The team had a good record, winning the competition once, reaching the final twice, but failing to qualify for the last six on 10 occasions.

Yuriy Nikiforov scored 5 goals on the tournament but FIFA awarded the Golden Boot to Moussa Traoré because Côte d'Ivoire had scored fewer goals than USSR.

After the dissolution of the USSR (on December 26, 1991), the senior team played out its remaining fixtures, which were the finals of Euro 92.

Because the USSR U-16s had, by December 26, already failed to qualify for their version of the 1992 European Championship, the former Soviet states didn't play as a combined team at U-17 level ever again.

The following table shows Soviet Union's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.