GAMES – EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPSwww.euro2000.orgFIFA approved the formation of continental
football associations at its Extraordinary
Congress in Paris in 1953 and UEFA was duly
formed on 15 of June 1954. By the following year
the European Champion Clubs’Cup was brought
into being and by 1956 the groundwork got under
way for
a competition for the continent’s national
teams. Two years later, the first-ever
qualifying matches for the European Nations’
Cup began to take place. So the first 16 nations
ever to contest the competition proper were
Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
France, German Democratic Republic, Greece,
Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Spain, Turkey, USSR and Yugoslavia. No teams
from the British Isles deigned to enter. The
format for the first competition remained in
place for some time. Early rounds were played
over two legs, home-and-away, on a knockout
basis until the semi-finals, which were then
played in a host country. Given the effort that
Henri Delaunay of the French Football Federation
had put into UEFA and European football
generally, and this tournament in particular, it
was appropriate that in the summer of 1960 the
first European Championship Finals – named the
European Nations’ Cup – were held in France.
The trophy itself is still named after him.
The European Nations’ Cup became the European
Football Championship for 1968, and this time 31
teams entered. The format changed, with eight
groups of seeded teams who played each other
twice; the top two from each group progressed to
the two-legged quarter-finals. The semi-finals,
as before, were held in the host country - Italy.
A new format was introduced for the 1980
tournament. After qualifying rounds, eight
rather than four teams were to go to the Finals
- surprisingly, held in Italy once again - and
play each other in two groups of four. The two
group winners would automatically contest the
Final. As a result of the break up of many of
the old Eastern European countries, 48 teams
entered the 1996 tournament and it was decided
to change the format. This time, 16 teams
travelled to the Finals in England to play each
other in four groups of four, with the top two
from each group progressing. Over a million fans
attended the matches.
THE WINNERS 1960
USSR |
