Kypros U21

The Cyprus national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team for Cyprus. It is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association.

The team drew their first official match 0–0 in 1978 at home to Spain in a qualifying match for the 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. They then drew 0–0 with the trophy holders Yugoslavia, also at home. They lost both away games though. And finished last in the group of three teams, with two points from four games, and so did not qualify for the Finals.

In the qualifying stages for the 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, Cyprus made history when they defeated France 2–1 in Cyprus as it was the countries first ever official victory at National or Under-21 football level. The scorer of the Cypriot goals was Islington born Kikis Kyriacou of Olympiakos Nicosia whose promising career was brought to a premature end following a horrific leg injury.

In the qualifying stages for the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, the team beat Greece 1-0 and drew 1–1 with Sweden who went on to reach the Final. Cyprus finished last in their qualifying group with three points, the same number as Greece.

The Under 21 team made gradual improvements and in September 1999, in a qualifying match for the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, drew 1–1 in Spain, the eventual winners of the competition. The team finished fourth out of five teams in their qualifying group, ahead of Austria.

The qualifying stages for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship provided the greatest achievement for the Cyprus under-21 national team to date, when they finished second in Qualification Group One, with 15 points, winning five of their eight matches. France won the group with 22 points, seven points ahead of Cyprus.

In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union, and Cypriot teams took advantage of the Bosman rule bringing in foreign players. This has meant that young Cypriot players are now not as common in the Cypriot First Division and is therefore also having an adverse effect on the under-21 national team.

Kypros sitt landslag for menn under 21 år, også kjent som Kypros U21, representerer Kypros i internasjonal fotball for menn på U21-nivå og styres av Kypros fotballforbund. Laget konkurrerer i UEFA European Under-21 Championship, som arrangeres hvert andre år.

Kypros U21 har aldri kvalifisert seg til en stor internasjonal turnering, men har hatt noen suksesser på lavere nivå. I 2006 nådde laget finalen i Middelhavslekene og tapte mot Spania. I 2018 vant Kypros U21 Kypros International Football Tournament og slo Russland i finalen.

Noen kjente spillere som har representert Kypros U21 inkluderer:

* Pieros Sotiriou
* Marios Antoniou
* Charalampos Kyriakou
* Kypros Christoforou
* Konstantinos Panayi

Kypros U21 har for tiden Javier Recio som hovedtrener. Laget spiller hjemmekampene sine på ulike stadioner rundt om på Kypros, inkludert GSP Stadium i Nicosia og AEK Arena i Larnaca.