| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 February – 12 October |
| Teams | 30 (from 1 confederation) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  France (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Greece |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 98 |
| Goals scored | 261 (2.66 per match) |
| Attendance | 143,886 (1,468 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Aris Karasavvidis (5 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Laurent Blanc[1] |
The 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1986–88), had 30 entrants. The Republic of Ireland competed for the first time. France U-21s won the competition.
The 30 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 4 + two 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 third-place playoff.
- ^ "1988: Laurent Blanc". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 June 1988. Retrieved 29 June 2015.