Greece national under-21 football team

Greece Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Εθνική Ελπίδων
("National team of Hopes")
AssociationHellenic Football Federation
Head coachNikos Papadopoulos
CaptainKonstantinos Tzolakis
Most capsGiorgos Karagounis (39)
Top scorerNikos Liberopoulos &
Lampros Choutos (15)
First colours
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Second colours
Third colours
Biggest win
Greece Greece 6–0 Luxembourg Luxembourg
(Greece; 1993)
Greece Greece 6–0 Latvia Latvia
(Greece; 1999)
Biggest defeat
Hungary Hungary 7–0 Greece Greece
(Hungary; 1976)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances4 (first in 1988)
Best resultRunners-up, 1988, 1998
Greece U-21 team on 5 September 2011

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.