France Under-21

Nickname(s)	Les Bleuets (patterned after Les Bleus, nickname for the senior team) Espoirs
Association	Fédération Française de Football
Head coach	Eric Mombaerts
Captain	Yohan Cabaye
Most caps	Bacary Sagna (28)
Top scorer	Yoann Gourcuff (4)
Home colours Away colours
First international
U23: France 0-0 Norway Alès, November 11, 1970 U21: France 1-1 Belgium Amiens, September 3, 1976
Biggest win
France 7-0 Yugoslavia Reims, November 16, 1985
Biggest defeat
England 6-1 France Sheffield, February 28, 1984 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	8 (First in 1982)
Best result	Winners 1988

The France national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of France and is controlled by the French Football Federation. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the French Under-21 team was formed. The team has a good record - it has finished first, second, third and fourth in the competition on one occasion each.

Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start ot a two year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, France's record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown. France did not enter a team in the first two U-23 competitions, but reached the quarter finals in the third.

[edit] UEFA U-23 Championship Record

• 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
• 1974: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1976: Losing quarter-finalists.

[edit] UEFA U-21 Championship Record

• 1978: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1980: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1982: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1984: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1986: Losing quarter-finalists.
• 1988: Winners.
• 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1992: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
• 1994: Losing semi-finalists. Finished fourth.
• 1996: Losing semi-finalists. Finished third.
• 1998: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
• 2000: Did not qualify. Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
• 2002: Runners-up.
• 2004: Did not qualify. Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off.
• 2006: Losing semi-finalists.
• 2007: Did not qualify. Lost qualification play-off.
• 2009: Did not qualify. Lost qualification play-off.

[edit] Current squad

The following players were called up to participate in a friendly match against Denmark on November 19, 2008. Caps and goals are as current as squad's most previous match.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Johan Carrasso 7 May 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Montpellier GK Johnny Placide 29 January 1988 (age 20) 0 0 Le Havre DF Paul Baysse 18 May 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Sedan DF Lamine Gassama 20 October 1989 (age 19) 1 0 Lyon DF Cheikh M'Bengue 23 July 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Toulouse DF Loïc Nestor 20 May 1989 (age 18) 1 0 Le Havre DF Mamadou Sakho 13 February 1990 (age 18) 1 0 PSG DF Armand Traoré 8 October 1989 (age 19) 1 0 Portsmouth MF Etienne Capoue 11 July 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Toulouse MF Sofiane Feghouli 26 December 1989 (age 18) 1 0 Grenoble MF Marvin Martin 10 June 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Sochaux MF Yohan Mollo 18 July 1989 (age 18) 1 0 Monaco MF Younousse Sankharé 10 September 1989 (age 19) 1 1 PSG MF Moussa Sissoko 16 August 1989 (age 19) 4 0 Toulouse MF Geoffrey Tulasne 24 February 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Sochaux FW Kévin Monnet-Paquet 19 August 1988 (age 20) 7 0 Lens FW David N'Gog 1 April 1989 (age 19) 1 0 Liverpool FW Frédéric Nimani 8 October 1988 (age 20) 1 0 Monaco FW Ryad Boudebouz 19 February 1990 (age 18) 0 0 Sochaux

[edit] Current and recent players

Players born in 1986 or later are eligible for the 2007-09 UEFA European U-21 Championship, 1988 or later are eligible for the 2009-11 UEFA European U-21 Championship and so on. The Under-19 team will be the most obvious source of the next crop of Under-21s.

Those players in italics have caps for the senior team. Details of exactly which players have been selected for the March 2007 fixture against Denmark and Norway are available here.

See also: 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squads.

[edit] See also

• France national football team
• European Under-21 Football Championship

[edit] Sources/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.

Football in France v • d • e
League competitions National association Cup competitions Ligue 1 LFP Coupe de France Ligue 2 National team Coupe de la Ligue National B Trophée des Champions CFA (4 groups) U-21 / Youth Coupe Gambardella CFA 2 (8 groups) List of clubs League system List of venues Women Division 1 Women's national team Foreign players
National under-21 football teams of Europe (UEFA) v • d • e
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European Under-21 Championship v • d • e
1976-1978 | 1978-1980 | 1980-1982 | 1982-1984 | 1984-1986 | 1986-1988 | 1988-1990 | 1990-1992 | 1992-1994 France | 1994-1996 Spain | 1996-1998 Romania | 1998-2000 Slovakia | 2000-2002 Switzerland | 2002-2004 Germany | 2004-2006 Portugal | 2006-2007 Netherlands | 2007-2009 Sweden | 2009-2011