| 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 | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 87 (2.72 per match) |
| Attendance | 443,094 (13,847 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | (4 goals) |
| Best player | |
| Fair play award | |
←1979 1983 → | |
The1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, the third edition of theFIFA World Youth Championship, was held inAustralia from 3 to 18 October 1981. The tournament took place in across venues inAdelaide,Brisbane,Canberra,Melbourne,Newcastle andSydney where a total of 32 matches were played. The championship winner wasWest Germany, who defeatedQatar 4–0 in a final held atSydney Cricket Ground. The official mascot was thekookaburra 'Kickaburra'.
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see1981 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 6 | Advance toknockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 |
| United States | 0–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) | López Báez Aguilera Da Silva |
| United States | 1–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Devey | (Report) | Bilal |
| Poland | 4–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Rzepka Kowalik Dziekanowski | (Report) |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 5 | Advance toknockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
| Italy | 1–4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Mariani | (Report) | Kwak Sung-ho Choi Soon-ho Lee Kyung-nam |
| Romania | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sertov | (Report) |
| Brazil | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Djalma Baia | (Report) |
| South Korea | 0–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) | Paulo Roberto Ronaldo Jun J.S. |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 4 | Advance toknockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 2 |
| West Germany | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Loose | (Report) |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 | Advance toknockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 |
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 11 October -Melbourne | ||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 14 October -Melbourne | ||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 0 | ||||||||||
| 11 October -Canberra | ||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 18 October -Sydney | ||||||||||
| 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||
| 11 October -Newcastle | ||||||||||
| 0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 14 October -Sydney | ||||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 11 October -Sydney | ||||||||||
| 1 | Third place | |||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||
| 17 October -Adelaide | ||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 0 | ||||||||||
| Brazil | 2–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Ronaldo | (Report) | Al-Muhannadi |
| Romania | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) | Schön |
| 1981 World Youth Championship winners |
|---|
West Germany First title |
| Golden Shoe | Golden Ball | Fair Play Award |
|---|---|---|
Romulus Gabor of Romania won theGolden 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
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 10 | Champions | |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 7 | Runners-up | |
| 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 9 | Third place | |
| 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 6 | Fourth place | |
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals | |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −1 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage | |
| 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | ||
| 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 2 | ||
| 14 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | ||
| 15 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 | ||
| 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |