West Germany take first title
Sunday 1 January 2006
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In 1980 UEFA set up new youth championships for Under-16 and U18 national teams as part of their commitment to developing the game in Europe. For U18s the competition replaced the old International Youth Tournament which had begun in 1948, and was won for the last time in 1980 by England - who also took the inaugural title and a record eight overall. However it was the reigning senior continental champions, West Germany, who took the first UEFA European U18 Championship trophy on home soil, having never won the International Youth Tournament.
First match
Thirty-two teams in all entered competition, West Germany qualifying automatically and the other 31 competing for 15 finals places. In the very first match Norway won 1-0 in Denmark - but the Danes eventually prevailed 3-2 on aggregate. The nearest miss was from four times International Youth Tournament winners the Soviet Union, who lost to Czechoslovakia on penalties.
Hosts in form
It was the hosts who lit up the opening day of the finals with a convincing 5-0 win against Group A rivals Wales. Belgium also defeated Greece, but both those teams were to then lose to West Germany and Wales. With only one team to go through the hosts moved into the semi-finals.
Poles through
In Group B Poland followed a 1-1 draw with Sweden by beating both Romania and Czechoslovakia 3-1, enough to top the pool as Sweden then produced further 1-1 results against their group rivals, to finish second ahead of Romania who had defeated Czechoslovakia 3-2 in their opener.
Unbeaten France
Group C began with two draws - Italy scoreless against France and Bulgaria finishing 2-2 versus Denmark. France were to prevail, though, with a 2-1 win against Denmark and three without reply against Bulgaria, as Italy beat the Bulgarians 1-0 but lost 2-1 to Denmark.
Spain pip Scotland
England put their reputation as U18 masters on the line in Group D but began by losing 2-1 to Spain while Scotland claimed the only goal against Austria. The Scots then repeated the trick against their English rivals, but Spain's 3-0 win against Austria left them top on goal difference and a 1-1 draw against Scotland took them through, with England gaining some consolation in a 7-0 win against Austria.
Semi-final shoot-out
Both semi-finals went to penalties. In a prelude to the following year's FIFA World Cup, West Germany topped France 4-3 on spot-kicks, the 120 minutes producing a 1-1 draw. Spain's game with Poland was scoreless and the shoot-out went into extra-time before the Poland prevailed 6-5.
German double
The third-place match ended in a similar way, France drawing 1-1 against Spain and then winning 2-0 on penalties. However, in front of a crowd of 56,000 in Dusseldorf, West Germany won the final in 90 minutes, Holger Anthes scoring the goal that beat Poland. That autumn the West Germans proved it was no fluke by winning October's FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia, defeating Qatar 4-0 in the final. Romania beat England for third place, while Spain, Italy and Poland fell in the group stage.
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