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
Matches All times are local (UTC+1)
Romania vs Austria
Austria vs Albania
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 2PWDLFAPts1633014492614166636132475462048154 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 3PWDLFAPts163218682623110673630379646033373 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 4PWDLFAPts141307352412146434112793 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 5PWDLFAPts16411155926312127736303566461054182 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 6PWDLFAPts16321148826222766362138115461329135 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 7PWDLFAPts143107272403112334022372 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 8PWDLFAPts165011251026402878363031296460062130 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 Group 1 winner 3 (1982, 1984, 1986) Group 2 winner 5 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986) Group 3 winner 3 (1982, 1984, 1986) Group 4 winner 5 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986) Group 5 winner 0 (Debut) Group 6 winner 2 (1978, 1980) Group 7 winner 3 (1980, 1982, 1984) 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
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Final
First leg
Second leg
Goalscorers 5 goals Aris Karasavvidis
4 goals Stéphane Paille
3 goals Eric Cantona Franck Sauzée
1 goal
Václav Němeček Marcel Litoš Paul Gascoigne Garry Parker Gary Porter Paul Stewart David White Jocelyn Angloma Jean-Luc Dogon Franck Silvestre Stefanos Borbokis Kostas Ikonomidis Giorgos Kapouranis Massimo Ciocci Paolo Maldini Ruggiero Rizzitelli Henk Fraser John van Loen Gerrit Plomp Eric Viscaal Rob Witschge Loren
Own goal Pagonis Vakalopoulos (playing against Czechoslovakia) Franck Silvestre (playing against England)
References
External links Results Archive at uefa.com RSSSF Results Archive at rsssf.com