1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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.

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)

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

Qualified teams

 * 1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Squads
See 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

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)