Below are the rosters for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship tournament in Japan. Those marked in bold went on to earn full international caps.
====== Head coach: Chus Pereda
====== Head coach: Rachid Hanifi
====== Head Coach: José Moncebáez
====== Head Coach: Ikuo Matsumoto
====== Head coach: César Luis Menotti
====== Head coach: Marian Bednarczyk
====== Head coach: Ivan Toplak
====== Head Coach: Soetjipto Soentoro
====== Head Coach: Salvador Breglia
====== Head Coach: Jose Augusto Peres Bandeira
====== Head coach: Kim Chan-Ki
====== Head coach: Barrie Clarke
====== Head coach: Raúl Bentancor
====== Head coach: Sergei Korshunov
====== Head Coach: Gyula Rakosi
====== Head Coach: Nabi Camara