Greece national under-21 football team

Greece Under-21
Nickname(s)	Εθνική Ελπίδων ; ("National team of Hopes")
Association	Hellenic Football Federation
Head coach	Giannis Taousianis
Captain	Konstantinos Tzolakis
Most caps	Giorgos Karagounis (39)
Top scorer	Nikos Liberopoulos &; Lampros Choutos (15)
Biggest win
	Greece 6–0 Luxembourg ; (Greece; 1993); Greece 6–0 Latvia ; (Greece; 1999)
Biggest defeat
	Hungary 7–0 Greece ; (Hungary; 1976)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 1988)
Best result	Runners-up, 1988, 1998

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.

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 3 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. Greece also has a women's national team.

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 23 September 2022

Competition	Pld	W	D	L
UEFA U-23 Championship	14	6	0	8
UEFA U-21 Championship	212	100	35	77

UEFA European U23 Championship record

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA European U21 Championship record										Qualification record
1972	Semi-finals	3rd/4th	4	2	0	2	7	5	+2	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
1974	Did not qualify									4	1	0	3	4	7	−3
1976	Did not qualify									4	1	0	3	4	9	−5
Total	0 titles	1/3	4	2	0	2	7	5	+2	10	4	0	6	11	16	−5

UEFA European U21 Championship record

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA European U21 Championship record										Qualification record
1978	Did not qualify									4	0	1	3	1	13	−12
1980										4	2	0	2	5	6	−1
1982										4	0	1	3	2	7	−5
1984										6	3	2	1	6	4	+2
1986										4	2	0	2	6	8	−2
1988	Final	Runners-up	6	1	3	2	8	8	0	6	4	1	1	15	5	+10
1990	Did not qualify									6	1	1	4	3	11	−8
1992	Did not qualify									6	1	1	4	6	13	−7
1994	Quarter-finals	6th	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	8	6	2	0	23	6	+17
1996	Did not qualify									8	3	0	5	12	12	0
1998	Final	Runners-up	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3	10	6	1	3	16	11	+5
2000	Did not qualify									12	8	2	2	33	13	+20
2002	Group stage	8th	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	10	6	1	3	18	8	+10
2004	Did not qualify									8	3	3	2	10	7	+3
2006										12	6	2	4	18	9	+9
2007										2	0	0	2	1	4	−3
2009										10	5	3	2	20	13	+7
2011										10	6	1	3	13	12	+1
2013										10	4	1	5	14	15	−1
2015										8	5	0	3	20	10	+10
2017										10	4	1	5	13	14	−1
2019										12	8	1	3	26	7	+19
2021										10	5	1	4	10	11	−1
2023										10	5	2	3	16	10	+6
2025	In progress									8	4	2	2	10	7	+3
Total	0 titles	4/24	14	3	5	6	17	19	−2	198	97	30	71	319	236	+83

Honours

Balkan Youth Championship

Winners (2): 1969, 1971

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Memorial Tournament

Third place (2):, 2015, 2018

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.

2023

16 November 2023 (2023-11-16) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Greece	3–0	Faroe Islands	Tripoli, Greece
15:00 (16:00 EEST)	Tzolis 5' Koutsias 51' Zouglis 57'	Report		Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium Attendance: 250 Referee: Mervan Bejtullahu (Kosovo)

21 November 2023 (2023-11-21) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Greece	2–1	Portugal	Tripoli, Greece
15:00 (16:00 EEST)	Tzolis 31' Panagidis 50'	Report	Conceição 29'	Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium Attendance: 500 Referee: Nikola Popov (Bulgaria)

2024

22 March 2024 (2024-03-22) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Belarus	1–0	Greece	Armavir, Armenia
15:30 (13:30 EEST)	Martynov 57' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Armavir City Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Marian Barbu (Romania)

26 March 2024 (2024-03-26) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Greece	1–0	Andorra	Tripoli, Greece
16:00	Sourlis 41'	Report		Stadium: Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium Attendance: 651 Referee: Luka Bilbija (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

10 September 2024 (2024-09-10) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Faroe Islands	0–4	Greece	Klaksvík, Faroe Islands
17:30 (19:30 EEST)		Report	Kourfalidis 13' Kostis 22' Koutsias 51' Niarchos 65'	Stadium: Við Djúpumýrar Attendance: 253 Referee: Jasper Vergoote (Belgium)

11 October 2024 (2024-10-11) Friendly	Slovakia	2–1	Greece	Nitra, Slovakia
15:30 (16:30 EEST)	Gajdoš 56' Javorček 88' (pen.)	Report	Kostoulas 84'	Stadium: Štadión pod Zoborom Referee: Balázs Berke (Hungary)

