Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | 11 September 1990 – 18 December 1991 (qualifications) 10 March – 3 June (finals) |
Teams | 32 (from 1 confederation) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Italy (1st title) |
Runners-up | Sweden |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 111 |
Goals scored | 296 (2.67 per match) |
Attendance | 128,567 (1,158 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Renato Buso (3 goals) |
Best player(s) | Renato Buso[1] |
← 1990 1994 → |
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Teams | 28 (from 1 confederation) |
← 1988 1996 → |
The 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1990–92), had 32 entrants. Malta and Israel competed for the first time. This was also the first appearance of the unified Germany team since 1964. Italy U-21s won the competition.
The competition doubled as the European qualifying stage for the Olympic Football Tournament, which until 1992 existed as a separate tournament. Hosts Spain qualify automatically and the best four eligible nations would qualify automatically. The fifth best European team would play-off against the best Oceania (OFC) team for another Olympics place. Beside the hosting Spain, teams of Scotland, England, Luxembourg and San-Marino did not take part in Olympic qualifications (not members of IOC[2]). Teams of Northern Ireland, Wales and Faroes Islands did not take part in this competition at all.
The 32 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 4 + one group of 3 + one group of 5). 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.