# 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship

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 across venues in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney where a total of 32 matches were played. The championship winner was West Germany, who defeated Qatar 4–0 in a final held at Sydney Cricket Ground. The official mascot was the kookaburra 'Kickaburra'.

## 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 |
| OFC (Oceania) | Host nation | Australia |
| UEFA (Europe) | 1980 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship | England Italy Poland Romania Spain West Germany |
    1.^ Teams that made their debut.

## Squads

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

## Group stage
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Uruguay | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Qatar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Poland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 2 | |
| 4 | United States | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Romania | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | West Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Egypt | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Mexico | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 2 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | England | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Australia (H) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

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

### Final
## Result

* 1981 World Youth Championship winners
* West Germany First title

## Awards

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

## Goalscorers

Mark Koussas of Australia won the Golden Boot award for scoring four goals. In total, 87 goals were scored by 56 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.
4 goals
* Mark Koussas
* Taher Abouzaid
* Ralf Loose
* Roland Wohlfarth
3 goals
* Ronaldão
* Hisham Saleh
* Michael Small
* Neil Webb
* Badr Bilal
* Khalid Salman
2 goals
* Bonaventure Djonkep
* Dariusz Dziekanowski
* Romulus Gabor
* Choi Soon-Ho
* Chano
* Holger Anthes
* Jorge da Silva
1 goal
* Claudio Morresi
* Jorge Cecchi
* Juan Jose Urruti
* David Mitchell
* Ian Hunter
* Djalma Baia
* Leomir
* Paulo Roberto
* Bertin Olle Olle
* Mohamed Helmy
* Anthony Finnigan
* Geoffrey Dey
* John Cooke
* Pietro Mariani
* Agustín Coss
* González Farfán
* Ildefonso Ríos
* José Enrique Vaca
* Piotr Rzepka
* Jerzy Kowalik
* Ali Alsada
* Augustin Eduard
* Cornel Fisic
* Dorel Zamfir
* Stere Sertov
* Kwak Sung-Ho
* Lee Kyung-Nam
* Francisco López
* Jorge Fabregat
* Sebastián Nadal
* Mark Devey
* Carlos Berruetta
* Javier López Báez
* Carlos Aguilera
* Jorge Villazán
* Alfred Schön
* Martin Trieb
Own goals
* Jose Guillen (playing against Egypt)
* Jun Jong-Son (playing against Brazil)

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | West Germany | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 10 | Champions |
| 2 | Qatar | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 7 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Romania | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 9 | Third place |
| 4 | England | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 6 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Uruguay | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 6 | Brazil | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 5 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 7 | Australia (H) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 8 | Egypt | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −1 | 4 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 9 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 10 | Poland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 11 | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 12 | Mexico | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 13 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 14 | Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 15 | United States | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 16 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |