Iceland national under-21 football team

Iceland national under-21 football team
The Iceland men's national under-21 football team is a national under-21 football team of Iceland and is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland. The team is considered to be the feeder team for the senior Icelandic men's national football team. Since the establishment of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in 1978, the team has reached the Euro Championship finals on two occasions, most recently in 2021. In the 2011 and 2021 tournaments they were knocked out in the group stages.
The team is for Icelandic players aged under 21 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign begins, so some players can remain with the squad until the age of 23. Players can represent Iceland at any level as long as they are eligible, giving them the option to compete for the U21s, senior team, and then U21s once more. This has been the case for several senior team players like Eiður Guðjohnsen, Heiðar Helguson, Jón Daði Böðvarsson and Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson.
History
From 1978 to 2009 the team never qualified for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship tournament finals. In late 2010, the team sealed qualification to the championships for the very first team in their history. During the qualification stage they finished second in their group behind the Czech Republic and qualified for the playoffs as a result of being one of the best runners-up in the whole qualification process. Their most notable win came in a 4–1 home victory over Germany. In the next stage they played against Scotland in a two-legged affair in which they won 4–2 on aggregate over the two games.
Their remarkable qualification campaign saw them qualify for the finals where they were drawn against Belarus, Denmark and Switzerland in Group A. In their first two group games they were comfortably beaten by Belarus and Switzerland. In their final group game they defeated Denmark who were the hosts of the tournament 3–1. Iceland would finish third in the group, level on points with the second placed and fourth placed teams. Following the end of the tournament, UEFA announced its Team of the Tournament with striker Kolbeinn Sigþórsson named on the list.
Iceland qualified to the tournament for the second time in 2021.
Competition records
UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs
The four play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.
All times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
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Recent results and forthcoming fixtures
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the friendly matches against on 16 June and on 19 June 2023.
Caps and goals updated as of 26 March 2023, after the match against .
Recent call-ups
The following players are still eligible for and have previously been called up to the under-21 squad.
Previous squads
2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad
2021 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad
Records
Most caps
As of 17 November 2022, the 10 players with the most U-21 caps for Iceland are:
In bold players still playing or available for selection.
Top goalscorers
As of 17 November 2022, the 10 players with the most U-21 goals for Iceland are:
In bold players still playing or available for selection.
See also
Iceland national football team
Iceland national under-19 football team
Iceland national under-17 football team
References
External links
Official Site
Official Site under-21 results
Profile & squad at UEFA.com
European national under-21 association football teams
Under-21