1980 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
The 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years had 25 entrants. Cyprus and the Netherlands competed in the competition for the first time. 1978 entrants Austria did not enter. Due to 'irregularities', Turkey's first two matches were awarded to their opponents. USSR U-21s won the competition.
The 25 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.
Qualifying stage
Draw
The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:- Group 1 did not include Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland
- Group 2 did not include Austria
- Group 3 did not include Romania
- Group 4 did not include Switzerland and Iceland
- Group 5 did not include Luxembourg
- Group 6 did not include Hungary
- Group 7 did not include West Germany, Wales and Malta, but included Romania and Hungary
- Group 8 composed of Switzerland, Luxembourg and Italy