The Wales national under-21 football team, also known as the Wales U21s, 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 ...

team of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and is controlled by the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Welsh national football team, its corresponding women's team, as well as the Welsh ...

. The team competes in the

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 ...

, held every two years. To date Wales haven't yet qualified for the finals tournament but in recent years have shown good form, losing in a playoff (5–4) to England in the 2009 qualifying campaign and finishing second in their group two years later, after leading their group until their last game Wales only needed a draw to qualify for the play-offs but lost 1–0 away to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The under-21 team came into existence following the realignment 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 fo ...

's youth competitions in 1976. A goalless draw in a friendly against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at Wolverhampton Wanderers'

Molineux Stadium Molineux Stadium ( ) in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, has been the home ground of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1889. The first stadium built for use by a Football League club, it was one of the first British groun ...

was Wales U21s' first result. The national under-21 team is the highest level of youth football in Wales, and is open to any players who were born in Wales or whose parents or grandparents were born in Wales. This team is for Welsh players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year

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. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. 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.

Recent history

Historically the team was viewed by the Welsh national management as a hole to be filled rather than a team to be used to nurture young international players. Many of the great Welsh players spent little time in the under-21 team.

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his entire professional career for Manchester United and briefly served as ...

only made one appearance for the under-21 team before making his senior debut against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

the next day. From 2004 onward however, the former

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Garet ...

manager John Toshack and former Wales Under 21 manager Brian Flynn used the under-21 team to create a pool of youthful Welsh talent. The team now has a much better tracking system of young Welsh players, and has seen a marked improvement in players and team results. Recent results have seen them achieve big wins against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

(5–1),

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

(4–0) and

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 ...

(4–2). Players who have made the step from the U21s to attain over 50 caps for the senior squad are

Gary Speed Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...

, Simon Davies,

Carl Robinson Carl Robinson (born 13 October 1976) is a retired Welsh international footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Club career Wolverhampton Wanderers Robinson s ...

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward and is current assistant manager at EFL Championship side Burnley. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy began his senior playing career with Norw ...

Robert Earnshaw Robert Earnshaw (born 6 April 1981) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup, ...

, James Collins,

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional association football, footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker (association football), stri ...

Andy King Andrew or Andy King may refer to: * Andrew King (astrophysicist) (born 1947), British astrophysicist * Andrew King (architect), Canadian architect and cross-disciplinary artist *Andrew King (mayor) (born 1960 or 1961), former mayor of Hamilton, New ...

Joe Ledley Joseph Christopher Ledley (born 23 January 1987) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He started his career with then Championship side Cardiff City where he spent six years. He helped the club to the F ...

Sam Vokes Samuel Michael Vokes (born 21 October 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One club Wycombe Wanderers and the Wales national team. Vokes began his professional career at AFC Bournemouth in League One, makin ...

Wayne Hennessey Wayne Robert Hennessey (born 24 January 1987) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Nottingham Forest and the Wales national team. Hennessey's first professional games saw him set a new Football ...

, Chris Gunter,

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

Aaron Ramsey Aaron James Ramsey (born 26 December 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice and the Wales national team. Ramsey mainly plays as a box-to-box midfielder, but has also been deployed on the left ...

and

Joe Allen Joseph Michael Allen (born 14 March 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL Championship club Swansea City. Allen began his career at Swansea City, making his first-team debut in January 2007 at age 16. H ...

. On 15 May 2008, they played a friendly against England U21s to mark the 100th match in the history of the side, losing 2–0. A 3–0 victory against Romania in September 2008 meant that the Under-21 side finished top of their qualifying group for the first time in their history. It meant Wales would go into a two-legged play-off against

in October 2008 for a place in the finals of the

2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

to be played in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. Wales lost the playoff 5–4 over the course of two legs. Losing 3–2 at home in the first leg and drawing 2–2 away in the second. Wales started their qualifying campaign for the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 ...

with a 1–0 away win against Andorra, a 3–1 away loss against Montenegro, a 1–0 home win against Montenegro, a 1–0 home defeat against Czech Republic and a 0–0 away draw against Armenia. In May 2012 Brian Flynn vacated his position as Wales under-21 manager at the end of his contract and in July 2012

Geraint Williams David Geraint Williams (born 5 January 1962) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1980 until 2000, notably featuring in the Premier League for Ipswich Town, as well as in the Foot ...

was appointed team manager Williams resigned as team manager on 5 December 2016. On 15 March 2017 it was announced that former

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

and

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

manager

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of the Wales national team. In an 18-year career in the Premier League and the English Football League, he made 550 competitiv ...

had left his position on the coaching staff at Nottingham Forest to become Wales under-21 manager. In August 2019 Page was appointed assistant coach to the senior Wales squad under

with

Paul Bodin Paul John Bodin (born 13 September 1964) is a Welsh former professional footballer and coach who is now the coach of the Wales under-21 team. His son, Billy Bodin, is also a professional footballer. A former Chelsea youth team graduate, he mov ...

stepping up from the Under 19's to manage the Under 21 team. In November 2021, Wales picked up their biggest ever win at under-21 level when they beat Gibraltar 7–0 in a

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", prov ...

for the

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) will be the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ...

. In July 2022 Bodin's contract with Wales Under-21 was terminated by mutual consent. In September 2022, Matt Jones was appointed as manager.

Players

Latest squad

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Wales squad for the friendly match against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 27 September 2022.Wales U21 squad
/ref> Caps and goals as of 14 June 2022. Players in bold have attained full international caps. Clubs as of the date of the announcement. , - !colspan="7" bgcolor="#B0D3FB", , - bgcolor="#DFEDFD" , - !colspan="10" bgcolor="#B0D3FB", , - bgcolor="#DFEDFD" , - !colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB", , - bgcolor="#DFEDFD"

Recent call-ups

''The following players have also been called up to the Wales under-21 squad and remain eligible''. Players in bold have caps for the senior team. ^INJ ^SEN Key *^SUS = Suspended for next match. *^SEN = Called up to senior squad. *^INJ = Withdrew from the squad due to injury. *^WD = Withdrew from the squad for non injury issue.

References

External links