NETHERLANDS NATIONAL UNDER-21 FOOTBALL TEAM

The 'Netherlands national football team' is the national under-21 team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association. 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 Dutch Under-21 team was formed. The team did not have a very good record, failing to qualify for nine of the fifteen tournaments. The team did not enter for the 1978 competition, but since then has reached the semi-finals twice, and qualified for the last eight on three other occasions.
Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, the Netherlands' record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown. The first competitive match was in the "Under-23 Challenge", a match which they lost. The team qualified for the last eight of each of the three U23 tournaments.
In 2006 the Netherlands national under-21 football team of coach Foppe de Haan won the European Under-21 Football Championship. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar became top scorer of this tournament with 4 goals and also broke the 15-goals record of Roy Makaay and Arnold Jan Bruggink, in his last match in the Netherlands national under-21 football team he pushed this record to 18. The following year, Netherlands national under-21 football team successfully defended their title by winning the European Under-21 Football Championship 2007 in the final against Serbia with 4-1. Maceo Rigters was the top scorer of the competition with four goals and Royston Drenthe was the Player of the Tournament.

Contents

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

Notable Players

Sources/External links

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

The Netherlands were randomly chosen to play holders Bulgaria for the title in a one-off match in Sofia, which the Netherlands lost.

★ April 17, '1968:' Bulgaria 3-1 Netherlands.

★ '1972:' Losing quarter-finalists.

★ '1974:' Losing quarter-finalists.

★ '1976:' Losing semi-finalists.

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

★ '1978:' Did not enter.

★ '1980:' Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.

★ '1982:' Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.

★ '1984:' Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.

★ '1986:' Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.

★ '1988:' Losing semi-finalists.

★ '1990:' Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.

★ '1992:' Losing quarter-finalists.

★ '1994:' Did not qualify. Finished 5th of 6 in qualification group.

★ '1996:' Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group.

★ '1998:' Fourth.

★ '2000:' Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group. Joint fifth.

★ '2002:' Losing quarter-finalists.

★ '2004:' Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 5 in qualification group.

★ '2006:' 'Winners'

★ '2007:' 'Winners'

Notable Players

★ Johannes Franquis-Bonfrere
== Current squad UEFA U-21 Championship 2007

Other players

See also ==

★ Netherlands national football team

★ European Under-21 Football Championship

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.

★ Official KNVB U-21 site in Dutch