The Football Association has announced that Gareth Southgate has extended his contract as England Under-21 manager until the summer of 2017.

The 44-year-old became head coach of the Young Lions in 2013 and will lead the team at the European Championships in the Czech Republic this summer.

"I am enjoying my work at the FA and, with St George's Park coming to life with innovation and development across our football disciplines, I believe we now have some solid foundations in place," said Southgate.

"England DNA is evolving but anyone who has seen our development teams play, including the Under-21s, will know that many of the principles can already be seen in the way we go about our work.

"Whilst I am certainly happy with the direction we are heading and the progress made so far, we have enormous work ahead of us to raise the level to where we would like to be. It is a big challenge, but an exciting one."

Technical director Dan Ashworth added: "Gareth is an outstanding individual to work alongside and I am happy to see him commit further to his work with the Under-21s and to football development at the FA.

"We are looking forward to the European Championship this summer, and testing our young players against Europe's elite."

Southgate also works as the head of national teams at St George's Park.