1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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.

1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	France
Dates	9 March – 20 April
Teams	8 (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 played	12
Goals scored	25 (2.08 per match)
Attendance	94,670 (7,889 per match)
Top scorer(s)	João Pinto (3 goals)
Best player(s)	Luís Figo
← 1992 1996 →

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	3–0	Russia	2–0	1–0
Italy	3–1	Czechoslovakia	3–0	0–1
Poland	1–5	Portugal	1–3	0–2
Spain	4–2	Greece	0–0	4–2

First leg

8 March 1994

France	2–0	Russia
Llacer 23' Ouédec 82'	Report

La Mosson, Montpellier

Attendance: 11,670

Referee: Jorge Coroado (Portugal)

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9 March 1994

Italy	3–0	Czechoslovakia
Vieri 7' Panucci 9' Negro 79'	Report

Stadio Arechi, Salerno

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: László Vágner (Hungary)

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9 March 1994

Poland	1–3	Portugal
Dąbrowski 40'	Report	J. Pinto 70', 79' Rui Costa 85'

Stadion Miejski, Szczecin

Attendance: 7,355

Referee: Rémi Harrel (France)

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9 March 1994

Spain	0–0	Greece
	Report

Estadio Municipal Juan Rojas, Almería

Attendance: 14,000

Referee: Keith Burge (Wales)

Second leg

23 March 1994

Russia	0–1	France
	Report	Dugarry 31'

Torpedo Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 1,100

Referee: Rune Pedersen (Norway)

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23 March 1994

Czechoslovakia	1–0	Italy
Svoboda 89'	Report

Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice

Attendance: 3,800

Referee: Manuel Díaz Vega (Spain)

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23 March 1994

Portugal	2–0	Poland
Toni 50' Torres 90'	Report

Estádio Municipal de Coimbra, Coimbra

Attendance: 15,600

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

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23 March 1994

Greece	2–4	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

15 April 1994

France	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Italy
	Report
Penalties
Carotti Ouédec Makélélé Zidane	3–5	Panucci Vieri Berretta Marcolin Carbone

Stade des Costières, Nîmes, France

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Keith Burge (Wales)

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15 April 1994

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

20 April 1994

France	1–2	Spain
Nouma 45'	Report	Óscar 53', 75'

Stade des Costières, Nîmes, France

Attendance: 5,289

Referee: Ahmet Çakar (Turkey)

Final

20 April 1994

Italy	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Portugal
Orlandini 97'	Report

Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France

Attendance: 6,263

Referee: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland)

Goalscorers

3 goals

• João Vieira Pinto

2 goals

• Rui Costa
• Óscar
• Thomas Christiansen

1 goal

• Zdeněk Svoboda
• Christophe Dugarry
• Francis Llacer
• Nicolas Ouédec
• Pascal Nouma
• Grigoris Georgatos
• Christian Panucci
• Christian Vieri
• Paolo Negro
• Pierluigi Orlandini
• Roman Dąbrowski
• Paulo Torres
• Nélson Gama
• João Oliveira Pinto
• José Gálvez
• Julen Guerrero

Own goal

• José Miguel Prieto (playing against Greece)

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