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	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 Abouzaid Mark Koussas (4 goals)
Best player	Romulus Gabor
Fair play award	Australia
← 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 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	Qatar1  South Korea
CAF (Africa)	1981 African Youth Championship	Cameroon1  Egypt1
CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean)	1980 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament	Mexico  United States1
CONMEBOL (South America)	1981 South American Youth Championship	Argentina  Brazil  Uruguay
OFC (Oceania)	Host nation	Australia1
UEFA (Europe)	1980 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship	England1  Italy  Poland  Romania1  Spain  West Germany1

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
3	Poland	3	1	0	2	4	2	+2	2
4	United States	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

3 October 1981
18:30

Poland	0–1	Qatar
	(Report)	Bilal 37'

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 17,200

Referee: Tony Boskovic (Australia)

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3 October 1981
20:30

United States	0–3	Uruguay
	(Report)	López Báez 5' Aguilera 60' Da Silva 67'

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 17,200

Referee: Emilio Soriano Aladren (Spain)

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6 October 1981
18:30

United States	1–1	Qatar
Devey 43'	(Report)	Bilal 56'

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 10,122

Referee: Tesfaye Gebreyesus (Ethiopia)^[1]

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6 October 1981
20:30

Uruguay	1–0	Poland
Da Silva 58'	(Report)

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 10,122

Referee: Antonio Márquez Ramírez (Mexico)

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8 October 1981
19:00

Qatar	0–1	Uruguay
	(Report)	Villazán 52'

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 8,264

Referee: Stanislas Kamdem (Cameroon)

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8 October 1981
21:00

Poland	4–0	United States
Rzepka 17' Kowalik 18' Dziekanowski 65', 67'	(Report)

Lang Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 8,264

Referee: Tony Boskovic (Australia)

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
3	South Korea	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	2
4	Italy	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

3 October 1981
18:30

Italy	1–4	South Korea
Mariani 83'	(Report)	Kwak Sung-ho 7' Choi Soon-ho 12', 29' Lee Kyung-nam 88'

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 13,538

Referee: Gastón Castro (Chile)

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3 October 1981
20:30

Romania	1–1	Brazil
Zamfir 82'	(Report)	Leomir 67'

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 13,538

Referee: George Courtney (England)

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6 October 1981
18:45

Romania	1–0	South Korea
Sertov 5'	(Report)

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 17,500

Referee: Jorge Romero (Argentina)

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6 October 1981
20:45

Brazil	1–0	Italy
Djalma Baia 56'	(Report)

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 17,500

Referee: Jan Redelfs (West Germany)

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8 October 1981
18:45

South Korea	0–3	Brazil
	(Report)	Paulo Roberto 48' Ronaldo 61' Jun J.S. 79' (o.g.)

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Hussein Fahmy Baheig (Egypt)

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8 October 1981
20:45

Italy	0–1	Romania
	(Report)	Gabor 56' (pen.)

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)

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
3	Mexico	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2
4	Spain	3	0	2	1	5	7	−2	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

3 October 1981
19:00

Spain	2–2	Egypt
Chano 65' Nadal 74'	(Report)	Abouzaid 6', 78'

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 7,504

Referee: Lee Woo Bong (South Korea)

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3 October 1981
21:00

West Germany	1–0	Mexico
Loose 2'	(Report)

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 7,504

Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)

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6 October 1981
19:00

West Germany	1–2	Egypt
Loose 35'	(Report)	Helmy 31' Abouzaid 54'

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 14,120

Referee: Rómulo Méndez Molina (Guatemala)

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6 October 1981
21:00

Mexico	1–1	Spain
Coss 75'	(Report)	Chano 45' (pen.)

