| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 11 September 1990 – 18 December 1991 (qualifications) 10 March – 3 June (finals) |
| Teams | 32 (from 1 confederation) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Italy (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Sweden |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 111 |
| Goals scored | 296 (2.67 per match) |
| Attendance | 128,567 (1,158 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Renato Buso (3 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Renato Buso[1] |
← 1990 1994 → | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 28 (from 1 confederation) |
← 1988 1996 → | |
The 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1990–92), had 32 entrants. Malta and Israel competed for the first time. This was also the first appearance of the unified Germany team since 1964. Italy U-21s won the competition.
The competition doubled as the European qualifying stage for the Olympic Football Tournament, which until 1992 existed as a separate tournament. Hosts Spain qualify automatically and the best four eligible nations would qualify automatically. The fifth best European team would play-off against the best Oceania (OFC) team for another Olympics place. Beside the hosting Spain, teams of Scotland, England, Luxembourg and San-Marino did not take part in Olympic qualifications (not members of IOC[2]). Teams of Northern Ireland, Wales and Faroes Islands did not take part in this competition at all.
The 32 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 4 + one group of 3 + one group of 5). 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.
- ^ "1992: Renato Buso". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 June 1992. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
- ^ Football Qualifying Tournament. Games of the XXV. Olympiad. www.rsssf.org