France national under-21 football team

France Under-21

Nickname(s)	Les Bleuets (The Little Blues) Les Espoirs (The Hopes)
Association	French Football Federation
Head coach	Thierry Henry
Captain	Warren Zaïre-Emery
Most caps	Mickaël Landreau (46)
Top scorer	Odsonne Édouard (17)
First colours Second colours
First international
France 7–1 England  (Le Havre, France; 22 May 1952)
Biggest win
France 9–0 Cyprus  (Grenoble, France; 17 October 2023)
Biggest defeat
England 6–0 France (Sheffield, England; 28 February 1984) Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	11 (first in 1982)
Best result	Winners (1988)

The France national under-21 football team (French: Equipe de France Espoirs), known in France as Les Espoirs (French pronunciation: [ɛs.pwaʁ], The Hopes), is the national under-21 football team of France and is controlled by the French Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, under-21 football teams in Europe were formed. The team is exclusively for football players that are age 21 or under at the start of the two-year campaign of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, meaning a player can represent the national team until the age of 23.

France has won the Under-21 Championship once, in 1988. Notable players on the team that went on to play for the senior national team include Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona, Franck Sauzée, and Jocelyn Angloma, among others.^[1] Blanc was named the tournament's Golden Player.^[2] The team's best finish since was in 2002 when the team finished runners-up to the Czech Republic in Switzerland.

The France under-21 team does not have a permanent home. The team plays in stadiums located all around France, particularly grounds of Ligue 2 clubs. Because of the smaller demand compared to the senior national team, smaller facilities are used. Recently, the under-21 team has established the Stade Auguste-Delaune II, home of Stade Reims, as a home residence having played numerous matches there over the past two seasons.