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, 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. A West German team, however, did not compete in the U-21 European Championship until the qualifying round 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
YearProgress
1972Quarterfinals
1974Did not qualify
1976Did not enter

;UEFA U-21 Championship record
YearProgress
1978Did not enter
1980Did not enter
1982Final
1984Did not qualify
1986Did not qualify
1988Did not qualify
1990Quarterfinals

Competing as Germany

;UEFA U-21 Championship record
YearProgress
1992Quarterfinals
1994Did not qualify
1996Quarterfinals
1998Quarterfinals
2000Did not qualify
2002Did not qualify
2004Group Stage
2006Group Stage
2007Did not qualify
2009Champions
2011Did not qualify
2013Group Stage
2015Semifinals
2017Champions
/ 2019Runners-up

Individual Awards

;EURO Under-21 dream team
On 17 June 2015, UEFA revealed an all-time best XI from the previous Under-21 final tournaments.
Included players from Germany:

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 qualifier against Belgium on 17 November 2019.
Note: Names in italics denote players that have been called up to the senior team.

Recent call ups

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

Past squads

;Most caps
No. of capsPlayerU-21 career
31Fabian Ernst1998–2001
30Levin Öztunalı2015–2019
27Andreas Beck2007–2009
26Mike Hanke2003–2005
25Dennis Aogo2007–2009
24Christian Tiffert2002–2004
24Daniel Schwaab2007–2010
24Lewis Holtby2009–2013
24Moritz Leitner2011–2015
24Nadiem Amiri2016–2019

;Most goals
No. of goalsNo. of capsPlayerU-21 career
1821Pierre Littbarski1979–1982
1720Heiko Herrlich1990–1993
1523Benjamin Auer2002–2004
1426Mike Hanke2003–2005
1424Lewis Holtby2009–2013
1321Rouwen Hennings2007–2009
1122Kevin Volland2012–2015
1019Rudi Völler1979–1982
1022Christian Nerlinger1992–1996
1015Luca Waldschmidt2017–2019

Former coaches