Regarded as the international tournament, second only to the
World Cup. In Brazil and Argentina, they
refer to it as ‘the World Cup without us’.
The idea for this type of competition was originally
proposed back in 1927 by Henri Delaunay.
Delaunay was secretary-general of the French Football Federation, and
was involved with Jules Rimet, in developing the idea for the World Cup. Delaunay went on to become General Secretary
of UEFA until his death in 1954.
Ironically, his dream of a European tournament didn’t become reality
until 1958. Just as the original World
Cup trophy was named after Rimet, the trophy for the European Championships was
named after Delaunay.
The first competition was called the European Nations Cup. Only 17 nations entered, with countries such
as West Germany, Italy and England declining to take part. The format was simply a knock-out over 2 legs
until the Semi-Finals. When the final
four teams were known, one of them was selected as a host and then Semi-Finals
and Final matches were played over 5 days in July 1960.
The competition continued in this format right up to
1976. From 1980, UEFA started to expand
the tournament to include more teams for the finals.
Republic of Ireland were involved in a Preliminary Round
where they lost 2-4 to Czechoslovakia, after winning the 1st leg,
2-0. In the First Round, France, who had
finished third in the World Cup in 1958, thumped Greece, 7-1, with Juste
Fontaine (top scorer in Sweden in ’58) and Raymond Kopa amongst the goals. Spain beat Poland, 7-2 on aggregate with Di
Stefano scoring 3.
After France had beaten Greece, 8-2, they then saw off
Austria, 9-4 in the Quarter-Finals.
Fontaine grabbed a hat-trick in the 1st leg. Yugoslavia overturned a 1-2 deficit to beat
Portugal, 5-1. Czechoslovakia were
barely in trouble against Romania, as they won 5-0 over 2 legs. There were only 3 ties in the Quarter-Finals
as Spain refused to travel to Soviet Union and so withdrew from the tournament.
The four nations to compete the final stages of the
tournament were USSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and France. France was selected as hosts.
6th July 1960 in Parc des Princes, Paris saw the
first Semi-Final between France and Yugoslavia.
The two had met in the Group stages in Sweden ’58, with Yugoslavia
winning 3-2. The Yugoslavs took the lead
in the 11th minute, but the French hit back a minute later. France lead, 2-1 at the break and within 10
minutes of the re-start, they were 3-1 up.
Zanetic then got a goal back, before Heutte scored his 2nd of
the game and France lead 4-2. Into the
last 15 minutes and the Yugoslavs remarkably hit back with 3 goals in 4
minutes, to progress to the final. Two
of the goals were scored by Drazan Jerkovic, who would go on to share the
Golden Boot in the World Cup in 1962.
All of a sudden, the hosts were out and fears for the future
of this type of tournament seemed valid.
USSR easily beat Czechoslovakia, 3-0 in the other Semi, in
Marseille. The Czechs won the Third
Place Play-off, beating France, 2-0, a day before the first ever European
Championship Final.
10th July 1960 was the date for the inaugural
European Championship Final. A
disappointing crowd of just 17,966 at the Parc des Princes, witnessed a match
decided after extra time. Galic had
given Yugoslavia the lead 2 minutes before half-time, which was then equalised
by Metreveli, 4 minutes into the second period.
With 7 minutes of extra time remaining, Viktor Ponedelnik headed the
winner for the USSR and they won 2-1. It
still remains the only major international championship won by either USSR or
Russia.
Trivia fans might be interested to know the referee for the
first final was one Arthur Ellis, who would later attract fame as referee on ‘It’s-a-Knockout’.
10th July 1960, Parc des Princes, Paris, 17,966
USSR (0) 2 (Metreveli 49,
Ponedelnik 113)
YUGOSLAVIA (1) 1 (Galic 43)
USSR: Yashin; Chokheli, Maslenkin, Krutikov; Voinov, Netto;
Metreveli, Ivanov, Ponedelnik, Bubukin, Meskhi
YUGOSLAVIA: Vidinic; Durkovic, Mladinovic, Jusufi; Zanetic, Perusic;
Matus, Sekularac, Galic, Kostic; Jerkovic
The second tournament saw an increase in the countries
competing as 29 nations took part.
