Georgia national under-21 football team

The Georgia national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Georgia and is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation. It is considered to be the feeder team for the senior Georgian national football team. The team competes in the European Under-21 Championship, held every two years.

Georgia Under-21

Nickname(s)	ჯვაროსნები Jvarosnebi (Crusaders)
Association	Georgian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA
Head coach	Ramaz Svanadze
Captain	Saba Khvadagiani
Most caps	Nika Kvekveskiri (20)
Top scorer	Beka Gotsiridze (9 goals)
FIFA code	GEO
First colours Second colours
First international
Georgia 3–0 Moldova (Tbilisi, 27 May 1994)
Biggest win
Georgia 7–1 Malaysia (Vienna, 26 March 2013)
Biggest defeat
Ukraine 6–0 Georgia (Chervonohrad, 12 October 2004)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2023)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2023)
Website	nakrebi.ge

The current team is for Georgian 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. As long as they are eligible, players can play for Georgia at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side, and again for the U21s. This has been the case for several senior team players like Jano Ananidze and Levan Kakubava.

Although the breakup of the Soviet Union occurred officially on 25 December 1991, the under-21 team continued as Soviet Union until the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. After that, Georgia and the other countries who split from the Soviet Union like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine became separate footballing entities.

Georgia held its first official game in a 1996 UEFA European U21 Championship qualification campaign against Moldova and achieved the best result in the next round by coming second in their group. Since the establishment of the Georgian under-21 side, it never reached a final tournament of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, until the 2023 edition for which they automatically qualified as a co-host nation.

Despite the lowest rating points among the 2023 Championship teams, Georgia produced a main surprise on the tournament. They finished the group on top of the table and remained unbeaten after 120 minutes of a quarter-final clash with Israel as well, before eventually losing on penalties.[1]

Georgia U21s do not have a permanent home ground and play in stadiums of Erovnuli Liga clubs across the country. The record attendance for their match was set on 1 July 2023 when Georgia played Israel in quarter-final of the European Championship in front of 44,338 spectators.[2]