Under-21 Group C: France vs Poland facts
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Article summary
Previous meetings, form guides and key facts ahead of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship match.
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France will look to extend their record of never having lost to Poland as UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group C concludes with a meeting between the sides at the MŠK Žilina Stadium.
Les Bleuets are on four points, level with Portugal, having followed their opening 0-0 draw against the Portuguese with a dramatic defeat of Georgia, Johann Lepenant scoring an 89th-minute equaliser before substitute Thierno Barry earned a 3-2 victory 12 minutes into added time.
Poland can no longer progress to the knockout rounds having lost 1-2 to Georgia and 0-5 against Portugal, the latter equalling their heaviest finals defeat.
Previous European U21 Championship meetings
Matches 2
France wins 2
Poland wins 0
Draws 0
France goals 8
Poland goals 1
The teams met in their only previous competitive U21 fixtures in the 1996 qualifying competition, Tony Vairelles scoring twice as France won 4-0 in Katowice on 15 November 1994 and Robert Pirès getting two goals and Vikash Dhorasoo one in a 4-1 home victory in Le Touquet on 16 August 1995.
This is the sides' first U21 game since a 2-2 friendly draw in Biarritz on 12 August 2009 – a result that ended France's four-match winning streak against Poland, a sequence in which they scored 12 goals.
France are unbeaten in their eight U21 fixtures against Poland, winning five. They have scored more than one goal in six of those eight matches.
Substitute Mathys Tel scored France's fifth goal in a 6-1 victory against Poland in the 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship group stage.
Form guide
France
Champions in 1988 with a squad including Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona, Franck Sauzée and Jocelyn Angloma, this is France's eighth appearance in the final tournament and fourth in a row.
Having missed out for six successive tournaments from 2007 onwards, France got to the semi-finals on their return in 2019 and the quarter-finals two years later. France have qualified five times since a group stage was introduced in 2000, and have reached the knockout rounds on each occasion.
In 2023, a team coached by Sylvain Ripoll finished first in Group D, winning all three games, scoring seven goals and conceding two, before losing 3-1 to Ukraine in the last eight.
France kicked off qualifying for the 2025 finals under Thierry Henry, Gérald Baticle taking over in August 2024.
Les Bleuets were second to Slovenia in qualifying Group H (W5 D1 L2), progressing as one of the three best runners-up.
Arnaud Kalimuendo was France's top scorer in qualifying with four goals.
Poland
This is Poland's third qualification in five editions, having not made the finals between 1994 and 2017, when they were hosts.
The last of those appearances came in 2019, when Poland lost out to Spain and Italy in a three-way head-to-head after all three teams had finished level on six points.
Poland have reached the quarter-finals on five occasions – in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1992 and 1994.
Third in their qualifying section for the 2023 finals, Poland – by now coached by Adam Majewski, who was appointed in September 2023 – reached this tournament as one of the three best runners-up, finishing second in Group D four points behind Germany having won seven of their ten games (D1 L2).
Filip Szymczak was Poland's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
Links and trivia
While Poland have never beaten France in a U21 match, they do have three wins in fixtures at youth level (D3 L7), all in friendlies – a 1-0 Under-17 victory in February 2018 and two U18 victories, most recently a 3-2 success in September 2022.