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.

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

Mark Koussas of Australia won the Golden Boot award for scoring four goals.