Austria, Luxembourg and USSR received a bye to the first round and
Greece withdrew after they were drawn against Albania.
West Germany was still missing, but Italy and England
decided to enter this time round.
England were up against France. A
1-1 draw at Hillsborough, then saw England being given an exhibition in Paris
when France romped home, 5-2. An England
team which included Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton had been
dumped out at the first hurdle. Italy
didn’t have any trouble with Turkey. 4
goals from Alberto Orlando helped them win 6-0 in the 1st leg, then
a solitary goal was enough in the 2nd leg.
Northern Ireland beat Poland, 2-0 in both legs, but Wales
lost, 2-4 to Hungary. There was drama
between Bulgaria and Portugal. Portugal
lost the 1st leg, 1-3, but were 3-0 up in the return with 6 minutes
to go before Iliev grabbed a late goal for Bulgaria and the tie was
levelled. The replay was held in Rome,
in front or barely 2,000 spectators, with Georgi Asparuhov scoring the only
goal of the game to give Bulgaria the win with just 4 minutes to go.
The First Round saw Northern Ireland pull off a great result
by holding Spain to a 1-1 draw in Bilbao.
Unfortunately, Gento grabbed the only goal of the game at Windsor Park
and the Irish were out. The shock of the
round was when Luxembourg went to Rotterdam and beat the Dutch, 2-1. This was enough to see them progress with,
probably, the best result of their history.
Italy were then knocked out by the defending champions, USSR.
In the Quarter-Finals, Spain beat Republic of Ireland, 7-1
on aggregate, and USSR saw off Sweden, 4-2.
France were beaten at home by Hungary, 1-3 and then in front of over
70,000 spectators, the Hungarians finished the job off with a 2-1 win. Luxembourg continued their excellent form with
a 3-3 draw against Denmark. Ole Madsen
scored a hat-trick for the Danes and then grabbed another double in the 2nd
leg, but a late goal from Schmit saw Luxembourg force a replay. Madsen then scored again in the replay, which
Denmark won 1-0.
The final tournament was held in Spain in June 1964. In Madrid, Spain were taken to extra time by
Hungary, before Armancio won it for the hosts.
In Barcelona, USSR won through to their 2nd successive final
as they beat Denmark, 3-0.
Ironically, the final would be between Spain and USSR. The irony was that four years earlier the
Spanish refused to play their opponents on political grounds, but presumably
because the final was held in their country, they ignored this minor
detail. Until their win in 2008, this
remained Spain’s only major tournament success.
The Final was held in Madrid on 21st June 1964,
in front of over 79,000 supporters. The
USSR contained just two survivors from their 1960 triumph. Both teams scored in the opening 10 minutes,
but the game seemed to heading for extra time before Spain won with a late goal
from Marcelino Martinez in the last 6 minutes.
21st June 1964, Bernabeu, Madrid, 79,115
SPAIN (1) 2 (Pereda 6,
Marcelino 84)
USSR (1) 1 (Khusainov 8)
Spain: Iribar; Rivilla, Oliveila, Calleja; Zoco, Fuste;
Amancio, Pereda, Marcelino, Luis Suarez, Lapetra
USSR: Yashin; Anichkin, Shustikov, Shesternyov, Mudrik;
Voronin, Koreneyev; Chislenko, Ivanov, Pondelnik, Khusainov
This was when the competition had a makeover. Renamed the European Championships, it now consisted
of a qualifying competition with 31 teams divided into 8 groups. Each group winner then went into a knock-out
stage. Holders Spain, won their group,
as did Bulgaria, USSR, Hungary and France.
Italy won a goal-laden group.
