1981 FIFA World Youth Championship

1981 FIFA World Youth Championship

FIFA World Youth Championship Australia 1981
Tournament details
Host country	Australia
Dates	3–18 October
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	West Germany (1st title)
Runners-up	Qatar
Third place	Romania
Fourth place	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	87 (2.72 per match)
Attendance	443,094 (13,847 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ralf Loose Roland Wohlfarth Taher Amer Mark Koussas (4 goals)
Best player	Romulus Gabor
← 1979 1983 →

The 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, the third edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Australia from 3 to 18 October 1981. The tournament took place in six venues—where a total of 32 matches were played. Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney—The winner was West Germany, who beat surprising Qatar by 4–0, in a final held at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Qualification

Confederation	Qualifying Tournament	Qualifier(s)
AFC (Asia)	1980 AFC Youth Championship	Qatar South Korea
CAF (Africa)	1981 African Youth Championship	Cameroon Egypt
CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean)	1980 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament	Mexico United States
CONMEBOL (South America)	1981 South American Youth Championship	Argentina Brazil Uruguay
UEFA (Europe)	1980 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship	England Italy Poland Romania Spain West Germany
Host nation		Australia

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Uruguay	6	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5
Qatar	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
Poland	2	3	1	0	2	4	2	+2
United States	1	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7

3 October 1981 18:30	Poland	0 – 1	Qatar	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 17,200 Referee: Tony Boskovic (Australia)
		(Report)	Bilal 37'

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3 October 1981 20:30	United States	0 – 3	Uruguay	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 17,200 Referee: Emilio Soriano Aladren (Spain)
		(Report)	López Báez 5' Aguilera 60' Da Silva 67'

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6 October 1981 18:30	United States	1 – 1	Qatar	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 10,122 Referee: Tesfaye Gebreyesus (Ethiopia)
	Devey 43'	(Report)	Bilal 56'

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6 October 1981 20:30	Uruguay	1 – 0	Poland	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 10,122 Referee: Antonio Márquez Ramírez (Mexico)
	Da Silva 58'	(Report)

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8 October 1981 19:00	Qatar	0 – 1	Uruguay	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 8,264 Referee: Stanislas Kamdem (Cameroon)
		(Report)	Villazán 52'

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8 October 1981 21:00	Poland	4 – 0	United States	Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 8,264 Referee: Tony Boskovic (Australia)
	Rzepka 17' Kowalik 18' Dziekanowski 65', 67'	(Report)

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Brazil	5	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4
Romania	5	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2
South Korea	2	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1
Italy	0	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5

3 October 1981 18:30	Italy	1–4	South Korea	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 13,538 Referee: Gastón Castro (Chile)
	Mariani 83'	(Report)	Kwak Sung-Ho 7' Choi Soon-Ho 12', 29' Lee Kyung-Nam 88'

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3 October 1981 20:30	Romania	1–1	Brazil	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 13,538 Referee: George Courtney (England)
	Zamfir 82'	(Report)	Leomir 67'

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6 October 1981 18:45	Romania	1–0	South Korea	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 17,500 Referee: Jorge Romero (Argentina)
	Sertov 5'	(Report)

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6 October 1981 20:45	Brazil	1–0	Italy	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 17,500 Referee: Jan Redelfs (West Germany)
	Djalma Baia 56'	(Report)

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8 October 1981 18:45	South Korea	0–3	Brazil	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Hussein Fahmy Baheig (Egypt)
		(Report)	Paulo Roberto 48' Ronaldão 61' Jun Jong-Son 79' (o.g.)

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8 October 1981 20:45	Italy	0–1	Romania	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)
		(Report)	Gabor 56' (pen.)

Group C

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
West Germany	4	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2
Egypt	4	3	1	2	0	7	6	+1
Mexico	2	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1
Spain	2	3	0	2	1	5	7	−2

3 October 1981 19:00	Spain	2–2	Egypt	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Attendance: 7,504 Referee: Lee Woo Bong (South Korea)
	S. López 65' Nadal 74'	(Report)	Taher Amer 6', 78'

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3 October 1981 21:00	West Germany	1–0	Mexico	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Attendance: 7,504 Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)
	Loose 2'	(Report)

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6 October 1981 19:00	West Germany	1–2	Egypt	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Attendance: 14,120 Referee: Rómulo Méndez Molina (Guatemala)
	Loose 35'	(Report)	Helmi 31' Taher Amer 54' (pen.)