15 October 2024 (2024-10-15) 2025 UEFA European U21 Championship Qualification Group G	Croatia	3–2	Greece	Koprivnica, Croatia
18:00 (19:00 EEST)	Kačavenda 15' Beljo 34' Vušković 76'	Report	Kostoulas 45+3' Bakoulas 45+4'	Stadium: Ivan Kušek-Apaš City Stadium Referee: Sandi Putros (Denmark)

Euro 2025 Under-21 Championship qualification

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	9	0	1	33	6	+27	27	Final tournament	—	5–1	2–0	4–0	6–1	3–0
2	Croatia	10	7	1	2	20	14	+6	22	Play-offs	0–2	—	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0
3	Greece	10	5	2	3	16	10	+6	17		2–1	2–2	—	3–0	1–1	1–0
4	Faroe Islands	10	3	1	6	11	24	−13	10		1–3	2–4	0–4	—	1–0	2–2
5	Belarus	10	1	3	6	6	20	−14	6		0–5	0–1	1–0	2–3	—	0–0
6	Andorra	10	0	3	7	4	16	−12	3		1–2	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–1	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

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
Stelios Aposporis	2004–2007	18	9	1	8	050.0	2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Nikos Nioplias	2007–2009	19	9	5	5	047.4	2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Georgios Georgiadis	2010–2012	19	10	2	7	052.6	2011 European Championship – Play-offs 2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Kostas Tsanas	2012–2015	18	9	2	7	050.0	2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Michalis Iordanidis	2015	1	1	0	0	100.0	—
Antonis Nikopolidis	2015–2019	33	16	5	12	048.5	2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2019 European Championship – Play-offs
Giannis Goumas	2019–2021	12	4	2	6	033.3	2021 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Georgios Simos	2021–2022	10	5	2	3	050.0	2023 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Nikos Papadopoulos	2022–2024	10	5	2	3	050.0	—
Giannis Taousianis	2024–	0	0	0	0	!—	—
Totals

Last updated: 27 August 2024. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Players

Current squad

As of 15 October 2024

The following 26 players were called for the friendly match against Slovakia on 11 October and the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Croatia on 15 October 2024.^[1]

Names in italics denote players who have been capped for the senior team.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Konstantinos Balomenos	(2002-03-11) 11 March 2002 (age 22)	6	0	PAOK
12	1GK	Nikos Grammatikakis	(2003-05-26) 26 May 2003 (age 21)	1	0	Asteras Tripolis
	1GK	Angelos Angelopoulos	(2003-02-19) 19 February 2003 (age 21)	1	0	AEK

2	2DF	Athanasios Koutsogoulas	(2004-04-03) 3 April 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Panserraikos
3	2DF	Fotis Kitsos	(2003-03-31) 31 March 2003 (age 21)	16	0	Omonia
4	2DF	Ilias Kostis	(2003-02-27) 27 February 2003 (age 21)	8	2	Atlético Madrid B
5	2DF	Apostolos Konstantopoulos (captain)	(2002-08-02) 2 August 2002 (age 22)	15	0	Beerschot
20	2DF	Alexis Kalogeropoulos	(2004-07-26) 26 July 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Volos
22	2DF	Lefteris Tasiouras	(2004-03-01) 1 March 2004 (age 20)	1	0	PAOK B
23	2DF	Apostolos Apostolopoulos	(2002-12-11) 11 December 2002 (age 21)	7	0	Olympiacos
	2DF	Panagiotis Panagiotou	(2002-01-16) 16 January 2002 (age 22)	9	0	Ethnikos Achna
	2DF	Isidoros Koutsidis	(2004-12-23) 23 December 2004 (age 19)	0	0	Olympiacos

8	3MF	Christos Kourfalidis	(2002-11-11) 11 November 2002 (age 21)	15	2	Cosenza
11	3MF	Dimitrios Metaxas	(2003-12-16) 16 December 2003 (age 20)	13	0	AC Oulu
14	3MF	Christos Mouzakitis	(2006-12-25) 25 December 2006 (age 17)	4	0	Olympiacos
18	3MF	Theofanis Bakoulas	(2005-01-04) 4 January 2005 (age 19)	4	1	Olympiacos
21	3MF	Argyris Darelas	(2003-10-16) 16 October 2003 (age 21)	10	0	NEC Nijmegen
	3MF	Giannis Apostolakis	(2004-09-24) 24 September 2004 (age 20)	3	0	OFI
	3MF	Sotiris Kontouris	(2005-02-24) 24 February 2005 (age 19)	0	0	Panetolikos

