U21 Coach Perchtold Proud: "Currently the best team in the group"

Austria's U21 national team concluded their European Championship qualification campaign with a dominant victory, but will nevertheless only be spectators at next summer's finals in Albania and Serbia.

The top ÖFB youth selection won away against Wales 7:1 (3:1) in Caernarfon on Tuesday, but could no longer catch group runners-up Denmark.

The Danes ended up with one point more in Group I after a 0:0 draw against Belgium – and a goal difference that was three goals better.

Perchtold Satisfied

The Austrians had hoped for a Danish defeat and also needed to make up a total of nine goals to reach the play-offs.

"We did what we could influence, and that was this clear victory. You could tell that the boys still believed we could secure second place," said ÖFB U21 head coach Peter Perchtold.

The players were therefore somewhat disappointed, but he told them in the changing room: "We might have finished in third place, but currently we are the best team in this group."

Goal conversion was "really good" this time, Perchtold explained. The improvement in this regard compared to the 1:1 draw last Friday in the qualifying showdown in Vienna against Denmark was achieved with two changes to the starting lineup.

Highest Victory in Five Years

Instead of the injured Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta, Oluwaseun Adewumi started on the right wing, while Erik Kojzek was preferred over Furkan Dursun in the center forward position.

The 7:1 was Austria's U21 team's biggest victory since 2021, or in more than five years. In the first seven qualifying matches, Perchtold's squad had scored a total of eight goals, now almost as many in the final match.

14 points from eight games were ultimately not enough. A heavy burden: in October 2025, they had suffered a 0:2 defeat to the Welsh in Linz.

Last Participation in 2019

The 2019 tournament in Italy remains Austria's only U21 European Championship participation to date. The continent's most important youth tournament has now been missed for the fourth time in a row.

"We believed in the miracle until the very end, but unfortunately it was not to be," explained Hödl. "But we will attack again."

Winning 7:1 away in qualification "doesn't just happen," said the 19-year-old. "I think we can be proud of ourselves after these two games," Schuster added.