Soviet Union national under-21 football team

The Soviet national youth football team was the under-21 football team of the Soviet Union. Before 1978 it was known as under-23 team. It ceased to exist on the breakup of the Union.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the USSR Under-21 team was formed. The team had a good record, winning the competition twice, reaching the last four once, but failing to qualify for the last eight on five occasions.

After the dissolution of the USSR (on 26 December 1991), the senior team played out its remaining fixtures, which were the finals of Euro 92. Because the USSR U-21s had, by 26 December, already failed to qualify for their version of the 1992 European Championship, the former Soviet states didn't play as a combined team at U-21 level ever again.

Of the former Soviet states, only Russia entered the 1992–1994 competition. A total of 15 former Soviet states play international football today; 11 in Europe under UEFA, 4 in Asia under the AFC.

UEFA U-23 championship record
Started in Balkans as the Under-23 Challenge Cup which ran from 1967 to 1970, the Soviet Union did not participate.

Managers

 * 1963 Boris Nabokov
 * 1964 Boris Nabokov and  Vasiliy Sokolov
 * 1964 Vasiliy Sokolov
 * 1965 Yevgeniy Goryanskiy
 * 1965 Gavriil Kachalin
 * 1966 Viktor Lakhonin and  Yevgeniy Rogov
 * 1966 Nikita Simonyan
 * 1967 Boris Nabokov


 * 1967 German Zonin
 * 1967 Vsevolod Blinkov
 * 1968 Gavriil Kachalin and  Aleksei Paramonov
 * 1968 Gavriil Kachalin
 * 1968 Vitaliy Artemyev
 * 1969–1973 Boris Nabokov
 * 1974–1976 Valentin Nikolayev
 * 1976 Sergei Mosiagin


 * 1977–1979 Valentin Nikolayev
 * 1980 Valentin Nikolayev and  Sergei Korshunov
 * 1980–1985 Valentin Nikolayev
 * 1985 Vladimir Salkov
 * 1985 Eduard Malofeyev
 * 1986–1990 Vladimir Radionov
 * 1988 Leonid Pakhomov
 * 1991–1992 Boris Ignatyev


 * In 1992 it also competed as the CIS national under-21 football team coached by Boris Ignatyev. Since August 1992 Boris Ignatyev continued already with the Russia national under-21 football team.

1990 European Championship squad

 * Head coach: Vladimir Radionov

Notes:
 * All data through 31 December 1989.

1992 European Championship cycle squad
The last under-21 squad which is also known as the Olympic. All caps and goals are based on the Soviet team performance at the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 1990–1991.
 * Head coach: Boris Ignatyev