England teams managed by Dave Sexton lifted the trophy in 1982 and 1984, beating West Germany and Spain in the respective two-leg finals.

1978: Semi-Finalists

England began their first qualifying competition with a 1-0 win in Finland on 26 May 1977, David Peach’s shot being fumbled into the net by the Finnish ‘keeper. England topped Group Five with four wins out of four to qualify for a quarter-final with Italy which they won 2-1 on aggregate. England lost their semi-final 3-2 on aggregate to eventual Championship winners Yugoslavia, drawing 1-1 at Maine Road with Steve Sims’ goal after a 2-1 defeat in Novi Sad.

England’s team at Maine Road: Corrigan, Daniel, Peach, Hoddle, Sims, Futcher, Williams S., Reeves, Bertschin (sub Jones C.), Reid, Barnes P.

1980: Semi-Finalists

England finished top of Group One, again with four wins out of four, to qualify for a quarter-final with Scotland which they won 2-1 on aggregate. England lost the first leg of their semi-final 2-1 to the German Democratic Republic at Bramall Lane. Justin Fashanu’s 85th-minute header equalised Raab’s earlier effort before Dennstedt drove in a last-winner winner. Kreer scored the only goal in Jena to take the Germans through 3-1 on aggregate.

England’s team at Bramall Lane: Bailey, Ranson, Sansom, Williams S., Osman, Butcher, Hoddle, Fashanu, Reeves (sub Birtles), Cowans, Hilaire

1982: Winners

England won Group Four by three points to set up a quarter-final with Poland, which they won 4-3 on aggregate. Garry Thompson scored the only goal of the first leg of the semi-final against Scotland at Hampden Park and Adrian Heath’s equaliser in the second leg at Maine Road made it 2-1 on aggregate. The final’s two legs were played in the autumn. England won the first leg 3-1 at Bramall Lane, Gary Owen notching a brace and Fashanu adding the other. Mike Duxbury and Paul Goddard scored as England lost the second leg 3-2 in Bremen, an aggregate score of 5-4 in England’s favour clinching the trophy.

England’s trophy-winning team in Bremen: Hesford, Thomas, Fenwick, Lee (captain), Duxbury, Caton, Goddard, McCall, Shaw (sub Ranson), Owen, Heath (sub Hodgson)

1984: Winners

England headed Group Three with five wins out of six and thrashed the French 7-1 on aggregate in the quarter-final, Mark Hateley scoring four in the first leg at Hillsborough. Italy were beaten 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final, Mark Chamberlain, Mich D’Avray and Mel Sterland (penalty) contributing goals as England achieved a useful 3-1 lead in the first leg at Maine Road. Sterland’s goal won the final’s first leg against Spain in Seville and an 11,000 crowd at Bramall Lane saw England win a bruising second leg with Hateley and Howard Gayle on target. Sexton’s battlers had retained the trophy 3-0 on aggregate.

England’s trophy-winning team: Bailey, Sterland, Pickering (sub Stevens), Bracewell, Watson (captain), Mountfield, Callaghan (Wallace), Gayle, Hateley, Hodge, Brock

1986: Semi-Finalists

England topped Group Three by two points and beat Denmark 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter-final. Manager Sexton was forced to take an inexperienced side with six new caps to the semi-final’s first leg in Pisa and Italy beat them 2-0. The end of England’s domination of the Championship was confirmed in the second leg at Swindon as a classy Italian team that included Vialli, Mancini and Zenga was good value for the 1-1 draw. Stewart Robson’s smart volley gave England hope before Vialli notched an equaliser two minutes from time.

England team at Swindon: Mimms, Breacker, Pickering, Butterworth, Cranson, Robson, Fereday (sub Walters), Parker G., Wilkinson, Wallace, Brock (sub Newell)

1988: Semi-Finalists

England scraped through as Group Four winners after drawing three of their four qualifiers. Then Scotland were beaten 1-0 both in Aberdeen and Nottingham in the quarter-final to set up a semi-final with France. Sexton’s England were without nine first-choice players for the first leg in Besancon but took the fight to the French. They were just 3-2 down when Paille netted a fourth. England were twice ahead at a rain-soaked Highbury, through Paul Gascoigne and a Silvestre own goal, but a Cantona brace put France into the final.

England’s team at Highbury: Suckling, Thomas, Ablett, Davis, Fairclough, Keown (sub Redmond), Carr, Gascoigne, Lowe, Rocastle, Porter (Hayes)

1990: Didn’t qualify for final stages

For the first time England failed to win their qualifying group to progress to the final stages, Sweden pipping them by a point. England began with a 1-1 draw against Sweden at Highfield Road and their prospects looked good after victories in the next three fixtures. Then they lost critically in Uppsala, the Swedes scoring the only goal through Eklund. Sexton’s team produced their best performance to win 3-1 in Poland, Steve Bull scoring twice, but they missed out on a place in the quarter-finals this time.

England’s team in Poland: Digby, Lake, Burrows, Batty, Redmond, Chettle, White, Brightwell, Bull, Merson, Smith D.

