| Association | Deutscher Fußball-Bund | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Head coach |  Rainer Adrion |
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| Captain | Mats Hummels | ||
| Most caps | Fabian Ernst (31) | ||
| Top scorer | Pierre Littbarski (18) | ||
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| First international | |||
U-23:  Turkey 0-2 West Germany Ankara, October 18, 1970 U-21:  Bulgaria 1-0 West Germany Plovdiv, December 2, 1980 |
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| Biggest win | |||
| U-23: West Germany 3-0 Turkey Augsburg, April 24, 1971 U-21:  San Marino 0-11 Germany Serravalle, November 17, 2009 |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
U-23:  USSR 3-1 West Germany Yerevan, April 29, 1972 U-21: Lost 3-1 on four occasions (Records for competitive matches only) |
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| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||
| Appearances | 8 (First in 1982) | ||
| Best result | Winners 2009 | ||
The Germany national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Germany in the UEFA U-21 Championship, and is controlled by the German Football Association, the governing body of football in Germany.
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. However, a West German team 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 ot a two year competition, technically it is an U-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.
Contents |
UEFA U-23 Championship record
Competing as West Germany:
- 1972: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1974: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
- 1976: Did not enter.
Competing as East Germany:
- 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
- 1974: Runners-up. 3:2,0:4 versus Hungary
- 1976: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
UEFA U-21 Championship record
Competing as West Germany:
- 1978: Did not enter.
- 1980: Did not enter.
- 1982: Runners-up.
- 1984: Losing semi-finalists.
- 1986: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.
- 1988: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1990: Losing quarter-finalists.
East Germany:
- 1978: Runners-up. losing final vs. Yugoslavia 0:1,4:4
- 1980: Runners-up. losing final vs. Soviet Union 0:0,0:1
- 1982: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.
- 1984: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
- 1986: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
- 1988: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
- 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
Competing as unified Germany:
- 1992: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1994: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
- 1996: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1998: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 2000: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. Were 9th best runner-up (top 7 qualified for playoffs)
- 2002: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 5 in qualification group.
- 2004: Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group.
- 2006: Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group.
- 2007: Did not qualify. Losing in playoff for Final Tournament
- 2009: Champion
Eligible players
Players born in 1988 or later are eligible for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. All of these players have been called up to the national under-21 team at least once.
Note: Players in bold have already been called up to the senior team.
Former coaches
- Hannes Löhr (1990-2002)
- Jürgen Kohler (2002-2003)
- Uli Stielike (2003-2004)
- Dieter Eilts (2004-2008)
- Horst Hrubesch (2009)
See also
- UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
- Germany national football team
- Germany national under-17 football team
External links
- UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
- The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
- Site of the Under-21 national team at the German Football Association homepage.
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