1972 UEFA European Under-23 Championship

The 1972 UEFA European Under-23 Championship, which spanned two years (1970–72) had 23 entrants. Czechoslovakia U-23 won the competition.^{[citation needed]}

1972 UEFA European Under-23 Championship

Tournament details
Teams	23 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	Czechoslovakia (1st title)
Runners-up	Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played	63
Goals scored	162 (2.57 per match)
1974 →

The 23 national teams were divided into eight groups. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Qualifying stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying tournament with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

• Group 2 and 8 had the same competing nations
• Group 1 did not include Wales
• Group 3 did not include England and Malta
• Group 4 did not include Northern Ireland and Cyprus
• Group 5 did not include Belgium and Scotland
• Group 6 did not include Republic of Ireland
• Group 7 did not include Luxembourg

Group 1

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	4	2	2	0	8	4	6
2	Romania	4	2	1	1	5	3	5
3	Finland	4	0	1	3	4	10	1

Finland 1–1 Czechoslovakia Finland 0–1 Romania Romania 1–1 Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovakia 5–2 Finland Romania 3–1 Finland Czechoslovakia 1–0 Romania
Czechoslovakia qualify as group winners

Group 2

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Bulgaria	6	4	1	1	9	3	9
2	Hungary	6	3	1	2	9	3	7
3	Norway	6	1	3	2	6	13	5
4	France	6	0	3	3	5	10	3

Norway 1–0 Hungary France 0–0 Norway Bulgaria 5–0 Norway France 1–1 Hungary Bulgaria 1–0 Hungary Norway 1–1 Bulgaria	Norway 4–4 France Hungary 2–0 Bulgaria Hungary 3–0 France Hungary 3–0 Norway Bulgaria 1–0 France France 0–1 Bulgaria
Bulgaria qualify as group winners

Group 3

Qualifying Group 3		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Greece	2	2	0	0	3	0	4
2	Switzerland	2	0	0	2	0	3	0

Greece 1–0 Switzerland	Switzerland 0–2 Greece
Greece qualify as group winners

Group 4

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Soviet Union	2	1	1	0	3	2	3
2	Spain	2	0	1	1	2	3	1

Soviet Union qualify as group winners

30 May 1971 (1971-05-30)

Spain	1–2	Soviet Union
Sergio 12'	Report	Onyshchenko 7' Gershkovich 60'

La Rosaleda, Malaga

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: René Vigliani (France)

27 October 1971 (1971-10-27)

Soviet Union	1–1	Spain
Dolbonosov 8' Piskaryov 48'	Report	Aguilar 12'

Shakhtar, Donetsk

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Mario Clematide (Switzerland)

Group 5

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Denmark	2	1	1	0	3	2	3
2	Portugal	2	0	1	1	2	3	1

Portugal 1–1 Denmark	Denmark 2–1 Portugal
Denmark qualify as group winners

Group 6

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Sweden	4	3	0	1	8	2	6
2	Italy	4	2	0	2	6	7	4
3	Austria	4	1	0	3	3	8	2

Italy 3–1 Austria Sweden 2–0 Austria Italy 1–0 Sweden	Austria 0–2 Sweden Sweden 4–1 Italy Austria 2–1 Italy
Sweden qualify as group winners

Group 7

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Netherlands	4	2	1	1	9	7	5
2	Yugoslavia	4	2	1	1	7	7	5
3	East Germany	4	1	0	3	5	7	2

Netherlands 5–2 Yugoslavia East Germany 3–1 Netherlands Yugoslavia 1–1 Netherlands	East Germany 0–1 Yugoslavia Netherlands 2–1 East Germany Yugoslavia 3–1 East Germany
Netherlands qualify as group winners

Group 8

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	West Germany	6	5	1	0	11	1	11
2	Poland	6	2	3	1	7	4	7
3	Albania	6	0	3	3	2	7	3
4	Turkey	6	0	3	3	0	8	3

Albania 1–1 Poland Turkey 0–2 West Germany Turkey 0–0 Albania Albania 0–2 West Germany West Germany 3–0 Turkey Poland 2–1 Albania	West Germany 2–0 Albania Turkey 0–0 Poland Poland 1–1 West Germany Albania 0–0 Turkey West Germany 1–0 Poland Poland 3–0 Turkey
West Germany qualify as group winners

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Finals
	Bulgaria (p)	2	0	2 (2)
	Netherlands	2	0	2 (0)
							Czechoslovakia	2	1	3
							Greece	0	2	2
	Denmark	2	0	2
	Greece	0	5	5
													Soviet Union	2	1	3
													Czechoslovakia	2	3	5
	Soviet Union	3	0	3
	West Germany	1	0	1
							Soviet Union	4	3	7
							Bulgaria	0	3	3
	Sweden	1	1	2
	Czechoslovakia	0	3	3

Matches

29 April 1972 (1972-04-29)

Soviet Union	3–1	Germany
Gutsaev 52' Yakubik 58' Blokhin 72'	Report	Wunder 79'

Hrazdan, Yerevan

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Egil Bergstad (Norway)

11 May 1972 (1972-05-11)

Germany	0–0	Soviet Union
	Report

Bezirkssportanlage Westender Straße, Duisburg

Attendance: 24,000

Referee: Paul Bonett (Malta)

7 June 1972 (1972-06-07)

Soviet Union	4–0	Bulgaria
Aleksandrov 5' Nodia 19' Blokhin 21' Yakubik 76' (pen.) Zhukov	Report	Denev Panov

Stadion imeni Kirova, Leningrad

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Stanisław Eksztajn (Poland)

14 June 1972 (1972-06-14)

Bulgaria	3–3	Soviet Union
Mihaylov 19', 39', 60' (pen.)	Report	Gutsaev 31' Zvyahintsev 44' Mirikov 85'

Vasil Levski, Sofia

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Heinz Einbeck (East Germany)

26 June 1972 (1972-06-26)

Soviet Union	2–2	Czechoslovakia
Blokhin 51' Gutsaev 69'	Report	Albrecht 66' Melichar 87'

Tsentralnyi stadion imeni Lenina, Moscow

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Hans-Joachim Weyland (West Germany)

30 June 1972 (1972-06-30)

Czechoslovakia	3–1	Soviet Union
Gajdůšek 10' Herda 11' Albrecht 60'	Report	Blokhin 67'

Bazaly, Ostrava

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Sergio Gonella (Italy)

See also

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship