1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Tournament details
Dates	16 February – 12 October
Teams	30 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	France (1st title)
Runners-up	Greece
Tournament statistics
Matches played	98
Goals scored	261 (2.66 per match)
Attendance	143,886 (1,468 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aris Karasavvidis (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Laurent Blanc
	← 1986 1990 →

The 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1986–88), had 30 entrants. The Republic of Ireland competed for the first time. France U-21s won the competition.

The 30 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 4 + two groups of 3). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided. There was no finals tournament or third-place playoff.

Qualifying stage[edit]

Draw[edit]

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying tournament with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

Group 1 featured the same teams
Group 2 did not include Malta
Group 3 did not include Iceland (moved to Group 6)
Group 4 did not include Northern Ireland
Group 5 did not include Netherlands (moved to Group 8)
Group 6 did not include Wales, but included Iceland (moved from Group 3)
Group 7 did not include Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both moved to Group 8)
Group 8 composed of Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both moved from Group 7), Netherlands (moved from Group 5) and West Germany (who did not participate in senior Euro qualification)

Qualifying Round 1[edit]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	6	4	2	0	9	1	+8	10	Advance to finals
2	Romania	6	3	0	3	7	7	0	6
3	Austria	6	2	2	2	5	7	−2	6
4	Albania	6	0	2	4	4	10	−6	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches[edit]

All times are local (UTC+1)

Romania vs Austria[edit]

9 September 1986

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Romania	1–0	Austria
Mihali 35'

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Carlo Longhi

Austria vs Albania[edit]

14 October 1986

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Austria	1–0	Albania
Kostenberger 85'

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Laszlo Padar

Spain 1-0 Romania
Albania 0-0 Spain
Romania 3-2 Albania
Austria 1-1 Spain
Albania 1-1 Austria
Romania 0-1 Spain
Spain 3-0 Austria
Albania 1-2 Romania
Austria 2-1 Romania
Spain 3-0 Albania

Qualifying Group 2		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Italy	6	3	3	0	14	4	9
2	Sweden	6	1	4	1	6	6	6
3	Switzerland	6	1	3	2	4	7	5
4	Portugal	6	2	0	4	8	15	4

Sweden 0-0 Switzerland
Portugal 2-0 Sweden
Switzerland 3-1 Portugal
Italy 1-1 Switzerland
Portugal 1-2 Italy
Sweden 2-2 Italy

Switzerland 0-0 Sweden
Sweden 4-2 Portugal
Switzerland 0-3 Italy
Portugal 2-0 Switzerland
Italy 0-0 Sweden
Italy 6-0 Portugal

Qualifying Group 3		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	France	6	3	2	1	8	6	8
2	East Germany	6	2	3	1	10	6	7
3	Soviet Union	6	3	0	3	7	9	6
4	Norway	6	0	3	3	3	7	3

Norway 0-0 E.Germany
France 2-1 USSR
USSR 1-0 Norway
E.Germany 1-0 France
USSR 2-1 E.Germany
Norway 0-2 USSR

Norway 1-2 France
USSR 0-1 France
E.Germany 5-1 USSR
France 1-1 Norway
E.Germany 1-1 Norway
France 2-2 E.Germany

Qualifying Group 4		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	England	4	1	3	0	7	3	5
2	Turkey	4	1	2	1	4	6	4
3	Yugoslavia	4	1	1	2	7	9	3

Yugoslavia 3-0 Turkey
England 1-1 Yugoslavia
Turkey 0-0 England

England 1-1 Turkey
Yugoslavia 1-5 England
Turkey 3-2 Yugoslavia

Qualifying Group 5		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Greece	6	4	1	1	15	5	9
2	Hungary	6	3	1	2	12	7	7
3	Poland	6	3	0	3	5	6	6
4	Cyprus	6	1	0	5	4	18	2

Poland 1-0 Greece
Greece 2-1 Hungary
Cyprus 0-4 Greece
Greece 5-1 Cyprus
Cyprus 2-1 Hungary
Poland 3-0 Cyprus

Greece 2-0 Poland
Hungary 3-0 Poland
Poland 0-1 Hungary
Hungary 2-2 Greece
Cyprus 0-1 Poland
Hungary 4-1 Cyprus

Qualifying Group 6		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	6	3	2	1	14	8	8
2	Denmark	6	2	2	2	7	6	6
3	Finland	6	2	1	3	8	11	5
4	Iceland	6	1	3	2	9	13	5

Finland 2-0 Iceland
Iceland 0-4 Czechoslo.
Czechoslo. 2-0 Finland
Denmark 4-1 Finland
Czechoslo. 1-1 Denmark
Finland 0-1 Denmark

Denmark 0-1 Czechoslo.
Iceland 0-0 Denmark
Iceland 2-2 Finland
Denmark 1-3 Iceland
Finland 3-2 Czechoslo.
Czechoslo. 4-4 Iceland

Qualifying Group 7		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Scotland	4	3	1	0	7	2	7
2	Belgium	4	0	3	1	1	2	3
3	Republic of Ireland	4	0	2	2	3	7	2

Belgium 0-0 R. Ireland
R. Ireland 1-2 Scotland
Scotland 4-1 R. Ireland

Belgium 0-0 Scotland
R. Ireland 1-1 Belgium
Scotland 1-0 Belgium

Qualifying Group 8		P	W	L	F	A	Pts
1	Netherlands	6	5	1	12	5	10
2	Bulgaria	6	4	2	8	7	8
3	West Germany	6	3	3	12	9	6
4	Luxembourg	6	0	6	2	13	0

W.Germany 2-0 Bulgaria
Bulgaria 1-0 Netherlands
Luxem. 0-2 Netherlands
W.Germany 4-1 Luxem.
Bulgaria 1-0 Luxembourg
Nether. 3-1 W.Germany

Luxembourg 0-1 Bulgaria
Netherlands 1-0 Luxem.
Luxem. 1-4 W.Germany
W.Germany 0-2 Nether.
Bulgaria 2-1 W.Germany
Netherlands 4-3 Bulgaria

Qualified teams[edit]

Country	Qualified as	Previous appearances in tournament¹
Spain	Group 1 winner	3 (1982, 1984, 1986)
Italy	Group 2 winner	5 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986)
France	Group 3 winner	3 (1982, 1984, 1986)
England	Group 4 winner	5 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986)
Greece	Group 5 winner	0 (Debut)
Czechoslovakia	Group 6 winner	2 (1978, 1980)
Scotland	Group 7 winner	3 (1980, 1982, 1984)
Netherlands	Group 8 winner	0 (Debut)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

Squads[edit]

See 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Knockout stage[edit]

Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Finals

Scotland	0	0	0

England	1	1	2
				England	2	2	4

				France	4	2	6
France	2	2	4

Italy	1	2	3
								France	0	3	3

								Greece	0	0	0
Greece	1	2	3

Czechoslovakia	1	2	3
				Greece	5	0	5

				Netherlands	0	2	2
Netherlands	2	1	3

Spain	1	0	1