1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Campionatul European de Fotbal sub 21 UEFA 1998
Tournament details
Host country Romania
Dates23–31 May
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)3 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Spain (2nd title)
Runners-up Greece
Third place Norway
Fourth place Netherlands
Tournament statistics
Matches played12
Goals scored22 (1.83 per match)
Top scorer(s)Norway Steffen Iversen[1]
Greece Nikos Liberopoulos[1] (3 goals)
Best player(s)Spain Francesc Arnau

The 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1996–98), had 46 entrants. Before the quarter-finals stage, Romania were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total.

The exclusion (for political reasons) of the team from Serbia and Montenegro, then known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended. Bosnia and Herzegovina was another former state of Yugoslavia who competed, for the first time. Spain won the competition for the second time.

The 46 national teams were divided into nine groups (eight groups of 5 + one group of 6). The records of the nine group winners were compared, and the eighth and ninth ranked teams played-off against each other for the eight quarter finals spot. One of the eight quarter-finalist were then chosen to host the remaining fixtures.

Qualification

The qualifying stage for the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship saw Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain and Sweden win their respective groups. Greece and England finished first in their group but were the two worst first placed group winners. Greece defeated England in a playoff to qualify for the tournament.

Qualified teams

CountryQualified asPrevious appearances in tournament1 2
Norway NorwayGroup 3 Winner0 (Debut)
Sweden SwedenGroup 4 Winner3 (1986, 1990, 1992)
Russia RussiaGroup 5 Winner1 (1994)
Spain SpainGroup 6 Winner7 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1996)
Netherlands NetherlandsGroup 7 Winner2 (1988, 1992)
Romania RomaniaGroup 8 Winner0 (Debut)
Germany GermanyGroup 9 Winner2 (1992, 1996)
Greece GreecePlayoff Winner1 (1988, 1994)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Venues

The final tournament was held in Bucharest, the hosts being only three arenas.

Location of grounds in Bucharest.
 Bucharest (Vatra Luminoasă) Bucharest (Ghencea)
Stadionul Lia Manoliu Stadionul Steaua
Capacity: 60,120 Capacity: 28,365
Bucharest (Cotroceni)
Stadionul Cotroceni
Capacity: 14,542

Match officials

Country Referee
 FR YugoslaviaMiroslav Radoman
 LuxembourgAlain Hamer
 SenegalFalla N'Doye
 SlovakiaĽuboš Micheľ
 TurkeyMetin Tokat

Squads

Only players born on or after 1 January 1975 were eligible to play in the tournament. Each nation had to submit a squad of 20 players, two of which had to be goalkeepers. If a player was injured seriously enough to prevent his taking part in the tournament before his team's first match, he can be replaced by another player.

Results

Bracket

5th-place match (30 May)5th–8th place (26–27 May)Quarter-finals (23–24 May)Semi-finals (26–27 May)Final (31 May)
 Netherlands2
 Romania1
 Romania0 Netherlands0
 Germany (aet)1 Greece3
 Germany0
 Greece1
 Germany2 Greece0
 Sweden1 Spain1
 Norway1
 Sweden0
7th-place match (30 May) Sweden2 Norway03rd-place match (31 May)
 Russia0 Spain (aet)1
 Romania1 Spain1 Netherlands0
 Russia2 Russia0 Norway2

Quarter-finals

Germany 0–1 Greece
Report Karagounis 57'
Attendance: 4,000
Netherlands 2–1 Romania
Wooter 16'
de Jong 79'		 Report Contra 7'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Metin Tokat (Turkey)
Spain 1–0 Russia
Iván Pérez 84' Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Miroslav Radoman (FR Yugoslavia)
Norway 1–0 Sweden
Iversen 45' Report

5th-8th places

Romania 0–1 (a.e.t.) Germany
Report Schwarz 101'
Attendance: 1,600
Russia 0–2 Sweden
Report Mellberg 15'
Bärlin 68'
Attendance: 150

Semi-finals

Spain 1–0 (a.e.t.) Norway
Víctor 94' Report
Netherlands 0–3 Greece
Report Liberopoulos 21', 90'
Antzas 57'
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Miroslav Radoman (FR Yugoslavia)

7th place

Russia 2–1 Romania
Report
Attendance: 250

5th place

Germany 2–1 Sweden
Brdarić 71'
Frings 77'		 Report Åslund 88'
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Miroslav Radoman (FR Yugoslavia)

Third place

Netherlands 0–2 Norway
Report Iversen 17', 74'
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Metin Tokat (Turkey)

Final

Greece 0–1 Spain
Report Iván Pérez 65'
Attendance: 6,000

References

  1. 1 2 "1998: Iván Pérez applies finishing touch". UEFA.com. 1 June 1998. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
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