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6 October 1981 21:00	Mexico	1–1	Spain	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Attendance: 14,120 Referee: José Martínez Bazán (Uruguay)
	Coss 75'	(Report)	S. López 45' (pen.)

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8 October 1981 18:30	Egypt	3–3	Mexico	Bruce Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 8,150 Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)
	Guillén 33' (o.g.) Saleh 64', 71'	(Report)	Vaca 18' Farfán 28' Ríos 69'

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8 October 1981 20:30	Spain	2–4	West Germany	Bruce Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 14,120 Referee: Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil)
	F. López 72' Fabregat 78'	(Report)	Trieb 29' Wohlfarth 47', 85' Anthes 55'

Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	4	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2
Australia	4	3	1	2	0	6	5	+1
Argentina	3	3	1	1	1	3	3	0
Cameroon	1	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3

3 October 1981 13:00	England	2–0	Cameroon	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 15,814 Referee: Toshikazu Sano (Japan)
	Finnigan 57' Dey 78'	(Report)

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3 October 1981 15:00	Australia	2–1	Argentina	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 15,814 Referee: Alojzy Jarguz (Poland)
	Koussas 79' Hunter 89'	(Report)	Morresi 66'

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5 October 1981 15:00	Australia	3–3	Cameroon	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 13,797 Referee: Toros Kibritjian (Syria)
	Mitchell 9' Koussas 53', 78' (pen.)	(Report)	Olle Olle 17' Djonkep 35', 52'

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5 October 1981 15:00	England	1–1	Argentina	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 16,674 Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)
	Small 79'	(Report)	Urruti 57'

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8 October 1981 19:00	Cameroon	0–1	Argentina	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 28,932 Referee: Mubarak Waleed Saeed (Qatar)
		(Report)	Cecchi 6'

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8 October 1981 21:00	England	1–1	Australia	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 28,932 Referee: Ioan Igna (Romania)
	Small 82'	(Report)	Koussas 7'

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	11 October - Melbourne
	Uruguay	1
					14 October - Melbourne
	Romania	2
					Romania	0
	11 October - Canberra
					West Germany (AET)	1
	West Germany	1
									18 October - Sydney
	Australia	0
									West Germany	4
	11 October - Newcastle
									Qatar	0
	Brazil	2
					14 October - Sydney
	Qatar	3
					Qatar	2			Third place
	11 October - Sydney
					England	1
	England	4							Romania	1
	Egypt	2							England	0
									17 October - Adelaide

Quarter-finals

11 October 1981 15:00	Uruguay	1–2	Romania	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 14,800 Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)
	Berruetta 60'	(Report)	Eduard 25' Fisic 84'

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11 October 1981 15:00	Brazil	2–3	Qatar	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 12,993 Referee: Antonio Márquez Ramírez (Mexico)
	Ronaldão 27', 78'	(Report)	Al-Muhannadi 10', 54', 87'

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11 October 1981 15:00	West Germany	1–0	Australia	Bruce Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 13,780 Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)
	Wohlfarth 69'	(Report)

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11 October 1981 15:00	England	4–2	Egypt	Sports Ground, Sydney Attendance: 8,293 Referee: José Martínez Bazán (Uruguay)
	Webb 41', 64', 82' Cooke 60'	(Report)	Taher Amer 28' (pen.) Saleh 40'

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Semi-finals

14 October 1981 20:00	Qatar	2–1	England	Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 12,476 Referee: Jorge Romero (Argentina)
	Bilal 12' Alsada 62'	(Report)	Small 70'

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14 October 1981 20:30	Romania	0–1 (a.e.t.)	West Germany	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)
		(Report)	Schön 103'

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Third place play-off

17 October 1981 15:00	Romania	1–0	England	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Attendance: 10,492 Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)
	Gabor 36'	(Report)

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Final

18 October 1981 15:00	West Germany	4–0	Qatar	Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 18,531 Referee: Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil)
	Loose 28', 66' Wohlfarth 42' Anthes 86'	(Report)

Result

1981 World Youth Championship Winners
West Germany First title

Awards

Golden Shoe	Golden Ball	Fair Play Award
Mark Koussas	Romulus Gabor	Australia

Final ranking

1. West Germany
2. Qatar
3. Romania
4. England
5. Egypt
6. Australia
7. Brazil
8. Uruguay
9. Poland
10. Mexico
11. United States
12. South Korea
13. Italy
14. Spain
15. Argentina
16. Cameroon

External links

• FIFA World Youth Championship Australia 1981, FIFA.com
• RSSSF > FIFA World Youth Championship > 1981