Most caps Christian Dailly (35) Location Scotland, United Kingdom | Appearances 6 (first in 1980) Head coach Scot Gemmill | |
 | ||
Top scorer Scott Booth (8)
Jordan Rhodes (8) Best result Semi-finalists (1982, 1992, 1996) Association Scottish Football Association Managers Ricky Sbragia, Billy Stark | ||
The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team.
Contents
- History
- Results summary
- Head coaches
- Leading appearances
- Leading goalscorers
- Eligibility
- Current squad
- Recent call ups
- Past squads
- References
As a European under-21 team, Scotland compete in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, which is usually held every other year. The team has qualified for the final stages of these Championships on six occasions, although not since 1996. There is no global tournament for under-21 national teams. Performance in the European Championship determines qualification for football at the Summer Olympics, which Scotland is unable to compete in.
History
Scotland played under-23 international matches, mainly friendlies against England and Wales, from 1955 until 1975. Scotland first entered the UEFA competition for under-23 national teams in 1975–76. Scotland reached the quarter-finals, but were eliminated on a penalty shootout by the Netherlands. An under-21 team then came into existence, replacing the under-23 team, when UEFA reduced the age limit.
Scotland under-21s have reached the last four of the European tournament three times (1982, 1992 and 1996), while appearing in the quarter finals on three other occasions (1980, 1984 and 1988). The team qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics, but were unable to compete due to Scotland not being independently represented in the International Olympic Committee. Similar to the full national side, however, the under-21 team has not qualified for a finals tournament since the late 1990s. The under-21 team reached the playoff round for the 2004 and 2011 tournaments, but lost to Croatia and Iceland respectively.
Results summary
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided by a penalty shootout.
Head coaches
Archie Knox left his post as Scotland's National Youth Teams Coach on 30 August 2007 to take up a full-time with Bolton Wanderers as coaching co-ordinator, Maurice Malpas took temporary charge. In January 2008 the SFA appointed a new full-time coach in Billy Stark, who left his job as manager of Second Division side Queen's Park to take the position. Stark resigned from the position in November 2014.
Leading appearances
Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21 team. Those players in bold are still eligible to play for the team at the moment.
Leading goalscorers
Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s. Those players in bold are still eligible to play for the team at the moment.
Eligibility
The team is for players born in the year 21 years before the starting year of each tournament. As each tournament normally takes two years to complete, players can continue to play for the under-21 team after their 22nd birthday. For example, Theo Walcott (born March 1989) was eligible to play for England under-21s in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the under-21s, senior side and then return to the under-21 side. It is now also possible to play for one country at youth level and another country at senior level (providing the player is eligible). For instance, Nigel Quashie played for England under-21s and Scotland. Until the late 1980s, teams were allowed to select some over-age players in the under-21 team, similar to the present arrangement in football at the Summer Olympics.
Current squad
The following players were selected to play Estonia in March 2017.
As of 15 March 2017Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Scotland under-21 squad and remain eligible (current clubs shown).