1978 European Under-21 Football Championship

At the 1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship to 24 teams participating.

The qualifying games in the eight qualifying groups started on September 3, 1976 and ended on November 30, 1977. The quarter-finals took place between March 8 and April 5, 1978 and the semi-finals between April 19 and May 2, 1978. The final for the title took place on May 17 and 31, 1978, with Yugoslavia prevailing against the GDR with an overall score of 5: 4 and thus winning the European title.

While the GDR made it to the finals, Austria, which was in a group with the GDR in the preliminary round, as well as Switzerland were the last in the group. The Federal Republic of Germany did not take part.

mode

The 24 national teams were drawn into eight groups of teams each. The national selections had to play their encounters with two legs. The respective group winners (marked in yellow) were qualified for the quarter-finals, from which they played in the knockout system in the two- legged matches up to the final.

Attendees

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Denmark	Italy	GDR	Belgium
Poland	Luxembourg	Austria	Bulgaria
Sweden	Portugal	Turkey	France

Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
England	Scotland	Yugoslavia	Greece
Finland	Switzerland	Romania	Soviet Union
Norway	Czechoslovakia	Spain	Hungary

Performance of the German-speaking teams

GDR and Austria

The GDR and Austria met Turkey in the preliminary round in Group 3 . The GDR started with a 1-1 draw in Turkey and was able to win the remaining three games - 6: 1 ( Vienna ) and 2: 1 ( Erfurt ) against Austria and 4: 0 ( Magdeburg ) against Turkey Confidently take the group win. After Austria couldn't get past a 2-2 draw against Turkey in Vienna and had to admit defeat 1: 2 in Turkey, only the last group place remained for the red-white-red selection.

Switzerland

The Switzerland succeeded in the preliminary round Group 6 ( Bern ) against Scotland with a 2: 0 victory a successful start. After the remaining three games - 0: 4 ( Budweis ) and 0: 2 ( Zurich ) against Czechoslovakia and 1: 3 in Scotland - were lost, the Confederates had to make do with last place.

qualification

Group 1

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Denmark	4th	2	1	1	010: 500	+5	05
2.	Poland	4th	2	0	2	007:100	−3	04th
3.	Sweden	4th	1	1	2	006: 800	−2	03

date		Result
October 28, 1976	Denmark	2-0	Sweden
April 30, 1977	Denmark	6: 2	Poland
May 18, 1977	Sweden	2-0	Poland
June 16, 1977	Sweden	2: 2	Denmark
20th September 1977	Poland	1-0	Denmark
October 27, 1977	Poland	4: 2	Sweden

Group 2

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Italy	4th	3	0	1	013: 300	+10	06th
2.	Portugal	4th	3	0	1	007: 500	+2	06th
3.	Luxembourg	4th	0	0	4th	002:140	−12	00

date		Result
November 28, 1976	Luxembourg	1: 2	Portugal
23rd December 1976	Portugal	1-0	Italy
February 9, 1977	Italy	4-0	Luxembourg
October 12, 1977	Italy	4: 1	Portugal
October 29, 1977	Portugal	3-0	Luxembourg
November 12, 1977	Luxembourg	1: 5	Italy

Group 3

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	GDR	4th	3	1	0	013: 300	+10	07th
2.	Turkey	4th	1	2	1	005: 800	−3	04th
3.	Austria	4th	0	1	3	005:120	−7	01

date		Result
November 16, 1976	Turkey	1: 1	GDR
April 17, 1977	Austria	2: 2	Turkey
September 24, 1977	Austria	1: 6	GDR
October 11, 1977	GDR	2: 1	Austria
October 29, 1977	Turkey	2: 1	Austria
November 15, 1977	GDR	4-0	Turkey

Group 4

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Bulgaria	4th	4th	0	0	005: 100	+4	08th
2.	Belgium	4th	1	1	2	003: 400	−1	03
3.	France	4th	0	1	3	003: 600	−3	01

date		Result
3rd September 1976	France	1: 1	Belgium
October 10, 1976	France	0: 1	Bulgaria
March 29, 1977	Belgium	2: 1	France
June 1, 1977	Belgium	0: 1	Bulgaria
October 26, 1977	Bulgaria	1-0	Belgium
November 15, 1977	Bulgaria	2: 1	France

Group 5

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	England	4th	4th	0	0	017: 200	+15	08th
2.	Norway	4th	2	0	2	006: 900	−3	04th
3.	Finland	4th	0	0	4th	002:140	−12	00

date		Result
October 27, 1976	Finland	1: 4	Norway
May 26, 1977	Finland	0: 1	England
June 1, 1977	Norway	1: 2	England
17th August 1977	Norway	1-0	Finland
September 6, 1977	England	6-0	Norway
October 12, 1977	England	8: 1	Finland

Group 6

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Czechoslovakia	4th	2	1	1	007: 200	+5	05
2.	Scotland	4th	2	1	1	005: 400	+1	05
3.	Switzerland	4th	1	0	3	003: 900	−6	02

date		Result
October 12, 1976	Czechoslovakia	0-0	Scotland
March 30, 1977	Switzerland	2-0	Scotland
May 24, 1977	Czechoslovakia	4-0	Switzerland
7th September 1977	Scotland	3: 1	Switzerland
20th September 1977	Scotland	2: 1	Czechoslovakia
5th October 1977	Switzerland	0: 2	Czechoslovakia

