1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
The 1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years had 24 entrants. Yugoslavia U-21s won the competition.
The 24 national teams were divided into eight groups. The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided. There was no finals tournament or 3rd-place playoff.
Qualifying Stage
Draw
The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:- Group 1 did not include Portugal and Cyprus, but included Sweden
- Group 2 did not include England and Finland, but included Portugal
- Group 3 did not include Malta
- Group 4 did not include Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Iceland, but included France and Bulgaria
- Group 5 composed of England and Finland and Norway
- Group 6 did not include Wales, but included Switzerland
- Groups 7 and 8 included the same teams as World Cup qualifying Groups 8 and 9 respectively
| Legend |
| Group winners qualified for the [|knockout stage] |