Italy, Romania and Switzerland all scored 53 goals between them. Group 4 contained just 3 teams, West Germany,
Yugoslavia and Albania. Yugoslavia
pulled off the first surprise by beating West Germany, 1-0 in Belgrade twelve
months after the Germans were losing finalists in the ’66 World Cup. West Germany then won the return, 3-1, and
then travelled to Tirana in December 1967, needing a 1-0 win to progress. They couldn’t do it, and remarkably Albania
held their illustrious opponents to a 0-0 draw with Yugoslavia going through. To date, Germany/West Germany has then
qualified for the finals of every major tournament since.
Group 8 contained the home nations and the results were
taken from the British Home International Championships of 1967 and 1968. 15th April 1967 is a date many
Scottish fans remember as Scotland became the first side to beat the World
Champions, England. Dennis Law gave the
Scots a first-half lead at Wembley.
Bobby Lennox then doubled it with 12 minutes to go, before Jackie
Charlton got a goal back 6 minutes from time.
Jim McCalliog then scored Scotland’s 3rd and Geoff Hurst’s
goal 2 minutes from the end was merely a consolation. Scotland had been held in Cardiff and then
lost 0-1 in Belfast, which ultimately cost them as England twice beat Wales and
Northern Ireland. This set things up for
the big game at Hampden in February 1968.
Martin Peters 20 minute goal was then cancelled out by John Hughes (his
only ever international goal) and the game ended 1-1 and England were through.
The Quarter-Finals were held around April and May and played
over 2 legs. Italy overturned a 2-3
deficit to beat Bulgaria, 4-3 on aggregate, and USSR came from 0-2 down in 1st
leg to win 3-0 in return against Hungary.
France were held at home 1-1 by Yugoslavia, but then in Belgrade they
were stuffed, 1-5. England were up
against Spain and a Bobby Charlton goal 6 minutes from time won the 1st
leg at Wembley. A month later in Madrid,
Spain took the lead but then Martin Peters and Norman Hunter won it for England.
The finals were held in Italy and contained two nations
(Italy and England) who weren’t interested in the competition when it first
started in 1960. The first Semi-Final in
Naples was a 0-0 draw between Italy and USSR.
Neither side could be separated after 120 minutes of football and so the
bright idea UEFA had to settle it all was, the toss a coin! The Soviet captain called incorrectly and
Italy were through to the final. In
Florence, the game between Yugoslavia and England looked to be heading for
extra time before Dragan Dzajic scored a late winner and the World Champions
were out.
Goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst gave England a 2-0
win over USSR to claim third place. The
Final was played in front of 85,000 in Rome and Dzajic was on the scoresheet
again giving Yugoslavia a first half lead.
Angelo Domenghini levelled things with just 10 minutes remaining. The game ended 1-1 after extra time, and this
time a replay was necessary. Only 55,000
turned up two days later to see Italy carry off the trophy with a 2-0 win.
8th June 1968, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 68,817
ITALY (0) 1 (Domenghini 80)
YUGOSLAVIA (1) 1 (Dzajic 32)
Italy: Zoff; Burgnich, Guarneri, Castano, Facchetti;
Lodetti, Ferrini, Juliano; Domenghini, Anastasi, Prati
Yugoslavia: Pantelic; Fazlagic, Paunovic, Holcer,
Damjanovic; Trivic, Pavlovic, Acimovic; Petkovic, Musemic, Dzajic
10th June 1968, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 32,866
ITALY (2) 2 (Riva 12, Anastasi
31)
YUGOSLAVIA (0) 0
Italy: Zoff; Burgnich, Guarneri, Salvadore, Rosato,
Facchetti; Mazzola, De Sisti; Domenghini, Anastasi, Riva
Yugoslavia: Pantelic; Fazlagic, Paunovic, Holcer,
Damjanovic; Trivic, Pavlovic, Acimovic; Hosic, Musemic, Dzajic
The Qualifying round had settled into the standard group
phase, with 8 groups of 4. As in
previous qualifying phases, Eastern European teams came to the fore. Hungary won their group containing France,
and USSR won theirs containing Spain.
