France national under-21 football team

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France Under-21

Nickname(s)

Les Bleuets
(patterned after Les Bleus,
nickname for the senior team)
Espoirs

Association

Fédération Française
de Football

Head coach

René Girard

Captain

Younes Kaboul

Most caps

Bacary Sagna (28)

Top scorer

? (?)





First kit





Second kit

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.

1 UEFA U-23 Championship Record
2 UEFA U-21 Championship Record
3 Current squad
4 Current and recent players
5 See also
6 Sources/External links

[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.

[edit] Current squad

The following players were called up to participate in the 2008 U-21 Sweden Tournament, which will begin on May 25. Caps and goals are as current as previous match against Holland.

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
GK	Yohann Pelé^{[citation needed]}	November 4, 1982 (age 25)	1	0	Le Mans Union Club 72
GK	Geoffrey Jourdren	February 4, 1986 (age 22)	8	0	SM Caen
GK	Rémy Riou	6 August 1987 (age 20)	3	0	AJ Auxerre
DF	Habib Bellaid	26 March 1986 (age 22)	10	1	RC Strasbourg
DF	Garry Bocaly	19 April 1988 (age 20)	2	0	FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin
DF	Mouhamadou Dabo	28 November 1986 (age 21)	12	0	AS Saint-Étienne
DF	Romain Danzé	3 July 1986 (age 21)	0	0	Rennes
DF	Bira Dembélé	22 March 1988 (age 20)	0	0	Rennes
DF	Younes Kaboul	4 January 1986 (age 22)	13	0	Tottenham
MF	Charles N'Zogbia	28 May 1986 (age 21)	9	0	Newcastle United
MF	Yohan Cabaye (captain)	14 January 1986 (age 22)	10	1	Lille
MF	Mathieu Coutadeur	20 June 1986 (age 21)	5	0	Le Mans UC 72
MF	Issiar Dia	8 June 1987 (age 20)	10	0	AS Nancy
MF	Yoann Gourcuff	July 11, 1986 (age 21)	18	4	A.C. Milan
MF	Fabien Lemoine	16 March 1987 (age 21)	0	0	Rennes
MF	Sylvain Marveaux	15 April 1986 (age 22)	8	3	Rennes
MF	Blaise Matuidi	9 April 1987 (age 21)	17	0	AS Saint-Étienne
FW	Kevin Gameiro	9 April 1987 (age 21)	2	1	RC Strasbourg
FW	Yohan Gouffran	25 May 1986 (age 21)	19	3	SM Caen
FW	Anthony Modeste	14 April 1988 (age 20)	1	0	OGC Nice
FW	Mamadou Samassa	1 May 1986 (age 21)	6	4	Le Mans UC 72
FW	Kévin Monnet-Paquet	19 August 1988 (age 19)	1	0	RC Lens
FW	Jérémy Menez	7 May 1987 (age 21)	8	2	AS Monaco FC
FW	Loïc Rémy	2 January 1987 (age 21)	4	2	Nice

[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.

1986-born
(eligible to 2009 UEFA European U-21 Championship)

1987-born
(eligible to 2009 UEFA European U-21 Championship)

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.

[edit] See also

[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