Group 7

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Yugoslavia	4th	3	0	1	009: 300	+6	06th
2.	Spain	4th	2	0	2	005: 800	−3	04th
3.	Romania	4th	1	0	3	005: 800	−3	02

date		Result
October 9, 1976	Yugoslavia	4: 1	Spain
April 17, 1977	Spain	3-0	Romania
May 8, 1977	Romania	1: 3	Yugoslavia
October 26, 1977	Romania	4-0	Spain
November 12, 1977	Yugoslavia	2-0	Romania
November 30, 1977	Spain	1-0	Yugoslavia

Group 8

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Hungary	4th	2	2	0	009: 100	+8	06th
2.	Soviet Union	4th	2	1	1	005: 100	+4	05
3.	Greece	4th	0	1	3	001:130	−12	01

date		Result
October 9, 1976	Hungary	7-0	Greece
April 24, 1977	Greece	0: 2	Soviet Union
April 29, 1977	Soviet Union	0-0	Hungary
May 9, 1977	Soviet Union	3-0	Greece
17th May 1977	Hungary	1-0	Soviet Union
May 28, 1977	Greece	1: 1	Hungary

Final round

Quarter finals

The eight group winners were qualified for the quarter-finals.

Fixtures
date	Home team	Result	Away team
March 8, 1978	England	2: 1	Italy
Manchester	Gates: ?
April 5th 1978	Italy	0-0	England
Rome	Gates: ?
Newcomers: England with an overall result of 2-1
March 22, 1978	Czechoslovakia	3: 1	GDR
Ceske Budejovice	Gates: ?
April 5th 1978	GDR	5: 2	Czechoslovakia
Hall	Gates: ?
Newcomers: GDR with an overall result of 6: 5
March 22, 1978	Yugoslavia	0: 1	Hungary
Maribor	Gates: ?
April 5th 1978	Hungary	0: 2	Yugoslavia
Békéscsaba	Gates: ?
Newcomers: Yugoslavia with an overall result of 2: 1
March 23, 1978	Denmark	4: 1	Bulgaria
Copenhagen	Gates: ?
April 5th 1978	Bulgaria	3-0	Denmark
Sofia	Gates: ?
Newcomers: Bulgaria with an overall result of 4: 4 based on the away goals rule

Semifinals

Fixtures
date	Home team	Result	Away team
April 19, 1978	Bulgaria	2: 1	GDR
Sofia	Gates: ?
April 26, 1978	GDR	3: 1	Bulgaria
Hall	Gates: ?
Newcomers: GDR with an overall result of 4: 3
April 19, 1978	Yugoslavia	2: 1	England
Novi Sad	Gates: ?
May 2, 1978	England	1: 1	Yugoslavia
Manchester	Gates: ?
Newcomers: Yugoslavia with an overall result of 3-2

final

	total		First leg	Return leg
GDR	4: 5	Yugoslavia	0: 1 (0: 0)	4: 4 (3: 4)

First leg

GDR		Yugoslavia
	May 17, 1978 in Halle (Saale) ( Kurt Wabbel Stadium ) Result: 0: 1 (0: 0) Spectators: 18,000 Referee: Konrath ( France )
	Dirk Heyne - Lothar home (63rd Burkhard Pingel ), Gert Brauer , Frank Uhlig , Andreas Roth - Gerd Weber , Frank Terletzki - Lutz Eigendorf (70th Michael Mischinger ), Dieter Riedel , Peter Kotte , Dieter Kühn .	Stojanovic - Nenad Stojković , Vujkov, Srećko Bogdan , Hrstic - Zlatko Krmpotić , Bosnjak (46th Savic), Klincarski - Velimir Zajec , Vahid Halilhodžić , Desnica (83rd Blaž Slišković )
		0: 1 Vahid Halilhodžić (54.)

Return leg

Yugoslavia		GDR
	May 31, 1978 in Mostar Result: 4: 4 (3: 4) Spectators: 30,000 Referee: Franz Wöhrer ( Austria )
	Stojanovic - Nenad Stojković , Zlatko Krmpotić , Srećko Bogdan , Obradovic - Velimir Zajec , Bosnjak (46th Starcevic), Klincarski (41st Verlasevic) - Savic, Vahid Halilhodžić , Desnica	Dirk Heyne - Lothar home , Gert Brauer (46th Burkhard Pingel ), Frank Uhlig , Andreas Roth - Rüdiger Schnuphase , Gerd Weber - Lutz Eigendorf (72nd Thomas Töpfer ), Hans-Jürgen Riediger , Peter Kotte , Dieter Kühn .
	1: 1 Vahid Halilhodžić (9th) 2: 3 Vahid Halilhodžić (15th) 3: 4 Vahid Halilhodžić (36th) 4: 4 Srećko Bogdan (51th)	0: 1 Peter Kotte (2nd) 1: 2 Dieter Kühn (10th) 1: 3 Hans-Jürgen Riediger (14th) 2: 4 Dieter Kühn (31st)

Best goal scorers

space	player	Gates
1	Vahid Halilhodžić	6th
2	Peter Kotte	4th
	Dieter Kühn	4th
4th	Preben Elkjær Larsen	3

Web links

• U21 EURO 1978 on uefa.com
• Details about the 1978 tournament on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 1 (accessed January 5, 2009)
2. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 2 (accessed 5 January 2009)
3. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 3 (accessed January 5, 2009)
4. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 4 (accessed January 5, 2009)
5. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 5 (accessed January 5, 2009)
6. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 6 (accessed January 5, 2009)
7. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 7 (accessed January 5, 2009)
8. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship, qualifying group 8 (accessed January 5, 2009)
9. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship quarter-finals (accessed 5 January 2009)
10. ↑ UEFA.com: 1978 European Under-21 Championship semi-finals (accessed 5 January 2009)