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

Draw

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

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

All times are local (UTC+1)

Romania vs Austria

9 September 1986

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Romania	1–0	Austria
Mihali 35'

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Carlo Longhi

Austria vs Albania

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

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

See 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Knockout stage

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