Bulgaria national under-21 football team

European national under-21 football team
Name = Bulgaria Under-21
Badge = Bulgaria football union.png Nickname = The Lions (Lavovete) (лъвовете)
Association = Bulgarian Football Union
Coach = flagicon|Bulgaria Ivan Kolev
Captain = Ivelin Popov
Most caps = Petar Mihtarski (51)
Top scorer = Atanas Mihaylov (31)

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First game = ?
Largest win = ?
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UEFAu21Champ apps = 2
UEFAu21Champ first = 1978
UEFAu21Champ best = semi-finalists 1978
The Bulgaria national under-21 football team ( _bg. младежки национален отбор на България по футбол, "mladezhki natsionalen otbor na Balgariya po futbol") is the national under-21 football team of Bulgaria and is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

UEFA U-23 Championship record

The Bulgaria national under-23 football team was the first ever champion in the UEFA Under-23 Challenge Cup. The team defended the title four times between June 1967 and April 1967: against East Germany, Finland, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands before losing it to Yugoslavia in October 1968.

* 1972: semi-finalists
* 1974: quarter-finalists
* 1976: quarter-finalists

UEFA U-21 Championship record

* 1978: semi-finalists
* 1980: qualifying stage
* 1982: qualifying stage
* 1984: qualifying stage
* 1986: qualifying stage
* 1988: qualifying stage
* 1990: quarter-finalists
* 1992: qualifying stage
* 1994: qualifying stage
* 1996: qualifying stage
* 1998: qualifying stage
* 2000: qualifying stage
* 2002: qualifying stage
* 2004: qualifying stage
* 2006: qualifying stage

The Bulgarian under-21 team has also qualified for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship play-offs by dominating Qualifying Group 12 after two wins against 2006 Championship finalists Ukraine (3:0 away) and the team of Croatia (2:1 home). The Under-21s were aided by senior team stars Valeri Bojinov (Juventus F.C.) and Chavdar Yankov (Hannover 96) for these matches. Other of the team's distinguished players as of 2006 include Tsvetan Genkov (PFC Lokomotiv Sofia) and Valeri Domovchiyski (PFC Levski Sofia).

The Bulgaria Under-21s face Belgium in the play-offs on 7 and 11 October 2006. The first match in Belgium ended in a 1-1 draw.

Current squad

Current players

"As of 02 October 2008", for the friendly matches against Greece and Macedonia.

ee also

* Bulgaria national football team
* Bulgaria national under-19 football team
* European Under-21 Football Championship

References and external links

* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under21 UEFA Under-21 website] , complete results archive
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/europe-u21.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] , full record of U-21 and U-23 Championships