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 1PWDLFAPts1430110462420268434103372 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 2PWDLFAPts16411739263129673621368546114493 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 3PWDLFAPts16321938261416663614157646042374 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 4PWDLFAPts1623111772631214127361419964612310164 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 5PWDLFAPts16501931026411113936033373460243132 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 6PWDLFAPts16321117826222109636303886461237124 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 7PWDLFAPts143104072411214334103232 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 8PWDLFAPts14310152724112783341035172 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
Knockout stage
References