1976 UEFA European Under-23 Championship explained

UEFA European Under 23 Championship
Year:	1976
Date:	-->
Num Teams:	23 (from 1 confederation)
Defending Champions:	Hungary U23's
Winners:	Soviet Union U23's
Count:	1
Second:	Hungary U23's
Semifinal1:	Yugoslavia U23's
Semifinal2:	Netherlands U23's
Matches:	58
Goals:	173
Prev Season:	1974
Next Season:	1978

The 1976 UEFA European Under-23 Championship, which spanned two years (1974–76) had 23 entrants. Soviet Union U-23 won the competition.

The 23 national teams were divided into eight groups (seven groups of 3 + one group of 2). 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 3rd-place playoff.

Qualifying stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying tournament with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

• Group 1 did not include Cyprus
• Group 2 did not include Wales
• Group 3 did not include Northern Ireland
• Group 4 did not include Spain
• Group 5 did not include Poland (moved to Group 8)
• Group 6 did not include Republic of Ireland and Switzerland
• Group 7 did not include Iceland
• Group 8 did not include West Germany and Malta, but included Poland (moved from Group 5)

Qualifying Group 1 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 9 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 7 2 4 1 1 2 5 6 3 3 4 0 2 2 3 7 2

England 3-1 Czechoslovakia Portugal 2-3 England Portugal 2-0 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 1-1 England Czechoslovakia 1-1 Portugal England 2-0 Portugal qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 2 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 11 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 7 2 4 1 2 1 6 6 4 3 4 0 1 3 2 11 1

Luxembourg 0-3 Hungary Luxembourg 1-3 Austria Austria 2-2 Hungary Hungary 2-0 Austria Austria 1-1 Luxembourg Hungary 4-0 Luxembourg qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 3 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 7 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 6 2 4 2 1 1 6 6 5 3 4 0 1 3 1 6 1

Yugoslavia 2-0 Norway Sweden 1-1 Yugoslavia Norway 0-0 Yugoslavia Norway 0-2 Sweden Sweden 2-1 Norway Yugoslavia 4-1 Sweden qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 4 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 11 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 8 2 4 1 1 2 8 9 3 3 4 0 1 3 4 12 1

Romania 6-2 Denmark Denmark 1-1 Romania Romania 1-2 Scotland Denmark 0-1 Scotland Scotland 4-1 Denmark Scotland 4-0 Romania qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 5 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 10 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 7 2 4 2 1 1 9 6 5 3 4 0 0 4 2 12 0

Netherlands 3-0 Finland Netherlands 3-2 Italy Italy 3-0 Finland Finland 0-3 Netherlands Finland 2-3 Italy Italy 1-1 Netherlands qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 6 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 2 2 2 1 0 1 2 4 2

Turkey 2-1 Soviet Union Soviet Union 3-0 Turkey qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 7 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 2 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 6 align=center width="50" 5 align=center width="50" 5 2 4 1 2 1 4 4 4 3 4 1 1 2 4 5 3

France 1-0 Belgium East Germany 1-1 France Belgium 0-0 East Germany East Germany 1-2 Belgium France 1-2 East Germany Belgium 2-3 France qualify as group winners

Qualifying Group 8 P W D L F A Pts align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 4 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 0 align=center width="50" 1 align=center width="50" 6 align=center width="50" 3 align=center width="50" 6 2 4 2 0 2 7 5 4 3 4 1 0 3 4 9 2

Greece 0-2 Bulgaria Bulgaria 2-1 Greece Poland 2-1 Bulgaria Poland 4-1 Greece Greece 2-1 Poland Bulgaria 1-0 Poland qualify as group winners

Knockout stages

Quarter-finals Netherlands 2-0 Scotland Scotland 2-0 Netherlands 2-2: win 4-3 on penalties Hungary 3-0 England England 3-1 Hungary win 4-3 on aggregate France 2-1 Soviet Union Soviet Union 2-1 France 3-3: win 4-2 on penalties Bulgaria 2-3 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 2-1 Bulgaria win 5-3 on aggregate

Semi-finals Hungary 3-2 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 1-1 Hungary win 4-3 on aggregate Soviet Union 3-0 Netherlands Netherlands 1-0 Soviet Union win 3-1 on aggregate

Final Hungary 1-1 Soviet Union Soviet Union 2-1 Hungary Soviet Union win 3-2 on aggregate finish as Champions

See also

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship

External links

• Results Archive at uefa.com
• RSSSF Results Archive at rsssf.com