1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Tournament details
Host country Spain
Dates 13 March – 31 May
Teams 8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions  Italy (3rd title)
Runners-up  Spain
Third place  France
Fourth place  Scotland
Tournament statistics
Matches played 12
Goals scored 28 (2.33 per match)
Best player Italy Fabio Cannavaro

The 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1994–96), had 44 entrants. After the quarter-finals stage, Spain were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total. Italy U-21s won the competition for the third consecutive time.

Format

No fewer than 13 newly independent nations competed for the first time - due mainly to the fall of Socialist rule in Europe in the early 1990s.

Russia, who competed in 1994 were joined by nine further former Soviet Union states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine.

The exclusion (for political reasons) of the team from Serbia and Montenegro, then known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continued. Croatia, Slovenia and the Republic of Macedonia were three former states of Yugoslavia who did compete though.

Czechoslovakia became two separate nations - teams from the Czech Republic and Slovakia complete the list of new entrants.

The 44 national teams were divided into eight groups (four groups of 5 + four groups of 6). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis to determine the final four, one of whom would host the last four matches. The top five nations qualify for the Atlanta '96 Olympics.

Quaification

Squads

Knockout stages

Quarter Finals

  • Hungary 2-1 Scotland
  • Scotland 3-1 Hungary
     Scotland win 4-3
    on aggregate
  • Germany 0-0 France
  • France 4-1 Germany
     France win 4-1
    on aggregate
  • Spain 2-1 Czech Republic
  • Czech Republic 1-2 Spain
     Spain win 4-2
    on aggregate
  • Portugal 1-0 Italy
  • Italy 2-0 Portugal
     Italy win 2-1
    on aggregate

Semi Finals

Third Place Match

 France finish third
 Scotland finish fourth

Final

  • Italy 1-1 (aet) Spain
    in Barcelona
    Italy win 5-4 on penalties

 Italy finish as Champions
 Spain finish as runners-up

Olympic qualifiers

External links