England did not qualify for the Under 21 European Championship finals as they lost their play off matches against France. England's results in the qualification games were

Austria 0 England 2 - scorers were Carlton Cole 32mins, Darren Bent 89mins
Poland 1 England 3 - Carlton Cole 45, Darren Bent 72, 83
England 2 Wales 0 - James Milner 46, Darren Bent 73
Azerbaijan 0 England 0
England 2 Germany 2 - Darren Bent 50, Dean Ashton 52
England 2 Azerbaijan 0 - John Welsh 27, Dean Ashton 41
Wales 0 England 4 - Jonathan Stead 5, Peter Whittington 25, 90, Michael Dawson 67
Germany 1 England 1 - Steven Taylor 44
England 1 Austria 2 - Carlton Cole 19
England 4 Poland 1 - Carlton Cole 18, Jerome Thomas 21, Steven Taylor 37, 38

The final U21 table was:

England U21 came second in the group and therefore had to play off against France U21 for a place in the finals. The results were:

England 1 France 1 - held at White Hart Lane, London on 11 November 2005
France 2 England 1 - held at Stade Marcel Picot, Nancy, France on 15 November 2005.
The England Under 21 team lost the play off 3-2 on aggregate.

The England team that drew 1-1 at home to France was Scott Carson (Liverpool), Ryan Taylor (Wigan), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Anton Ferdinand (W Ham), Peter Whitttingham (A Villa), James Milner (A Villa) [sub Dean Ashton (Norwich) 78 mins], Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Kieran Richardson (Man Utd), Darren Ambrose (Charlton), Darren Bent (Charlton), Carlton Cole (Chelsea)

The England team that lost 2-1 in France was Scott Carson (Liverpool), Ryan Taylor (Wigan), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Anton Ferdinand (W Ham), Nedun Onuoha (Man City) [sub Peter Whitttingham (A Villa) 79 mins], Darren Ambrose (Charlton) [sub Dean Ashton (Norwich) 66 mins], Gary O'Neil (Portsmouth), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Kieran Richardson (Man Utd), Darren Bent (Charlton), Carlton Cole (Chelsea) [sub Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) 89 mins)]

In the first game Anthonly Le Tallec scored for France after 47 minutes before Darren Ambrose levelled the score after 87 minutes after a cross from Dean Ashton. In the second game in France, Darren Bent scored first after 55 minutes after heading in a Ryan Taylor cross. Frank Ribery replied for France four minutes later and then after 85 minutes Kieran Richardson gave away a penalty and Jimmy Briand scored to give France the 2-1 victory. The England Under 21 team manager Peter Taylor said he was disappointed with the penalty decision and that his players thought their player (Diarra) dived to win the penalty.

England also failed to make the Under 21 European Championship 2004 finals after they finished behind Turkey and Portugal in their qualification group. Peter Taylor then replaced David Platt as England's Under 21 football team manager for his second period in charge. England did qualify for the Under 21 2002 finals and have also won this tournament twice (in 1982 and 1984).

In the Under 21 European Championships 2004 final Italy beat Serbia and Montenegro 3-0 in Bochum, Germany with goals from Daniele de Rossi, Cesare Bovo and Alberto Gilardino.

The eight teams that made it to the Under 21 European Championships 2006 finals were:

Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine.

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The fixtures for the U21 European Championship finals in Portugal were:

Group A
23 May 2006: Serbia and Montenegro 0 Germany 1
23 May 2006: Portugal 0 France 1
25 May 2006: Portugal 0 Serbia and Montenegro 2
25 May 2006: France 3 Germany 0
28 May 2006: France 2 Serbia and Montenegro 0
28 May 2006: Germany 0 Portugal 1

France qualified top of the group with 9 points while Serbia and Montenegro qualified in second place with 3 points as they had a better goal difference than Germany or Portugal - Germany were denied a place in the semi-finals by a last minute strike from Portugal's Joao Moutinho.

Group B
24 May 2006: Italy 3 Denmark 3
24 May 2006: Ukraine 2 Holland 1
26 May 2006: Italy 1 Ukraine 0
26 May 2006: Denmark 1 Holland 1
29 May 2006: Denmark 1 Ukraine 2
29 May 2006: Holland 1 Italy 0

Ukraine were top of the group with six points and Holland's victory over Italy gave them the second place position on the head to head rule with 4 points. Denmark came 4th in the group with 2 points.

Semi finals (on 1 June 2006)

Winner Group A: France v Runner up Group B:  Holland
 FRANCE 2                       HOLLAND 3   aet
 (Faubert 51, Bergougnoux 85)   (Hofs 6, 107, Huntelaar 38)

Nicky Hofs gave a man of the match performance for Holland to defeat the favourites France

Winner Group B: Ukraine v Runner up Group A: Serbia and Montenegro
UKRAINE 0      SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 0 aet  (Serbia win 5-4 on penalties)

Serbia's Perovic missed from the penalty spot to send Ukraine through to the final.

Final:    HOLLAND 3       UKRAINE 0      (4 June 2006 in Porto, Portugal)
Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax) scored two goals in the first half with a goal after 11 minutes and then a penalty after 43 minutes of the match. Nicky Hofs rounded off the victory with a goal on full time.

The staring line up for the Dutch side that won was K Vermeer, D Tiendalli, R Vlaar, G Liurink, U Emanuelson, I Aissati, D de Zeeuw, S Schaars, N Hofs, K Huntelaar, R Castelen.

In future the finals will now be held in odd years rather then even years and the next tournament is in Holland in 2007. See the Under 21 Championships news here.