1994: Didn’t qualify for final stages

England began their qualifiers with home defeats to Norway at Peterborough and Turkey at Leyton and again failed to make it through to the last eight. Lawrie McMenemy’s side rallied with wins against San Marino, Holland and Poland but a 2-1 defeat to Poland, who ultimately topped the table, at Millwall’s “New Den” all but dashed their hopes of qualifying. A draw in Holland finally extinguished them, though they did finish the campaign with a 4-0 win in San Marino with goals from Robbie Fowler, Darren Anderton, Chris Sutton and Mike Sheron.

England’s team in San Marino: Watson D., Ardley, Small, Newton, Ehiogu, Cox, Anderton, Sheron, Sutton, Fowler (sub Shipperley), Sinclair (sub Watson S.)

1998: Didn’t qualify for final tournament

Peter Taylor’s England finished top of Group Two after an impressive 1-0 win against Italy in Rieti. Kieron Dyer’s volley two minutes from time had inflicted on the Italians their first home defeat for 12 years. But England had to tackle Greece in a two-leg play-off for a place in the finals and went down to a disappointing 2-0 defeat in the first leg on Crete. Michael Owen scored in his only U21 appearance as England won the second leg 4-2 at Carrow Road but it was the Greeks who went through on the away goals’ rule.

England’s team at Carrow Road: Wright, Scimeca, Serrant (sub Scowcroft), Duberry (sub Bullock), Ferdinand R., Hall, Carragher, Lampard, Heskey, Owen, Murray

2000: Qualified for final tournament

Howard Wilkinson’s England went into their final Group Five fixture in Poland with a chance of becoming the first team to qualify with a 100% record and no goals against. But the Poles won 3-1 and, despite topping the table, England had to negotiate a play-off against Yugoslavia in Barcelona. A 3-0 win in Barca’s “Mini Stadium” took them through to the finals in Slovakia, where they lost 2-0 both to Italy and their Slovak hosts either side of a 6-0 victory against Turkey with goals from Lampard, Jeffers, Cort, King, Mills and Campbell.

England’s team against Slovakia: Weaver, Mills, Harley (sub Campbell), King, Carragher, Lampard, Young, Jeffers (sub Chadwick), Cort, Murphy, Dunn (sub Hendrie)

2002: Qualified for final tournament

A vital 2-1 win against Greece at Ewood Park saw David Platt’s England top Group Nine and qualify for a two-leg play-off against Holland. They came from 2-0 down to grab a draw in Utrecht and Michael Carrick’s goal before a 32,000 crowd at Pride Park proved to be decisive in the return leg. In the Swiss finals England began with a 2-1 win against the hosts, Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch scoring in Zurich, but the games with Italy and Portugal both ended in defeat. Maccarone’s 84th-minute wonder strike for the Italians had beaten them in Basle.

England’s team against Portugal in Zurich: Robinson, Young, Konchesky, Prutton, Knight, Barry, Pennant (sub Parker), Dunn, Smith A., Defoe (sub Zamora), Greening (Ameobi)

2004: Didn’t qualify for final tournament

England, with Platt still at the helm, made an encouraging start to their Group Seven campaign with wins against Slovakia and Macedonia. Then Portugal beat them 4-2 in Rio Maior and a 1-1 home draw with the Turks hardly helped their cause. England lost the critical return game with Portugal at Goodison Park, edged 2-1 by a talented side that included Ronaldo, Postiga and Quaresma. It was Postiga’s disputed 78th-minute winner that ended England’s hopes of qualifying, the 1-0 defeat in Turkey a month later an irrelevance.

England’s team in Turkey: Grant, Johnson G., Taylor M., Sidwell (sub Reo-Coker), Davies A., Jagielka, Wright-Phillips, Jenas, Ameobi, Defoe, Prutton (Bent)

2006: Didn’t qualify for final tournament

Peter Taylor was back in charge as England won four and drew two of their six Group Six qualifiers in the first season. They included a 2-2 home draw with Germany, on paper their most difficult opponents. After gaining a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the return in Mainz, England surprisingly lost to Austria at Elland Road and that meant that a place in the play-offs was the most they could hope for. France held them to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at White Hart Lane, watched by a record crowd of 34,494, before winning 2-1 in Nancy to knock England out.

England’s team in France: Carson, Taylor R., Onuoha (Whittingham), Dawson, Ferdinand A., O’Neil, Ambrose (Ashton), Huddlestone, Cole C. (Jerome), Bent, Richardson

Summary of UEFA Under-21 Championship Final ties

Finals from 1978 to 1992 inclusive played over two legs; finals from 1994 to present played as one-off games

1978: Yugoslavia 5 German Democratic Republic 4
1980: USSR 1 German Democratic Republic 0
1982: ENGLAND 5 West Germany 4
1984: ENGLAND 3 Spain 0
1986: Spain 3 Italy 3 (Spain won 3-0 on penalties)
1988: France 3 Greece 0
1990: USSR 7 Yugoslavia 3
1992: Italy 2 Sweden 1
1994: Italy 1 Portugal 0
1996: Italy 1 Spain 1 (Italy won 5-4 on penalties)
1998: Spain 1 Greece 0
2000: Italy 2 Czech Republic 1
2002: Czech Republic 0 France 0 (Czech Republic won 3-1 on penalties)
2004: Italy 3 Serbia & Montenegro 0
2006: Holland 3 Ukraine 0

15 finals played to date