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 [1]
← 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

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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

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 D L F A Pts 1   Netherlands 6 5 0 1 12 5 10 2   Bulgaria 6 4 0 2 8 7 8 3   West Germany 6 3 0 3 12 9 6 4   Luxembourg 6 0 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 tournament 1
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

Quarter-finals

First leg

16 February 1988

Scotland	0–1	England
	Report	Porter 83'

Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen

Attendance: 14,200

Referee: Bo Karlsson ( Sweden)

16 March 1988

France	2–1	Italy
Paille 81' Sauzée 90'	Report	Maldini 51'

Stade Marcel Picot, Nancy

Attendance: 13,462

Referee: Lajos Németh ( Hungary)

2 March 1988

Greece	1–1	Czechoslovakia
Borbokis 49'	Report	Němeček 65'

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 2,846

Referee: Ioan Igna ( Romania)

24 February 1988

Spain	0–1	Netherlands
	Report	Plomp 89' ( pen.)

La Condomina, Murcia

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Renzo Peduzzi ( Switzerland)

Second leg

22 April 1988

England	1–0	Scotland
White 82'	Report

City Ground, Nottingham

Attendance: 11,284

Referee: Karl-Heinz Tritschler ( West Germany)

23 March 1988

Italy	2–2	France
Rizzitelli 42' Ciocci 63'	Report	Paille 83', 88'

Stadio Riviera delle Palme, San Benedetto del Tronto

Attendance: 13,505

Referee: Helmut Kohl ( Austria)

23 March 1988

Czechoslovakia	2–2	Greece
Vakalopoulos 77' ( o.g.) Litoš 84'	Report	Karasavvidis 20' Kapouranis 86'

Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice

Attendance: 4,200

Referee: José dos Santos ( Portugal)

23 March 1988

Netherlands	2–1 ( a.e.t.)	Spain
van Loen 100' Viscaal 108'	Report	Loren 40'

Nieuw Galgenwaard, Utrecht

Attendance: 3,724

Referee: Einar Halle ( Norway)

Semi-finals

First leg

13 April 1988

France	4–2	England
Angloma 23' Cantona 49' Dogon 78' Paille 83'	Report	Parker 40' Stewart 60' ( pen.)

Stade Léo Lagrange, Besançon

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Yusuf Namoğlu ( Turkey)

13 April 1988

Greece	5–0	Netherlands
Karasavvidis 10', 41', 73', 85' Ikonomidis 13'	Report

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus

Attendance: 3,216

Referee: Klaus Peschel ( West Germany)

Second leg

27 April 1988

England	2–2	France
Gascoigne 5' Silvestre 59' ( o.g.)	Report	Cantona 56', 78'

Highbury Stadium, London

Attendance: 5,661

Referee: Marcel Van Langenhove ( Belgium)

27 April 1988

Netherlands	2–0	Greece
Fraser 60' Witschge 88'	Report

Nieuw Galgenwaard, Utrecht

Attendance: 750

Referee: Aron Schmidhuber ( West Germany)

Final

First leg

25 May 1988

Greece	0–0	France
	Report

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus

Attendance: 21,038

Referee: Ion Crăciunescu ( Romania)

Second leg

12 October 1988

France	3–0	Greece
Sauzée 8', 55' Silvestre 67'	Report

Stade Léo Lagrange, Besançon

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger ( Switzerland)

Goalscorers

5 goals

• Aris Karasavvidis

4 goals

• Stéphane Paille

3 goals

• Eric Cantona
• Franck Sauzée

1 goal

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