The Greece national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years and it is considered to be the feeder team for the Greece national football team.
The under-21 competition rules stipulate that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, so technically it is up to an U-23 competition. To be eligible for the Greece National Team, all the football players must hold Hellenic (Greek) nationality and comply with the provisions of Article 15 of the regulations governing the Application of FIFA Statutes. A list of 35 football players must be submitted to the UEFA administration 30 days before the European Under-21 Football Championship opening match. Only 22 of the 35 players listed are authorised to take part in the final tournament and three of them must be goalkeepers.
As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U-21s, senior side and again for the U-21s, as Sotiris Ninis has done recently. It is also possible to play more than one country at youth level or different at youth level and different at senior level (provided the player is eligible). But a football player can represent only the senior national team that capped him first.
Also in existence are national teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under-17s.
History The first time that Greece's national team of hopes were formed was in 1968, with the aim of participating in the first Balkan Youth Championship that took place at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki.
In their maiden match she played with the corresponding team in Turkey; the match ended in a goalless draw.
The first eleven were the following: Tourkomenis, B. Intzoglou (59' Dimitriou), Chaliambalias, Kyriazis, Athanasopoulos, Karafeskos, Filakouris, Sarafis (46' Stoligas), K. Papaioannou, Koudas, Kritikopoulos (70' Alexiadis).
In the following years, Greece won twice the Balkan Youth Championship (1969 and 1971), and they fought twice (1988 and 1998) in the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
Competition Record
As of 29 September 2026 CompetitionPldWDL UEFA U-23 Championship14608 UEFA U-21 Championship2381134184
UEFA European U23 Championship record UEFA European U21 Championship recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition1972Semi-finals 3rd/4th 4 2 0 2 7 5 +22 2 0 0 3 0 +31974Did not qualify4 1 0 3 4 7 −319764 1 0 3 4 9 −5Total0 titles1/3420275+2104061116−5
UEFA European U21 Championship record UEFA European U21 Championship recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition1978Did not qualify4 0 1 3 1 13 −1219804 2 0 2 5 6 −119824 0 1 3 2 7 −519846 3 2 1 6 4 +219864 2 0 2 6 8 −21988Final Runners-up 6 1 3 2 8 8 06 4 1 1 15 5 +101990Did not qualify6 1 1 4 3 11 −819926 1 1 4 6 13 −7 1994Quarter-finals 6th 2 0 1 1 2 4 −28 6 2 0 23 6 +17 1996Did not qualify8 3 0 5 12 12 0 1998Final Runners-up 3 2 0 1 4 1 +310 6 1 3 16 11 +5 2000Did not qualify12 8 2 2 33 13 +20 2002Group stage 8th 3 0 1 2 3 6 −310 6 1 3 18 8 +10 2004Did not qualify8 3 3 2 10 7 +3 200612 6 2 4 18 9 +9 20072 0 0 2 1 4 −3 200910 5 3 2 20 13 +7 201110 6 1 3 13 12 +1 201310 4 1 5 14 15 −1 20158 5 0 3 20 10 +10 201710 4 1 5 13 14 −1 201912 8 1 3 26 7 +19 202110 5 1 4 10 11 −1 202310 5 2 3 16 10 +6 202510 7 1 2 20 14 +6 2027to be determined9 8 0 1 28 6 +22Total0 titles4/25143561719−22071053072347242+105
Honours +Greece national under-21 football team honoursTypeCompetitionTitlesWinnersRunners-upThird placeRef.International UEFA European Under-23 Championship0 1972 UEFA European Under-21 Championship0 1988, 1998Regional Balkan Youth Championship2 1969, 1971 Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament0 2015, 2018
Shared record
Results and schedule The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
2025
2026
Euro 2027 Under-21 Championship qualification
2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Coaching staff
Managers The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Greece team manager including their results regarding European Under-21 Championship.
Key: Pld–games played, W–games won, D–games drawn; L–games lost, %–win percentage Manager Greece tenure Pld W D L Win % Major competitions 2004–2007 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2007–2009 2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2010–2012 2011 European Championship – Play-offs 2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2012–2015 2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2015 2015–2019 2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2019 European Championship – Play-offs 2019–2021 2021 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2021–2022 2023 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2022–2024 2025 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2024–to be determinedTotals Last updated: 1 October 2026. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.
Players Current squad
The following 25 players were called up for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Georgia, Latvia and Northern Ireland, to be played between 26 September and 6 October 2026.
Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the senior team.
Recent call-ups Following are listed players called up in the previous twelve months who are still eligible to represent the under-21 team.
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Included in preliminary roster
Player records Players in bold are still active with under-21 Greece.
Top appearances Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 caps1Giorgos KaragounisPanathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis1993–1998392Georgios AlexopoulosPanathinaikos1996–1998333Dimitrios PapadopoulosAkratitos, Burnley2000–200227Anastasios LagosPanathinaikos2011–20145Vasilios LakisPaniliakos1996–199825Ioannis AmanatidisStuttgart, Greuther Fürth2000–2003Georgios KoutsiasPAOK, PAOK B, Volos, Chicago Fire, Lugano2020–8Dimitrios MavrogenidisAris Thessaloniki, Olympiacos1996–199824Apostolos VelliosEverton, Blackpool, Lierse2011–2014Elini DimoutsosPanathinaikos, OFI, Panetolikos2008–2010
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 goals1Nikos LiberopoulosKalamata, Panathinaikos1994–199815Lampros ChoutosOlympiacos1999–20023Giorgos KaragounisPanathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis1993–199811Dimitrios PapadopoulosAkratitos, Burnley2000–20025Georgios KoutsiasPAOK, PAOK B, Volos, Chicago Fire, Lugano2020–106Nikos KarelisErgotelis, Amkar Perm, Panathinaikos2010–201497Efthymis KoulourisAnorthosis, PAOK, Atromitos2016–20187Antonis PetropoulosHaidari, Egaleo, Panathinaikos, OFI2005–2008Vangelis MantziosPanionios2003–2005Lazaros ChristodoulopoulosPAOK, Panathinaikos2005–2008Nikolaos IoannidisBorussia Dortmund II2015–2016
Former squads 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Greece 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Greece 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads – Greece
See also Greece national football team Greece national under-23 football team Greece national under-20 football team Greece national under-19 football team Greece national under-17 football team
References
External links Greece U-21 at HFF Greece U-21 at UEFA UEFA European U-21 Championship at uefa.com