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 14,120

Referee: José Martínez Bazán (Uruguay)

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8 October 1981
18:30

Egypt	3–3	Mexico
Guillén 33' (o.g.) Saleh 64', 71'	(Report)	Vaca 18' Farfán 28' Ríos 69'

Bruce Stadium, Canberra

Attendance: 8,150

Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)

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8 October 1981
20:30

Spain	2–4	West Germany
F. López 72' Fabregat 78'	(Report)	Trieb 29' Wohlfarth 47', 85' Anthes 55'

Bruce Stadium, Canberra

Attendance: 14,120

Referee: Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil)

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
3	Argentina	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	3
4	Cameroon	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

3 October 1981
13:00

England	2–0	Cameroon
Finnigan 57' Dey 78'	(Report)

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 15,814

Referee: Toshikazu Sano (Japan)

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3 October 1981
15:00

Australia	2–1	Argentina
Koussas 79' Hunter 89'	(Report)	Morresi 66'

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 15,814

Referee: Alojzy Jarguz (Poland)

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5 October 1981
15:00

Australia	3–3	Cameroon
Mitchell 9' Koussas 53', 78' (pen.)	(Report)	Olle Olle 17' Djonkep 35', 52'

Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle

Attendance: 13,797

Referee: Toros Kibritjian (Syria)

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5 October 1981
15:00

England	1–1	Argentina
Small 79'	(Report)	Urruti 57'

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 16,674

Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)

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8 October 1981
19:00

Cameroon	0–1	Argentina
	(Report)	Cecchi 6'

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 28,932

Referee: Mubarak Waleed Saeed (Qatar)

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8 October 1981
21:00

England	1–1	Australia
Small 82'	(Report)	Koussas 7'

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 28,932

Referee: Ioan Igna (Romania)

Knockout stage

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

Quarter-finals

11 October 1981
15:00

Uruguay	1–2	Romania
Berruetta 60'	(Report)	Gabor 25' Gabor 84'

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 14,800

Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)

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11 October 1981
15:00

Brazil	2–3	Qatar
Ronaldo 27', 78'	(Report)	Al-Muhannadi 10', 54', 87'

Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle

Attendance: 12,993

Referee: Antonio Márquez Ramírez (Mexico)

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11 October 1981
15:00

West Germany	1–0	Australia
Wohlfarth 69'	(Report)

Bruce Stadium, Canberra

Attendance: 13,780

Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)

---

11 October 1981
15:00

England	4–2	Egypt
Webb 41', 64', 82' Cooke 60'	(Report)	Abouzaid 28' (pen.) Helmy 40'

Sports Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 8,293

Referee: José Martínez Bazán (Uruguay)

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Semi-finals

14 October 1981
20:00

Qatar	2–1	England
Bilal 12' Alsada 62'	(Report)	Small 70'

Cricket Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 12,476

Referee: Jorge Romero (Argentina)

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14 October 1981
20:30

Romania	0–1 (a.e.t.)	West Germany
	(Report)	Schön 103'

Olympic Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)

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Third place play-off

17 October 1981
15:00

Romania	1–0	England
Gabor 36'	(Report)

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 10,492

Referee: Henning Lund-Sorensen (Denmark)

Final

18 October 1981
15:00

West Germany	4–0	Qatar
Loose 28', 66' Wohlfarth 42' Anthes 86'	(Report)

Cricket Ground, Sydney

Attendance: 18,531

Referee: Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil)

Result

1981 World Youth Championship winners
West Germany First title

Awards

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

Goalscorers

Romulus Gabor of Romania 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

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

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
7	Australia (H)	4	1	2	1	6	6	0	4
8	Egypt	4	1	2	1	9	10	−1	4
9	Argentina	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	3	Eliminated in Group stage
10	Poland	3	1	0	2	4	2	+2	2
11	South Korea	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	2
12	Mexico	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2
13	Spain	3	0	2	1	5	7	−2	2
14	Cameroon	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
15	United States	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1
16	Italy	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Notes

External links

• FIFA World Youth Championship Australia 1981 Archived 4 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine, FIFA.com
• RSSSF > FIFA World Youth Championship > 1981
• FIFA Technical Report