Palmarés de La Rojita: how many times has the Spanish national team won the European Under-21 title?

The Spain Under-21 team will try to win the European Under-21 Championship again in 2023. No other team has lifted the trophy more often, with La Rojita tied with Italy at the top of the ranking of countries with the most championships won in continental competition.

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Palmarés de La Rojita: how many times has the Spanish national team won the European Under-21 title?

The Under-21 was crowned European champion five times. This is how the conquests are described on the national team’s official website:

The first, in 1986

On 29 October 1986, Spain’s Under-21 team won their first European Championship at José Zorrilla Stadium, beating Italy on penalties. To reach that final, they first defeated France, with victories 1-3 (in Auxerre on March 12, 1986) and 3-1 (in Murcia on March 26, 1986).

In the semi-finals, the battle was with Hungary, who beat Spain 3-1 in the first leg. On April 23, 1986, in the second leg in La Coruña, Spain equalized the result and qualified for the final thanks to a goal in extra time from the Asturian Eloy Olaya (minute 102). The final was reached against an Italy in which men like Zenga, Donadoni, Giannini, De Napoli, Matteoli, Vialli and Mancini played. In the first leg played in Italy, coach Luis Suárez fielded Ablanedo II, Solana, Sanchís, Andrinúa, Quique Flores, Eusebio, Calderé, Roberto, Bustingorri, Paco Llorente, Pineda (Pardeza 68′).

There, Spain lost two to one. Calderé’s goal in minute 36 was surpassed by those of Vialli (50′) and Giannini (76′). In the second leg in Spain, the U-21 team played Ablanedo II, Solana, Sanchís, Andrinúa, Quique Flores, Gallego (Juan Carlos 93′), Eusebio, Roberto, Eloy, Gabino (Ramón 60′), Paco Llorente . The second leg, played at the Nuevo Zorrilla in Valladolid, ended 2-1 in favor of the Spanish team, so the score was tied. Eloy scored in minute 36 and Roberto in minute 76.

This is how the penalty shootout was achieved to decide who would be the winner. Spain won the European title thanks to Ablanedo who, in addition to his four excellent saves during the game, added the saving of two shots from the penalty spot at the decisive moment. Sporting’s goalkeeper parried Giannini’s first shot from the penalty spot and Baroni’s third, while Desideri shot the second wide. In Spain, Roberto, Eusebio and Ramón scored.

The second, in 1998

The National Team won its second Under-21 European Championship after beating Greece 0-1 in Romania. The Under-21s defended their European title in 1998 after winning it for the first time in 1986. In 1998 in Romania they won their second European title. Spain came second in the European Under-21 in 1998 since losing the final played in Barcelona against Italy in 1996. Under the leadership of Iñaki Sáez, they had had a great previous phase: they were undefeated and had won all but one game, the home draw against Slovakia.

To reach the final, they beat Russia in the quarter-final with a goal from Iván Pérez, Norway in the semi-final thanks to a goal from Víctor Sánchez and Greece in the final. In that final, the U-21 team triumphed over the Greeks and brought together a great generation of footballers, such as Benjamín, Roger, Guerrero, Rekarte Michel Salgado, García Calvo, Guti, Valerón, Iván Pérez and Arnau. Francesc Arnau was the Championship goalkeeper, as Spain only conceded six goals in their eight qualifying matches thanks to the goalkeeper, who was chosen as the tournament’s “golden player”. Arnau, who started his football career as a defender, was unbeatable in the games against Russia, Norway and in the final against Greece. Spain triumphed 1-0 in all these matches.

“I was bored as a goalkeeper for a while and played table tennis for a year before putting my gloves back on,” Arnau confesses. He did it just in time to become an international and make a decisive contribution to the conquest of Euro 1998. And Iván Pérez finished as the tournament’s top scorer and was the author of the winning goal against Greece in the final, taking the second Spain’s European title.

“I will remember that championship for the rest of my life. We played three games, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final, in the three games we were 1-0 and I was lucky enough to score all three goals The truth is that scoring the goal of the final was the best thing that happened to me in my entire career,” the scorer of the only goal in the final still remembers.

The third, in 2011

The third Under-21 Euro Cup was won by the national team after a 2-0 victory over Switzerland in Denmark. The authors of the goals were Ander Herrera, with a header, and Thiago, with a Vaseline. The team, led by Luis Milla, that played in the final was formed by De Gea in goal; Montoya, Botía, Domínguez, Didac Vilá in defense while Javi Martínez, Ander Herrera (Capel, m.89), Thiago, Mata, Muniain (Parejo, m.86) and Adrián (Jeffrén, m.81) complete the line-up completed.

