The Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team was the national football team for the under-21s of Czechoslovakia, before the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (For information about the national teams of the two countries, see the articles Czech Republic national under-21 football team and Slovakia national under-21 football team.)
Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, Czechoslovakia's under-21 team was formed. Despite the end of the country in January 1993, the team played until March 1994, fulfilling its fixtures in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship as a combined team. Since the under-21 competition rules state that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. Czechoslovakia's record for the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown.
In its twelve U-23 and U-21 competitions, the team had a decent record, winning the first competition in 1972 and reaching the quarter-finals on seven occasions. The team failed to qualify for the final eight on four occasions.
In November 1967, Czechoslovakia were randomly chosen to play holders Bulgaria in Pleven for the Challenge Cup, but lost the match 2âÂÂ1, with MikulÃ¡à ¡ Krnáàscoring the goal for Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia's next competitive match was in qualification for the newly-formed under-23 championship, which got underway on 7 October 1970. They successfully navigated the qualification stage, topping a group with Finland and Romania. In the final stages they successively beat Sweden, Greece to reach the final against the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia became champions of the inaugural edition in 1972 after beating the USSR 3âÂÂ1 in the deciding second leg of the final at Bazaly in Ostrava, with goals from Miroslav Gajdà ¯à ¡ek, Duà ¡an Herda and Milan Albrecht.
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
From 1978, Czechoslovakia competed in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.