| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 12 March – 29 October |
| Teams | 29 (from 1 confederation) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Spain (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Italy |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 92 |
| Goals scored | 249 (2.71 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Gianluca Vialli (4 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Manuel Sanchis[1] |
← 1984 1988 → | |
The 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 5th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1984–86), had 29 entrants. Spain U-21s won the competition after a penalty shootout, the first in the U-21 competition's history.
The 29 national teams were divided into eight groups (five groups of 4 + three 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 3rd-place playoff.
- ^ "1986: Manuel Sanchís". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 June 1986. Archived from the original on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.