The 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1994–96), had 44 entrants. After the quarter-finals stage,
Spain were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total.
Italy U-21s won the competition for the third consecutive time.
Format
No fewer than 13 newly independent nations competed for the first time – due mainly to the fall of
Socialist rule in
Europe in the early 1990s.
Russia, who competed in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
were joined by nine further former
Soviet Union states:
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Belarus,
Estonia,
Georgia,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
,
Moldova and
Ukraine.
The exclusion (for political reasons) of the team from
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, then known as the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continued.
Croatia,
Slovenia and the
Republic of Macedonia were three former states of
Yugoslavia who did compete though.
Czechoslovakia became two separate nations – teams from the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia complete the list of new entrants.
The 44 national teams were divided into eight groups (four groups of 5 + four groups of 6). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis to determine the final four, one of whom would host the last four matches. The top five nations qualify for the
Atlanta '96 Olympics.
Qualification
List of qualified teams
:
1 Bold indicates champion for that year
:
:
Squads
Results
Quarter-finals
First leg
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Second leg
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Semi-finals
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Third-place play-off
Final
Goalscorers
;3 goals
*
Raúl
;2 goals
*
Florian Maurice
*
Robert Pires
;1 goal
*
Vladimír Šmicer
*
Robert Vágner
*
Patrick Moreau
*
Christian Nerlinger
*
Gábor Egressy
*
Károly Szanyó
*
Gábor Zavadszky
Gábor Zavadszky (10 September 1974 – 7 January 2006) was a Hungarian footballer.
Club career
Zavadszky was a midfielder and first played for MTK Hungária FC and Ferencvárosi Torna Club in his hometown Budapest. In early 2005 he joined A ...
*
Francesco Totti
*
Christian Vieri
*
Hugo Porfírio
*
Dani
*
Óscar
*
Iván de la Peña
*
Roberto Fresnedoso
*
Christian Dailly
*
Simon Donnelly
*
Stephen Glass
*
Jim Hamilton
*
Scott Marshall
;Own goal
*
Emílio Peixe
Emílio Manuel Delgado Peixe (born 16 January 1973) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a defensive midfielder, currently manager of the Kuwait under-23 team.
A member of the dubbed Golden Generation who hailed from the ...
(playing against Italy)
*
Iñigo Idiakez (playing against Italy)
Medal table and Olympic qualifiers
* France, Italy and Spain qualify for Olympic Games finals.
* Best losing quarter-finalists Hungary and Portugal also qualify.
* Scotland do not compete in the Olympic Football Tournament (See ''
Great Britain Olympic football team'').
External links
Results Archive''at uefa.com''
''at rsssf.com
{{UEFA European Under-21 Championship
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
International association football competitions hosted by Spain
UEFA
UEFA
UEFA
May 1996 sports events in Europe
1990s in Barcelona
Football in Barcelona
1996 in youth association football
Sports competitions in Barcelona
1996 in Catalan sport