The 1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1976–78) had 24 entrants. Yugoslavia U-21s won the competition.

The 24 national teams were divided into eight groups. 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 3rd-place playoff.

Qualifying stage

Draw The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations: Group 1 did not include Portugal (moved to Group 2) and Cyprus, but included Sweden (moved from Group 6) Group 2 did not include England and Finland (both moved to Group 5), but included Portugal (moved from Group 1) Group 3 did not include Malta Group 4 did not include Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Iceland, but included France and Bulgaria (both moved from Group 5) Group 5 composed of England and Finland (both moved from Group 2) and Norway (moved from Group 6) Group 6 (based on World Cup qualifying Group 7) did not include Wales, but included Switzerland (moved from World Cup Group 6) Groups 7 and 8 included the same teams as World Cup qualifying Groups 8 and 9 respectively

Legend Group winners qualified for the knockout stage

Group 1 PWDLFAPts14211105524202710434112683

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue28 October 1976 2–0 Copenhagen30 April 1977 6–2 Slagelse18 May 1977 2–0 Kalmar16 June 1977 2–2 Helsingborg20 September 1977 1–0 Nowy Sącz27 October 1977 4–2 Opole

Group 2 PWDLFAPts14301133624301756340042140

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue28 November 1976 1–2 Esch-sur-Alzette23 December 1976 1–0 Funchal9 February 1977 4–0 Como12 October 1977 4–1 Vicenza29 October 1977 3–0 Lisbon12 November 1977 1–5 Esch-sur-Alzette

Group 3 Qualifying Group 3PWDLFAPts14310133724121584340135121

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue16 November 1976 1–1 Bursa17 April 1977 2–2 Vienna24 September 1977 1–6 Vienna11 October 1977 2–1 Erfurt29 October 1977 2–1 Manisa15 November 1977 4–0 Magdeburg

Group 4 PWDLFAPts144005182411234334013361

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue3 September 1976 1–1 Amiens10 October 1976 0–1 Le Havre29 March 1977 2–1 Courtrai1 June 1977 0–1 Brussels26 October 1977 1–0 Burgas15 November 1977 2–1 Stara Zagora

Group 5 PWDLFAPts14400172824202694340042140

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue27 October 1976 1–4 Helsinki26 May 1977 0–1 Helsinki1 June 1977 1–2 Bergen17 August 1977 1–0 Grue6 September 1977 6–0 Brighton12 October 1977 8–1 Hull

Group 6 PWDLFAPts142117252421154534103392

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue12 October 1976 0–0 Plzeň30 March 1977 2–0 Bern24 May 1977 4–0 České Budějovice7 September 1977 3–1 Glasgow20 September 1977 2–1 Edinburgh5 October 1977 0–2 Zürich

Group 7 PWDLFAPts143019362420258434103582

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue9 October 1976 4–1 Zagreb17 April 1977 3–0 Madrid8 May 1977 1–3 Craiova26 October 1977 4–0 Bucharest12 November 1977 2–0 Osijek30 November 1977 1–0 Elche

Group 8 PWDLFAPts1422091624211515340131131

Match resultsDateHomeScoreAwayVenue9 October 1976 7–0 Kecskemét24 April 1977 0–2 Athens29 April 1977 0–0 Moscow9 May 1977 3–0 Moscow17 May 1977 1–0 Békéscsaba28 May 1977 1–1 Serres

Qualified teams Country Qualified as Previous appearances in tournament Group 1 winner 0 (Debut) Group 2 winner 0 (Debut) Group 3 winner 0 (Debut) Group 4 winner 0 (Debut) Group 5 winner 0 (Debut) Group 6 winner 0 (Debut) Group 7 winner 0 (Debut) Group 8 winner 0 (Debut)

Squads

Knockout stage

Final GDR-YUG 0:1 Halle, 17.5.1978., Scorer: Halilhodžić ('53). GDR: Heyne, Brauer, Hause (Vingel), Uhlig, Roth, Weber, Terletzki, Eigendorf (Mischinger), Kuhn, Kotte, Riediger. YUG: Stojanović, Vujkov, Hrstić, Zajec, Stojković, Bogdan, Krmpotić, Klinčarski, Halilhodžić, Bošnjak (R. Savić), Desnica (Slišković).

YUG-GDR 4:4 Mostar, 31.5.1978., Scorers: Halilhodžić ('9, '37), Desnica ('16), Bogdan ('50) - Kotte ('2), Kuhn ('11, '31), Riediger ('15). YUG: Stojanović, Krmpotić, M.Obradović, Zajec, Stojković, Bogdan, Bošnjak (Starčević), Savić, Halilhodžić, Klinčarski (Verlašević), Desnica. GDR: Heyne, Hause, Brauer (Vingel), Uhlig, Roth, Schnuphase, Weber, Eigendorf, Riediger, Kotte, Kuhn.

References

External links RSSSF Results Archive at rsssf.com