# 1998 UEFA European Under-18 Championship

The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1998 Final Tournament was held in Cyprus. It also served as the European qualification for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. For this tournament, the age limit was moved back from August to January. Players born on or after 1 January 1979 were eligible to participate in this competition.

## Qualification

50 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Cyprus qualifying automatically, the other 49 teams competed in the qualifying competition to determine the remaining seven spots in the final tournament. The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds: First round, which took place in autumn 1997 and was played in 14 round-robin tournament groups with three or four teams each; and the Second round, which took place in spring 1998, in which pairs of group winners played home and away matches.
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Method of qualification | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| Cyprus | Hosts | 1st | — | Debut |
| Croatia | Second round winners | 1st | — | Debut |
| England | Second round winners | | 1996 (third place) | Champions (1948, 1963, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1993) |
| Germany | Second round winners | | 1994 (runners-up) | Champions (1965$^2$, 1970$^2$, 1981$^1$, 1986$^2$) |
| Lithuania | Second round winners | 1st | — | Debut |
| Portugal | Second round winners | | 1997 (runners-up) | Champions (1961, 1994) |
| Republic of Ireland | Second round winners | | 1997 (fourth place) | Fourth place (1984, 1997) |
| Spain | Second round winners | | 1997 (third place) | Champions (1952, 1954, 1995) |
    1 = as West Germany
    2 = as East Germany

## Match officials

A total of 6 referees, 7 assistant referees and 2 fourth officials officiated the tournament.

## Squads

Each national team submitted a squad of 18 players, including two goalkeepers.

## Group stage
### Group A

| Teams | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 6 |
| Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 |
| Spain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | –1 | 6 |
| Lithuania | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | –9 | 0 |

### Group B

| Teams | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Republic of Ireland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 6 |
| Croatia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 6 |
| England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | –1 | 6 |
| Cyprus | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | –7 | 0 |

## Qualification to World Youth Championship

The six best performing teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.
* Croatia
* England
* Germany
* Portugal
* Republic of Ireland
* Spain

## Goalscorers

There were 45 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 3.21 goals per match.
4 goals
* Enrico Kern
3 goals
* Mihael Mikić
* Gerard
* Robbie Keane
* Marco Almeida
2 goals
* Lee Matthews
* Sebastian Deisler
* Andreas Gensler
* Liam George
1 goal
* Branko Banović
* Saša Bjelanović
* Zvonimir Deranja
* Krunoslav Lovrek
* Jurica Vranješ
* Alan Smith
* José Barkero
* Pablo Couñago
* Fabian Ernst
* Wolf-Manuel Majunke
* Christian Timm
* Andreas Voss
* Alan Quinn
* Barry Quinn
* Stephen McPhail
* Richie Partridge
* Vidas Alunderis
* Valdas Trakys
* Hugo Carreira
* Simão
1 own goal
* Jonathan Woodgate (against Cyprus)