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.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

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 →

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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.

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

More information Pos, Team ...

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

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

All times are local (UTC+1)

Romania vs Austria

More information Romania, 1–0 ...

Romania	1–0	Austria
Mihali 35'

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9 September 1986

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Carlo Longhi

Austria vs Albania

More information Austria, 1–0 ...

Austria	1–0	Albania
Kostenberger 85'

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14 October 1986

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

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

More information Qualifying Group 2, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 3, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 4, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 5, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 6, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 7, P ...

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

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More information Qualifying Group 8, P ...

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

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Qualified teams

More information Country, Qualified as ...

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)

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¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

See 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

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)