East Germany national under-21 football team

The East Germany national football team was the national football team of the German Democratic Republic. The East Germany national under-21 football team was a selection team that represented East Germany internationally with an age restriction.

The East Germany national under-21 team served as the link between the East Germany national under-18 team (German: Juniorenauswahl) and the East Germany national senior team. The team operated with the neutral name "Next Generation Selection" (German: Nachwuchsauswahl) and the age restriction was not always constant. Only from 1972 to 1976, when an under-23 team and an under-21 team played in parallel, existed a more specific distinction between the under-21 team and the under-23 team. Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, a distinct East Germany under-21 team was formed.

The team played until the re-unification of Germany in 1990, when East Germany ceased to be a separate country. Before re-unification, the East Germany national under-21 football team was a little bit more successful than its Western counterpart in the UEFA Under-23 Championships and the UEFA Under-21 Championships, finishing runner-up on three occasions. The West Germany national under-21 team finished runner-up once and reached the quarter-finals twice. The East Germany national under-21 football team failed to qualify seven times, while the West Germany national under-21 football team failed to qualify four times and didn't enter on three occasions.

The East Germany under-21 national football team played over 275 official international matches against youth teams from other football associations between 1953 and 1989 - 112 matches as an under-23 team and 164 matches as an under-21 team. From 1978 until 1991, the trainer of the team was Walter Fritzsch.

The team competed in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Since the under-21 competition rules state that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an under-23 competition. East Germany's record for the preceding under-23 competitions is also shown.

• 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1974: Runners-up.
• 1976: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.

• 1978: Runners-up.
• 1980: Runners-up.
• 1982: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 3 in qualification group.
• 1984: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1986: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1988: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
• 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship

• UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.