The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, could participate in this tournament. The total attendance for the tournament was a record 1,230,976. The 2017 U-17 World Cup surpassed this, with a record attendance of 1,347,133.

Venues

Qualified Teams

Squads

For full squad lists for the 1985 U-16 World Championship see 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship squads.

Referees

Asia Africa CONCACAF South America Europe Oceania

Group stages

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

Final

Result

Goalscorers

Marcel Witeczek of West Germany won the Golden Shoe award for scoring eight goals. In total, 91 goals were scored by 56 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.

Final ranking