Deportivo de La Coruña forward Adrián López was Denmark’s top scorer in the European Under-21 Championship with five goals, ahead of Switzerland’s Admir Mehmedi with three and Juan Mata with two. Adrián did not score against Switzerland in the final or against England on his debut, but he did score twice against the Czech Republic and against Ukraine. In the semi-final, he scored twice against Belarus. For his part, Mata was the best assistant of the tournament, while Thiago Alcántara was chosen as the best player in the final.

The fourth, in 2013

Since August 2012, Julen Lopetegui took charge of the Under-21 National Team and already led the team to the conquest of the Euro Cup in Israel in the summer of 2013. In the qualifying phase for Euro 2013, Spain simply won: 7 wins and a draw with 27 goals for and only two against.

They qualified for the Israeli Euro Cup without losing a single match in their group, out of 5, where they met Switzerland, Georgia, Croatia and Estonia. In the continental championship, Spain also did not know what it was like to lose and won the five games played. After the group stage, the Spanish U-21 team finished as the leader of their group, undefeated and undefeated: 1-0 against Russia, 0-1 against Germany and 3-0 against the Netherlands.

The rival was Norway in the Under-21 Team’s seventh semi-final in its history, and they again won 3-0. Italy waited in the final where Spain was beaten 2-4. Thiago was the author of three of the goals for the Spanish U-21 team in the final against the transalpines. The UEFA technical team said of him that “As captain of the winning team, Thago demonstrated his leadership skills on and off the pitch throughout the tournament and was an influential figure in his team’s performance through his impressive work as a ‘box-to- box’. ‘, exceptional ball control even under pressure; ability to control the pace of the game; intelligence to win the ball by betting on anticipation rather than tackles; and highly skilled plays to moving the ball through short and long passes. His three goals in the final represented a unique individual achievement and were rewarded for his contributions to his team’s success.”

The fifth, in 2019

After taking second place in the previous round of Poland 2017 with Albert Celades as coach, seven players repeated in the round Italy-San Marino 2019 with Luis de la Fuente as coach. La Rioja’s coach had already won the Under-19 European Championship four years ago and several of the winning players went on to repeat the event as Under-21 internationals.

Spain’s path was painful from the start due to a matchday 1 defeat to hosts Italy, who came from behind an early Dani Ceballos goal to win 3-1.

Only victory counted in the second group and the National Team suffered the defeat of Belgium, which lasted until minute 88. A save shot by Pablo Fornals from outside the box ensured that Spain took the first three points in the final phase.

The demanding format of the tournament, in which only one team had direct access to the semi-finals, required a third-day victory against the hitherto stubborn Poland. Spain needed to win by three goals, but the national team surpassed all expectations and won 5-0 in a great match for Luis de la Fuente’s men.

With morale skyrocketing, the national team faced the semi-finals against almighty France, who went down 4-1 thanks to goals from Marc Roca, Mikel Oyarzabal, Dani Olmo and Borja Mayoral. Germany, a rival two years earlier in Cracow, were once again the opponent in the title match played at the Friuli Stadium in Udine and eight minutes into the game a shot from outside the penalty area by Fabián Ruiz, voted best player of the tournament, put Spain ahead. Dani Olmo increased the lead in the second half and shortly after the end, German Amiri closed the gap and created the tension in a final that was eventually won by the National Team.

Captains Jesús Vallejo and Dani Ceballos lifted Italy’s fifth Under-21 title to Italy’s skies, as Spain tied the transalpines as the nation with the most strapping in this category.

What is the list of winners of the European Sub-21?

• Spain: 5 titles (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019) and 3 runners-up (1984, 1996, 2017)
• Italy: 5 titles (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004) and 2 runners-up (1986, 2013)
• Germany: 3 titles (2009, 2017, 2021) and 2 runners-up (1982, 2019)
• England 2 titles (1982, 1984) and 1 runner-up (2009)
• Netherlands: 2 titles (2006, 2007)
• Russia: 2 titles (1980, 1990)
• Serbia: 1 title (1978) and 3 runners-up (1990, 2004, 2007)
• France: 1 title (1988) and 1 runner-up (2002)
• Sweden: 1 title (2015) and 1 runner-up (1992)
• Czech Republic: 1 title (2002) and 1 runner-up (2000)
• Portugal: 0 titles and 3 runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)
• Greece: 0 titles and 2 runners-up (1988, 1998)
• Democratic Germany: 0 titles and 2 runners-up (1978, 1980)
• Switzerland: 0 titles and 1 runner-up (2011)