The 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1986–88), had 30 entrants. The Republic of Ireland competed for the first time. France U-21s won the competition.
The 30 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 4 + two 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 third-place playoff.
Qualifying stage
Draw
The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying tournament with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations: Group 1 featured the same teams Group 2 did not include Malta Group 3 did not include Iceland (moved to Group 6) Group 4 did not include Northern Ireland Group 5 did not include Netherlands (moved to Group 8) Group 6 did not include Wales, but included Iceland (moved from Group 3) Group 7 did not include Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both moved to Group 8) Group 8 composed of Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both moved from Group 7), Netherlands (moved from Group 5) and West Germany (who did not participate in senior Euro qualification)
Qualifying Round 1
Matches
All times are local (UTC+1)
Romania vs Austria
Austria vs Albania
Spain 1-0 Romania
Albania 0-0 Spain
Romania 3-2 Albania
Austria 1-1 Spain
Albania 1-1 Austria
Romania 0-1 Spain
Spain 3-0 Austria
Albania 1-2 Romania
Austria 2-1 Romania
Spain 3-0 Albania
Qualified teams
1 Bold indicates champion for that year
Squads
See 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Final
First leg
Second leg
Goalscorers
5 goals
Aris Karasavvidis
4 goals
Stéphane Paille
3 goals
Eric Cantona
Franck Sauzée
1 goal
Václav Němeček
Marcel Litoš
Paul Gascoigne
Garry Parker
Gary Porter
Paul Stewart
David White
Jocelyn Angloma
Jean-Luc Dogon
Franck Silvestre
Stefanos Borbokis
Kostas Ikonomidis
Giorgos Kapouranis
Massimo Ciocci
Paolo Maldini
Ruggiero Rizzitelli
Henk Fraser
John van Loen
Gerrit Plomp
Eric Viscaal
Rob Witschge
Loren
Own goal
Pagonis Vakalopoulos (playing against Czechoslovakia) Franck Silvestre (playing against England)