6	4FW	Nikos Zouglis	(2003-11-14) 14 November 2003 (age 20)	11	1	Asteras Tripolis
7	4FW	Stefanos Tzimas	(2006-01-06) 6 January 2006 (age 18)	6	0	1. FC Nürnberg
9	4FW	Giannis Niarchos	(2002-06-26) 26 June 2002 (age 22)	11	2	Košice
10	4FW	Georgios Koutsias	(2004-02-08) 8 February 2004 (age 20)	16	5	Chicago Fire
17	4FW	Christos Belevonis	(2002-07-29) 29 July 2002 (age 22)	7	0	Panetolikos
19	4FW	Charalampos Kostoulas	(2007-05-30) 30 May 2007 (age 17)	2	2	Olympiacos
	4FW	Dimitris Kaloskamis	(2005-03-01) 1 March 2005 (age 19)	3	0	Atromitos

Recent call-ups

Following are listed players called up in the previous twelve months who are still eligible to represent the under-21 team.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Fotis Sgouris	(2002-04-29) 29 April 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Asteras Tripolis	v. Faroe Islands, 10 September 2024
GK	Konstantinos Tzolakis	(2002-11-08) 8 November 2002 (age 21)	21	0	Olympiacos	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024

DF	Konstantinos Chrysopoulos	(2003-05-21) 21 May 2003 (age 21)	4	0	Anorthosis	v. Faroe Islands, 10 September 2024
DF	Nikolaos Kanellopoulos	(2003-01-10) 10 January 2003 (age 21)	0	0	AEK B	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024

MF	Christos Kryparakos	(2003-06-12) 12 June 2003 (age 21)	10	0	Niki Volos	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
MF	Athanasios Karamanis	(2003-10-14) 14 October 2003 (age 21)	2	0	Atromitos	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
MF	Titos Koutentakis	(2003-08-22) 22 August 2003 (age 21)	2	0	OFI	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
MF	Vasilios Sourlis	(2002-11-16) 16 November 2002 (age 21)	18	3	Raków Częstochowa	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
MF	Thomas Karaberis	(2002-01-29) 29 January 2002 (age 22)	5	0	Doxa Katokopias	v. Portugal, 21 November 2023
MF	Christos Liatsos	(2003-09-01) 1 September 2003 (age 21)	2	0	Chania	v. Portugal, 21 November 2023
MF	Dimitrios Tsopouroglou	(2002-06-21) 21 June 2002 (age 22)	2	0	PAOK B	v. Portugal, 21 November 2023

FW	Michalis Panagidis	(2004-02-11) 11 February 2004 (age 20)	4	1	Aris Thessaloniki	v. Faroe Islands, 10 September 2024
FW	Michalis Kosidis	(2002-02-09) 9 February 2002 (age 22)	10	2	Puszcza Niepołomice	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
FW	Marios Sofianos	(2003-11-24) 24 November 2003 (age 20)	3	0	Panserraikos	v. Andorra, 26 March 2024
FW	Christos Tzolis	(2002-01-30) 30 January 2002 (age 22)	7	6	Club Brugge	v. Portugal, 21 November 2023
^INJ Withdrew due to injury ^PRE Included in preliminary roster

Player records

Top appearances

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 caps
1	Giorgos Karagounis	Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis	1993–1998	39
2	Georgios Alexopoulos	Panathinaikos	1996–1998	33
3	Dimitrios Papadopoulos	Akratitos, Burnley	2000–2002	27
3	Anastasios Lagos	Panathinaikos	2011–2014	27
5	Vasilios Lakis	Paniliakos	1996–1998	25
5	Ioannis Amanatidis	Stuttgart, Greuther Fürth	2000–2003	25
7	Dimitrios Mavrogenidis	Aris Thessaloniki, Olympiacos	1996–1998	24
	Apostolos Vellios	Everton, Blackpool, Lierse	2011–2014
	Elini Dimoutsos	Panathinaikos, OFI, Panetolikos	2008–2010

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 goals
1	Nikos Liberopoulos	Kalamata, Panathinaikos	1994–1998	15
1	Lampros Choutos	Olympiacos	1999–2002	15
3	Giorgos Karagounis	Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis	1993–1998	11
3	Dimitrios Papadopoulos	Akratitos, Burnley	2000–2002	11
5	Nikos Karelis	Ergotelis, Amkar Perm, Panathinaikos	2010–2014	9
6	Efthymis Koulouris	Anorthosis, PAOK, Atromitos	2016–2018	7
	Antonis Petropoulos	Haidari, Egaleo, Panathinaikos, OFI	2005–2008
	Vangelis Mantzios	Panionios	2003–2005
	Lazaros Christodoulopoulos	PAOK, Panathinaikos	2005–2008
	Nikolaos Ioannidis	Borussia Dortmund II	2015–2016

Former squads

References

^ "Εθνική Ελπίδων: οι κλήσεις για Σλοβακία και Κροατία". epo.gr. Retrieved 1 October 2024.

External links

Greece U-21 at HFF (in Greek)
Greece U-21 at UEFA
UEFA European U-21 Championship at uefa.com

[1] "Εθνική Ελπίδων: οι κλήσεις για Σλοβακία και Κροατία". epo.gr. Retrieved 1 October 2024.

[1]

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