Group 2 of UEFA Euro 1988 contained the Soviet Union, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, and England. Matches were played from 12 to 18 June 1988.^[1]

England lost three games from three.^[2]

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
England	Group 4 winner	11 November 1987	3rd	1980	Third place (1968)
Netherlands	Group 5 winner	9 December 1987	3rd	1980	Third place (1976)
Republic of Ireland	Group 7 winner	11 November 1987	1st	—	Debut
Soviet Union	Group 3 winner	28 October 1987	5th	1972	Winners (1960)

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Netherlands	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	4
3	Republic of Ireland	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
4	England	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

In the semi-finals,

• The winner of Group 2, Soviet Union, advanced to play the runner-up of Group 1, Italy.
• The runner-up of Group 2, Netherlands, advanced to play the winner of Group 1, West Germany.

England

Republic of Ireland

GK 1 Peter Shilton RB 2 Gary Stevens CB 6 Tony Adams CB 19 Mark Wright LB 3 Kenny Sansom RM 12 Chris Waddle CM 4 Neil Webb  60' CM 7 Bryan Robson (c) LM 11 John Barnes CF 9 Peter Beardsley  82' CF 10 Gary Lineker Substitutions: MF 17 Glenn Hoddle  60' FW 18 Mark Hateley  82' Manager: Bobby Robson

GK 1 Packie Bonner RB 2 Chris Morris CB 4 Mick McCarthy CB 5 Kevin Moran LB 3 Chris Hughton RM 8 Ray Houghton CM 7 Paul McGrath CM 6 Ronnie Whelan LM 11 Tony Galvin  77' CF 9 John Aldridge CF 10 Frank Stapleton (c)  62' Substitutions: FW 20 Niall Quinn  62' MF 15 Kevin Sheedy  77' Manager: Jack Charlton

Linesmen:[3] Klaus Peschel (East Germany) Manfred Roßner (East Germany)

Netherlands

Soviet Union

GK 1 Hans van Breukelen SW 4 Ronald Koeman CB 6 Berry van Aerle CB 17 Frank Rijkaard CB 2 Adri van Tiggelen RM 7 Gerald Vanenburg  59' CM 20 Jan Wouters CM 8 Arnold Mühren LM 11 John van 't Schip CF 10 Ruud Gullit (c) CF 9 John Bosman Substitutions: FW 12 Marco van Basten  59' Manager: Rinus Michels

GK 1 Rinat Dasayev (c) SW 3 Vagiz Khidiyatullin  40' CB 2 Volodymyr Bezsonov CB 4 Oleh Kuznetsov CB 5 Anatoliy Demyanenko RM 9 Oleksandr Zavarov  90' CM 15 Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko CM 8 Hennadiy Lytovchenko  21' LM 6 Vasyl Rats CF 11 Igor Belanov  82' CF 10 Oleh Protasov Substitutions: FW 7 Sergei Aleinikov  82' DF 13 Tengiz Sulakvelidze  90' Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Linesmen: Karl-Heinz Tritschler (West Germany) Aron Schmidhuber (West Germany)

England

Netherlands

GK 1 Peter Shilton RB 2 Gary Stevens CB 6 Tony Adams CB 19 Mark Wright LB 3 Kenny Sansom RM 8 Trevor Steven  68' CM 7 Bryan Robson (c) CM 17 Glenn Hoddle LM 11 John Barnes CF 9 Peter Beardsley  72' CF 10 Gary Lineker Substitutions: MF 12 Chris Waddle  68' FW 18 Mark Hateley  72' Manager: Bobby Robson

GK 1 Hans van Breukelen SW 4 Ronald Koeman CB 6 Berry van Aerle CB 17 Frank Rijkaard CB 2 Adri van Tiggelen RM 7 Gerald Vanenburg  60' CM 20 Jan Wouters CM 8 Arnold Mühren LM 13 Erwin Koeman CF 10 Ruud Gullit (c) CF 12 Marco van Basten  87' Substitutions: FW 14 Wim Kieft  60' DF 18 Wilbert Suvrijn  87' Manager: Rinus Michels

