The1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 3rd staging of theUEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1980–82) and had 26 entrants.West Germany competed in the competition for the first time.England U-21s won the competition.
The 26 national teams were divided into eight groups (six groups of 3 + two groups of 4). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided. There was no 3rd-place playoff.
The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of1982 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations: