The 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 3rd staging of the UEFA 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.

Qualifying stage

Draw

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations:

Qualified teams

Knockout stages