1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Tournament details
Host country France
Dates9 March – 20 April
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Italy (2nd title)
Runners-up Portugal
Third place Spain
Fourth place France
Tournament statistics
Matches played12
Goals scored25 (2.08 per match)
Attendance94,670 (7,889 per match)
Top scorer(s)Portugal João Pinto (3 goals)
Best player(s)Portugal Luís Figo
← 1992
1996 →

The 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the ninth UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted in France between 15 and 20 April 1994.

The qualification stage spanned two years from 1992 to 1994. The qualification process consisted of 32 entrants. After the two-legged quarter-final stage, France was chosen as the first hosts of the final stage, which consisted of four matches in total. The finals included for the first time a third-place play-off.

Italy won the competition for the second consecutive time.[1] Luís Figo won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden player award.[2]

Qualification

Main article: 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

The draw for the 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying round saw Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Poland, Russia and Spain win their respective groups. Greece and Portugal qualified for the tournament as the two best runners-up. France, Italy, Portugal and Spain qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics in the United States.

This was the last performance of Czechoslovakia, as the nation actually have split.

List of qualified teams

Country Qualified as Previous appearances in tournament1 2
 Italy Group 1 winner 8 (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992)
 Poland Group 2 winner 4 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1992)
 Spain Group 3 winner 5 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990)
 Czechoslovakia Group 4 winner 5 (1978, 1980, 1988, 1990, 1992)
 Russia Group 5 winner 0 (debut)
 France Group 6 winner 4 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988)
 Greece Best runner-up 1 (1988)
 Portugal Second best runner-up 0 (debut)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Squads

See also: 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads

Only players born on or after 1 January 1971 were eligible to play in the tournament.

Results

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 9 March, and the second legs were played on 23 March 1994.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
France France 3–0 Russia Russia 2–0 1–0
Italy Italy 3–1 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 3–0 0–1
Poland Poland 1–5 Portugal Portugal 1–3 0–2
Spain Spain 4–2 Greece Greece 0–0 4–2

First leg

France France2–0Russia Russia
Llacer 23'
Ouédec 82'		 Report
La Mosson, Montpellier
Attendance: 11,670
Referee: Jorge Coroado (Portugal)
Italy Italy3–0Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Vieri 7'
Panucci 9'
Negro 79'		 Report
Stadio Arechi, Salerno
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: László Vágner (Hungary)
Poland Poland1–3Portugal Portugal
Dąbrowski 40' Report J. Pinto 70', 79'
Rui Costa 85'
Stadion Miejski, Szczecin
Attendance: 7,355
Referee: Rémi Harrel (France)
Spain Spain0–0Greece Greece
Report
Estadio Municipal Juan Rojas, Almería
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: Keith Burge (Wales)

Second leg

Russia Russia0–1France France
Report Dugarry 31'
Torpedo Stadium, Moscow
Attendance: 1,100
Referee: Rune Pedersen (Norway)
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia1–0Italy Italy
Svoboda 89' Report
Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice
Attendance: 3,800
Referee: Manuel Díaz Vega (Spain)
Portugal Portugal2–0Poland Poland
Toni 50'
Torres 90'		 Report
Estádio Municipal de Coimbra, Coimbra
Attendance: 15,600
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
Greece Greece2–4Spain Spain
Georgatos 7'
Prieto 85' (o.g.)		 Report Christiansen 46', 51'
Guerrero 68'
Gálvez 79'
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens
Attendance: 4,593
Referee: Graziano Cesari (Italy)

Semi-finals

France 0–0 (a.e.t.) Italy
Report
Penalties
Carotti soccer ball with check mark
Ouédec soccer ball with check mark
Makélélé soccer ball with red X
Zidane soccer ball with check mark		 3–5 soccer ball with check mark Panucci
soccer ball with check mark Vieri
soccer ball with check mark Berretta
soccer ball with check mark Marcolin
soccer ball with check mark Carbone
Stade des Costières, Nîmes, France
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Keith Burge (Wales)
Portugal 2–0 Spain
Rui Costa 48'
João Pinto 82'		 Report
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Hans-Jürgen Weber (Germany)

Third-place play-off

France 1–2 Spain
Nouma 45' Report Óscar 53', 75'
Stade des Costières, Nîmes, France
Attendance: 5,289
Referee: Ahmet Çakar (Turkey)

Final

Italy 1–0 (a.e.t.) Portugal
Orlandini gold-colored soccer ball 97' Report
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France
Attendance: 6,263
Referee: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland)

Goalscorers

3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal

Final ranking

Rank Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Italy 4 2 1 1 4 1 +3 7
2  Portugal 4 3 0 1 7 1 +6 9
3  Spain 4 2 1 1 6 5 +1 7
4  France 4 2 1 1 4 2 +2 7
5  Greece 2 1 1 0 2 4 -2 4
6  Czechoslovakia 2 1 0 1 1 3 -3 3
7  Poland 2 0 0 2 1 5 -4 0
8  Russia 2 0 0 2 0 3 -3 0

References

  1. ^ "1994: Orlandini blooms as Italy seal double". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  2. ^ "1994: Luís Figo". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 26 June 2012.

External links

National under-21 men's football teams of Europe (UEFA)
UEFA European U-21 and U-23 Championship
Categories