21	4	3	14	23	39	–16	19.05%	14.29%	66.67%
Steve Robinson	10 May 2012 vs.	15 October 2013 vs.	10	0	0	10	5	24	–19	0.00%	0.00%	100.00%
Jim Magilton*	14 November 2013 vs.	11 October 2016 vs.	14	1	2	11	8	27	–19	7.14%	14.29%	78.57%
Ian Baraclough	8 June 2017 vs.	19 November 2019 vs.	19	9	6	4	22	19	+3	47.37%	31.58%	21.05%
Andy Crosby**	4 September 2020 vs.	-	5	2	0	3	5	7	–2	40.00%	0.00%	60.00%
Total			134	39	26	69	143	211	-68	29.10%	19.40%	51.50%

• * first two games as caretaker manager
• ** caretaker manager

See also

• Northern Ireland national football team
• Northern Ireland national under-17 football team
• Northern Ireland national under-19 football team

References

1. Roy Millar managed for the first seven qualifying matches. Steve Beaglehole managed the last game of the qualification campaign.
2. Steve Beaglehole managed for the first five qualifying matches. Stephen Robinson managed for the remainder of the qualification campaign.
3. Stephen Robinson managed for the first four qualifying matches. Jim Magilton managed for the remainder of the qualification campaign.
4. Ian Baraclough managed for the first five qualifying matches. Andy Crosby was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of the qualification campaign.
5. "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2019-21" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
6. "Andy Crosby introduces three new faces to U21 panel for Euro qualifiers in Ballymena". 12 November 2020.

External links

• NI U21 Appearance Details from NIFG