Yugoslavia beat Netherlands to Group 7, and holders Italy were unbeaten
in theirs. Belgium won Group 5, beating
Scotland in the process, and Romania won Group 1, which contained Wales. West Germany won Group 8 with Gerd Muller
scoring 6 of their 10 goals.
England were in Group 3 with Switzerland, Greece and
Malta. They won the group, unbeaten,
conceding just 3 goals. England were quite
a changed team from the one which reached the Quarter-Finals in the World Cup
in Mexico 1970, illustrated by just 5 of their 15 goals being scored by players
who were in the World Cup squad that year.
During the Quarter-Finals, Belgium pulled off a shock when
they knocked-out the holders, Italy. A
0-0 draw in Milan saw Belgium win 2-1 in Brussels. USSR continued their tradition of good
performances in this competition by beating Yugoslavia, 3-0 over 2 legs. Hungary needed a replay to get past Romania. 1-1 in Budapest and then 2-2 in Bucharest, as
the away goals rule didn’t apply.
Hungary won the replay, 2-1 in Belgrade.
The 4th tie was a repeat of the 1966 World Cup Final as
England took on West Germany. The
Germans, still buoyant from having put out England in Mexico, scored first at
Wembley through Uli Hoeness. Into the
final 15 minutes and Francis Lee equalised.
Then with 5 minutes left, Gunter Netzer converted a penalty and Gerd
Muller finished things off and England had been beaten 1-3 at home. Two weeks later in Berlin the game ended 0-0
and England were out.
From the four qualifiers, Belgium was announced as
hosts. The final competition was held between
14th June-18th June 1972.
The hosts, Belgium were up first against West Germany and Gerd Muller,
in Antwerp. ‘Der Bomber’ scored another
2 goals and the Germans prevailed 2-1.
The other Semi-Final, in Brussels saw Anatoli Konkov score
the only goal of the game to see USSR beat Hungary, 1-0, and reach their 3rd
final in the last 4 tournaments. Belgium
won the Third Place play-off, and then came the main event between West Germany
and USSR.
The Germans were in a transition period, but were putting
together a squad of players who would dominate European football for much of
the decade. 9 of the players were drawn
from just 2 clubs, Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach. Gerd Muller scored 2 more goals to take his
tally to 11 for the competition, and West Germany won comfortably, 3-0.
18th June 1972, Heysel, Brussels, 43,437
WEST GERMANY (1) 3 (Muller 27, 58, Wimmer 52)
USSR (0) 0
West Germany:
Maier; Hottges, Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck, Breitner; Hoeness, Wimmer, Netzer;
Heynckes, Muller, Kremers
USSR:
Rudakov; Dzodzuashvili, Khurtsilava, Kaplychnyi, Istomin; Troshkin, Kolotov,
Konkov (Dolmatov); Baidachny, Banishevski (Kozynkevych), Onischenko
This would be the last tournament with just 4 teams in the
final stages. During the qualifying
round, Yugoslavia beat Northern Ireland to win Group 3. Spain beat Scotland to win Group 4, and USSR
beat Republic of Ireland to win Group 6.
Belgium reached the Quarter-Finals again, by beating France to win Group
7. Netherlands, runners-up in the 1974
World Cup, won their group beating Italy in the process. World Champions, West Germany won Group 8
despite only winning 3 of their 6 matches.
In Group 2, Wales were drawn with Hungary, Austria and Luxembourg. They lost their opening match, 1-2 in Vienna
and then won the rest of them, conceding just a further 2 goals, and stormed to
become group winners. There were plenty
of goals in this group, and all against Luxembourg, who conceded 28 goals in
their 6 matches. Tibor Nyilasi scored 5
when Hungary beat them 8-1. Wales beat
them 5-0 and Austria won 6-2.
