The Israel national under-21 football team ( he, הנבחרת הצעירה של ישראל בכדורגל) is the national under-21

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and is controlled by the

Israel Football Association The Israel Football Association (IFA; he, ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל, ''HaHit'aḥdut leKaduregel beIsrael'', literally "The Association of Football in Israel") is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes a varie ...

(IFA). It is considered to be the feeder team for the senior

Israel national football team The Israel national football team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורגל, ) represents Israel in international football, and is governed by the Israel Football Association (IFA). Israel's national team is the direct successor of the M ...

. It has recently qualified for the European Championships to be held in the Netherlands after beating the French under-21 team 2–1 on aggregate. This team consists of Israeli players aged 21 or under at the start of each two-year

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Team members may also simultaneously qualify to various teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s, or even the senior national team, so long as the meet the respective age restriction. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (provided the player is eligible). The U-21 team has been constructed, following the Israel's acceptance as a full member of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

. A draw in a qualifier against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

was Israel U-21s' first result in 1990. Israel U-21s do not have a permanent home. They play in stadia dotted all around Israel in an attempt to encourage fans in all areas of the country to get behind Israel. Because of the lesser appeal compared to the senior national team, smaller grounds are usually used (such as

HaMoshava Stadium The HaMoshava Stadium ( he, אִצְטַדְיוֹן הַמוֹשָׁבָה), also known as Petah Tikva Stadium, is a football stadium in Petah Tikva, Israel. It was completed in 2011, and is used mainly for football matches and is home to ...

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

, Israel).

Competition history

There is no Under-21 World Cup, although there is an Under-20 World Cup. European U-21 teams compete for the European Championship, with the finals every even-numbered year. It will be held in odd-numbered years from 2007. Israel has never fared well in European Under-21 Football Championships. The current campaign started shortly after the 2006 finals – the qualification stage of the 2007 competition. UEFA have decided to shift the next tournament forward to avoid a clash with senior tournaments taking place in even-numbered years. The competition has therefore been reduced as qualifying must be completed in a year's less time. In their three-team qualification group, Israel finished ahead of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In the two-legged play-off against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for a place in the final stage, the team achieved a surprising 1–1 draw in France and won the home match 1–0, with Amir Taga scoring in stoppage time. Note: The year of the tournament represents the year in which it ends.

Competitive Record

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

All-time players stats

Top Appearances

Note: ''Club(s)'' represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top Goalscorers

Note: ''Club(s)'' represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs

The four play-off winners qualify for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. All times are

CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...

(

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Results and fixtures

2021

2022

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

* The following players were called-up for the friendly matches. * Match dates: 16 and 19 November 2022 * Opposition: and * Caps and goals correct as of: 27 September 2022, after the match against

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.

References

External links

Uefa Under-21 website
Contains full results archive

Contains full record of U-21 Championship hosts and additional statistics, such as the Group Winners table for the 1998 qualifiers. {{UEFA under-21 teams European national under-21 association football teams F Youth football in Israel