Athletics national side

Bulgaria U19

National team · Bulgaria

«The Young Lions»

24 Matches

7 wins

7 draws

10 losses

22–24 Goals

−2 Difference

0.9 Scored per game

Form L L W W D L

Bulgaria's under-19 side keeps returning to the same wall: a group stage. In each of its three appearances at the modern UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals — 2008, 2014 and 2017 — the team finished fourth in its group and went home before the semi-finals, beaten in 2017 by England, Germany and France. Getting there has proved harder still; in five other campaigns, in 2006, 2007, 2013, 2016 and 2018, the Elite Round stopped Bulgaria short of the finals altogether.

That record sits oddly against what the age group once did. Under the old UEFA Junior Tournament, the forerunner to today's championship, Bulgaria won the thing three times, beating Italy in 1959, East Germany on a coin toss in 1969, and Yugoslavia in 1974. Two more runner-up finishes followed, in 1977 against Belgium and in 1979 against Yugoslavia, both by a single goal.

The squad trains at the National Football Base "Boyana" in Sofia but has no ground to call its own, scattering fixtures around grounds such as Stadion Beroe in Stara Zagora and Stadion Hadzhi Dimitar in Sliven. There is no fixed rival either.

What the age group has done consistently is produce players who go on to be known elsewhere. Kiril Despodov passed through it between 2012 and 2015, scoring five goals in 17 caps.

Latest results

Fixtures and results

29 Sep	Friendlies	Romania U19 H	0:1	L
26 Sep	Friendlies	Hungary U19 A	1:1	D
7 Jun	Friendlies	Albania U19 H	3:0	W
4 Jun	Friendlies	Albania U19 H	1:0	W
31 Mar	UEFA U19 Championship - Qualification	Spain U19 H	0:2	L
28 Mar	UEFA U19 Championship - Qualification	Croatia U19 A	0:1	L