1982_UEFA_European_Under-21_Championship

1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Tournament details
Dates	23 February – 24 May
Teams	27 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	England (1st title)
Runners-up	West Germany
Tournament statistics
Matches played	74
Goals scored	194 (2.62 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Pierre Littbarski (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Rudi Völler
	← 1980 1984 →

1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

International football competition

The 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 3rd staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1980–82) and had 26 entrants. West Germany competed in the competition for the first time. England U-21s won the competition.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

The 26 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 3 + two groups of 4). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided. There was no 3rd-place playoff.

Qualifying stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

Group 1 did not include Albania
Group 2 did not include Netherlands (moved to Group 8) and Republic of Ireland
Group 3 did not include Wales and Iceland
Group 4 did not include Norway (moved to Group 7)
Group 5 did not include Denmark (moved to Group 6) and Luxembourg (moved to Group 8)
Group 6 did not include Portugal, Northern Ireland and Israel, but included Denmark (moved from Group 5)
Group 7 did not include Malta, but included Norway (moved from Group 4)
Group 8 composed of Netherlands (moved from Group 2), Luxembourg (moved from Group 5) and Spain (who did not participate in World Cup qualification)