Linesmen: Carlo Longhi (Italy) Pierluigi Magni (Italy)

Republic of Ireland

Soviet Union

GK 1 Packie Bonner RB 2 Chris Morris CB 4 Mick McCarthy CB 5 Kevin Moran LB 3 Chris Hughton RM 8 Ray Houghton CM 6 Ronnie Whelan CM 15 Kevin Sheedy LM 11 Tony Galvin CF 10 Frank Stapleton (c)  80' CF 9 John Aldridge Substitutions: FW 12 Tony Cascarino  80' Manager: Jack Charlton

GK 1 Rinat Dasayev (c)  68' SW 3 Vagiz Khidiyatullin CB 13 Tengiz Sulakvelidze  46' CB 4 Oleh Kuznetsov CB 5 Anatoliy Demyanenko RM 9 Oleksandr Zavarov CM 15 Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko CM 7 Sergei Aleinikov LM 6 Vasyl Rats CF 11 Igor Belanov CF 10 Oleh Protasov Substitutions: MF 18 Sergey Gotsmanov  46' GK 16 Viktor Chanov  68' Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Linesmen:[4] José Donato Pes Pérez (Spain) José Mauro Socorro González (Spain)

England

Soviet Union

GK 13 Chris Woods RB 2 Gary Stevens CB 5 Dave Watson CB 6 Tony Adams LB 3 Kenny Sansom RM 8 Trevor Steven CM 15 Steve McMahon  54' CM 7 Bryan Robson (c) CM 17 Glenn Hoddle LM 11 John Barnes CF 10 Gary Lineker  69' Substitutions: MF 4 Neil Webb  54' FW 18 Mark Hateley  69' Manager: Bobby Robson

GK 1 Rinat Dasayev (c) SW 3 Vagiz Khidiyatullin CB 2 Volodymyr Bezsonov CB 4 Oleh Kuznetsov RM 7 Sergei Aleinikov CM 8 Hennadiy Lytovchenko CM 9 Oleksandr Zavarov  85' CM 15 Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko LM 6 Vasyl Rats CF 11 Igor Belanov  44' CF 10 Oleh Protasov  42' Substitutions: MF 20 Viktor Pasulko  44' MF 18 Sergey Gotsmanov  85' Manager: Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Linesmen: José Francisco Conceição Silva (Portugal) Fortunato Alves de Azevedo (Portugal)

Republic of Ireland

Netherlands

GK 1 Packie Bonner RB 2 Chris Morris  46' CB 4 Mick McCarthy CB 5 Kevin Moran LB 3 Chris Hughton RM 8 Ray Houghton CM 7 Paul McGrath CM 6 Ronnie Whelan LM 11 Tony Galvin CF 10 Frank Stapleton (c)  83' CF 9 John Aldridge Substitutions: MF 15 Kevin Sheedy  46' FW 12 Tony Cascarino  83' Manager: Jack Charlton

GK 1 Hans van Breukelen SW 4 Ronald Koeman CB 6 Berry van Aerle CB 17 Frank Rijkaard CB 2 Adri van Tiggelen RM 7 Gerald Vanenburg CM 20 Jan Wouters  60' CM 8 Arnold Mühren  79' LM 13 Erwin Koeman  50' CF 10 Ruud Gullit (c) CF 12 Marco van Basten Substitutions: FW 14 Wim Kieft  50' FW 9 John Bosman  79' Manager: Rinus Michels

Linesmen:[5] Heinz Holzmann (Austria) Helmut Kohl (Austria)

• England at the UEFA European Championship
• Netherlands at the UEFA European Championship
• Republic of Ireland at the UEFA European Championship
• Soviet Union at the UEFA European Championship

• UEFA Euro 1988 Group 2