The Soviet national junior football team was the under-16 (continental competitions) and under-17 (world competitions)

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. It ceased to exist as a result of the breakup of the Union. Following the realignment of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's youth competitions in 1982, the USSR Under-16 team was formed. The competition has been held since 1982. From 1982 to 2001 it was an Under-16 event. The team had a good record, winning the competition once, reaching the final twice, but failing to qualify for the last six on 10 occasions. The team has participated in FIFA U-16 World Championship only once – in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

– after being qualified from European Under-16 championship as a runner-up. USSR won it in a final game against Nigeria by penalties. The team gained the Fair Play award.

Yuriy Nikiforov Yuriy Valeryevich Nikiforov (alternate spelling Valeriovych; , uk, Юрій Валерійович Никифоров; born 16 September 1970) is a professional football coach and a former player who played mainly as a central defender. Cl ...

scored 5 goals on the tournament but FIFA awarded the Golden Boot to Moussa Traoré because Côte d'Ivoire had scored fewer goals than USSR. After the dissolution of the USSR (on December 26, 1991), the senior team played out its remaining fixtures, which were the finals of

Euro 92 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

. Because the USSR U-16s had, by December 26, already failed to qualify for their version of the 1992 European Championship, the former Soviet states didn't play as a combined team at U-17 level ever again. Of the former Soviet states, only Russia entered the 1992–1993 competition.

UEFA U-16 Championship record

* 1982: Did not qualify. Lost quarter-finalists. * 1984: Runners-up. * 1985: Winners. * 1986: 3rd place. * 1987: Runners-up. * 1988: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification group. * 1989: Group stage. Finished 2nd in group D. * 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification group. * 1991: Group stage. Finished 2nd in group D. * 1992: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification group as

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External links

UEFA Under-17 website
Contains full results archive

Contains full record of U-17/U-16 Championships. {{National sports teams of the Soviet Union 1982 establishments in the Soviet Union 1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union European national under-16 association football teams Soviet Union national football team Youth football in the Soviet Union

UEFA U-16 Championship record

See also

External links