England were drawn in Group 1 along with Czechoslovakia,
Portugal and Cyprus. Having failed to
qualify for the 1974 World Cup, Don Revie had replaced Alf Ramsey. England began well beating the Czechs, 3-0 at
Wembley, but were then held at home to a 0-0 draw by Portugal. In April 1975 they beat Cyprus, 5-0 when
Newcastle United’s Malcolm MacDonald scored all 5. Kevin Keegan scored the only goal of the game
to win in Cyprus but then just when they were leading in Bratislava to a Mick
Channon goal, the Czechs then hit back and won 2-1. England couldn’t win in Lisbon either and
they finished 2nd in the group to Czechoslovakia.
The Quarter-Final stage saw Czechoslovakia beat USSR, 4-2 on
aggregate. West Germany beat Spain, 3-1,
and Wales were beaten by the same score by Yugoslavia. Netherlands were up against neighbours,
Belgium. Rob Rensenbrink scored a
hat-trick in a 5-0 win for the Dutch in Rotterdam. Johnny Rep and Johann Cruyff then scored in
Brussels and Netherlands progressed 7-1.
From the four nations who qualified, Yugoslavia was named as
hosts. Czechoslovakia were up against Netherlands,
including most of the side who were runners-up in the recent World Cup. 19 minutes in and Czech captain, Anton Ondrus
opened the scoring. This remained the
only goal of the game until Ondrus scored again with 17 minutes to go. Unfortunately for the Czechs, it was at the
wrong end and the game went into extra time.
In the second period of extra time, Nehoda and Vesely completed a
surprise 3-1 win for Czechoslovakia.
The next day, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia were 2-0 up inside the
opening half-hour with goals from Popivoda and Dzajic. Heinz Flohe then got a goal back midway
through the 2nd half, before Dieter Muller (no relation to Gerd)
forced extra time. Muller then scored
twice in extra time to complete his hat-trick and West Germany were through to
their 3rd successive major Final.
Netherlands then won the Third Place Play-off, which again
went to extra time. The Final looked set
for another major trophy for West Germany.
Jan Svehlik put the Czechs in front in the opening 10 minutes. Karol Dobias then doubled the lead, before
Dieter Muller got a goal back. With a
minute to go, Bernd Holzenbein grabbed a dramatic late equaliser for West
Germany, to take the game into extra time.
The two sides couldn’t be separated and so, for the first time in
international football, a major Final went to penalties.
The Czechs lead 4-3 as each kicker had been successful,
before Uli Hoeness skied his kick over the bar.
Up stepped Antonin Panenka. Score
and his nation were European Champions, miss and the Germans were still in the
game. Panenka, who played his football
for Bohemians Prague, calmly stepped up to the ball and as Sepp Maier dived to
his left, he coolly chipped the ball into the middle of the goal.
This was the first time the watching football world had seen
this type of penalty and it went down in history, mainly down to, not just the
cheek of it, but the fact that Panenka, hitherto unknown, could commit such an
act under such pressure.
Czechoslovakia were European Champions. This was the last tournament under this
4-nation final stage, as the tournament was expanded to 8 countries for the
next competition.
20th June 1976, Belgrade, 30,790
CZECHOSLOVAKIA (2) 2 (Svehlik 8,
Dobias 25)
WEST GERMANY (1) 2 (Muller 29,
Holzenbein 90)
Czechoslovakia: Viktor; Pivarnik, Ondrus, Gogh, Capkovic;
Dobias (Vesely), Panenka, Moder; Masny, Svehlik (Jurkemik), Nehoda
West Germany: Maier; Vogts, Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck,
Dietz; Bonhof (Bongartz), Beer, Wimmer (Flohe); Hoeness, Muller, Holzenbein
Czechoslovakia won 5-3 on penalties.
For the rest of this series we will concentrate on each
tournament. Next up is the 1980
Championships in Italy.
