The 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1988–90), had 30 entrants.

San Marino competed for the first time.

USSR U-21s won the competition.

The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided.

The allocation of teams into qualifying groups was based on that of 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification with several changes, reflecting the absence of some nations: Bulgaria qualify as group winners Sweden qualify as group winners Soviet Union qualify as group winners West Germany qualify as group winners Yugoslavia qualify as group winners Spain qualify as group winners Czechoslovakia qualify as group winners Italy qualify as group winners