The 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, the third edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Australia from 3 to 18 October 1981. The tournament took place in across venues in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney where a total of 32 matches were played. The championship winner was West Germany, who defeated Qatar 4–0 in a final held at Sydney Cricket Ground. The official mascot was the kookaburra 'Kickaburra'.

Qualification

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

Final

Result

Awards

Goalscorers

Mark Koussas of Australia won the Golden 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

Final ranking