1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship explained

Tourney Name:	1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Dates:	12 March – 29 October
Confederations:	1
Num Teams:	29
Count:	1
Matches:	92
Goals:	249
Top Scorer:	Gianluca Vialli (4 goals)
Player:	Manuel Sanchis^[1]
Prevseason:	1984
Nextseason:	1988

The 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 5th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1984–86), had 29 entrants. Spain U-21s won the competition after a penalty shootout, the first in the U-21 competition's history.

The 29 national teams were divided into eight groups (five groups of 4 + three 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 3rd-place playoff.

Qualifying stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

Group 1 did not include Belgium (moved to Group 8)
Group 2 did not include Malta
Group 3 did not include Northern Ireland
Group 4 did not include Luxembourg (moved to Group 8)
Group 5 featured the same nations
Group 6 did not include Republic of Ireland
Group 7 did not include Wales
Group 8 composed of Belgium (moved from Group 1), Luxembourg (moved from Group 4) and Italy (who did not participate in World Cup qualification)

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"	0	align=center width="50"	1	align=center width="50"	10	align=center width="50"	4	align=center width="50"	6
2		4	2	0	2	6	8	4
3		4	1	0	3	3	7	2

Poland 5-1 Greece
Poland 2-0 Albania
Greece 2-0 Albania

Greece 2-1 Poland
Albania 1-2 Poland
Albania 2-1 Greece

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

Sweden 1-1 Portugal
Portugal 0-1 Czechoslo.
W. Germany 1-0 Sweden
Portugal 0-1 Sweden
Portugal 2-1 W.Germany
Czechoslovakia 1-1 W. Germany

Sweden 1-0 Czechoslo.
Czechoslo. 3-1 Portugal
Sweden 2-1 W.Germany
Czechoslo. 0-2 Sweden
W. Germany 2-0 Portugal
W. Germany 3-1 Czecho.

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

England 2-0 Finland
Turkey 1-1 Finland
Turkey 0-0 England
Romania 1-0 Turkey
Romania 0-0 England
Finland 3-1 England

Finland 2-2 Romania
Romania 0-0 Finland
England 3-0 Romania
Finland 0-0 Turkey
England 3-0 Turkey
Turkey 2-2 Romania

Qualifying group 4		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
align=center width="50"	1		align=center width="50"	6	align=center width="50"	2	align=center width="50"	3	align=center width="50"	1	align=center width="50"	11	align=center width="50"	7	align=center width="50"	7
2		6	3	1	2	14	12	7
3		6	1	4	1	9	9	6
4		6	1	2	3	10	16	4

Yugoslavia 1-2 Bulgaria
E.Germany 1-1 Yugosl.
France 2-1 Bulgaria
France 1-1 E.Germany
Yugoslavia 0-0 France
Bulgaria 3-2 E.Germany

Bulgaria 4-0 France
Bulgaria 3-6 Yugoslavia
E.Germany 1-1 France
Yugosl. 2-3 E.Germany
E.Germany 1-1 Bulgaria
France 7-0 Yugoslavia

Qualifying group 5		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
align=center width="50"	1		align=center width="50"	6	align=center width="50"	5	align=center width="50"	0	align=center width="50"	1	align=center width="50"	9	align=center width="50"	3	align=center width="50"	10
2		6	4	1	1	11	3	9
3		6	0	3	3	3	7	3
4		6	0	2	4	3	13	2

Cyprus 1-1 Austria
Hungary 2-0 Austria
Netherlands 1-0 Hungary
Austria 0-0 Netherlands
Cyprus 1-3 Hungary
Cyprus 1-3 Netherlands

Netherlands 5-0 Cyprus
Hungary 1-0 Cyprus
Austria 1-2 Hungary
Netherlands 2-1 Austria
Austria 0-0 Cyprus
Hungary 1-0 Netherlands

Qualifying group 6		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
align=center width="50"	1		align=center width="50"	6	align=center width="50"	3	align=center width="50"	2	align=center width="50"	1	align=center width="50"	11	align=center width="50"	7	align=center width="50"	8
2		6	2	2	2	10	9	6
3		6	3	0	3	8	8	6
4		6	1	2	3	7	12	4

Norway 3-0 Switzerland
Denmark 2-2 Norway
Norway 2-1 USSR
Switzerland 1-1 Denmark
Switzerland 4-2 USSR
USSR 1-0 Switzerland

Denmark 1-0 USSR
USSR 2-0 Denmark
Denmark 4-1 Switzerland
Norway 1-3 Denmark
USSR 2-1 Norway
Switzerland 1-1 Norway

Qualifying group 7		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"	4	align=center width="50"	0	align=center width="50"	7
2		4	1	1	2	1	4	3
3		4	1	0	3	2	3	2

Scotland 1-0 Iceland
Scotland 0-2 Spain
Spain 0-0 Scotland

Iceland 2-0 Scotland
Iceland 0-1 Spain
Spain 1-0 Iceland

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"	1	align=center width="50"	0	align=center width="50"	15	align=center width="50"	2	align=center width="50"	7
2		4	1	1	2	7	8	3
3		4	1	0	3	5	17	2

Belgium 5-1 Luxembourg
Belgium 1-1 Italy
Italy 5-1 Luxembourg

Luxembourg 0-6 Italy
Luxembourg 3-1 Belgium
Italy 3-0 Belgium

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Previous appearances in tournament¹
	Group 1 winner	2 (1982, 1984)
	Group 2 winner	0 (Debut)
	Group 3 winner	4 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984)
	Group 4 winner	2 (1982, 1984)
	Group 5 winner	2 (1978, 1980)
	Group 6 winner	1 (1978)
	Group 7 winner	2 (1982, 1984)
	Group 8 winner	4 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

Squads

See 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Notes and References

Web site: 1986: Manuel Sanchís . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 June 1986 . 29 June 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150628142655/http://www.uefa.com/under21/season%3D1986/golden-player/index.html . 28 June 2015 .