{"id":2867,"date":"2016-06-01T08:08:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T08:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/?page_id=2867"},"modified":"2023-02-17T18:39:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:39:49","slug":"european-championship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/football\/tournaments\/european-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"European Championship – “The Euros”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EuroThe European Championship, or the Euros as most people call them, is arguably the second biggest tournament in international football behind the World Cup<\/a>. South American fans might disagree but the Euros are certainly at least on par with the Copa America and, due to greater strength in depth, many would consider it to be the superior competition. It sees the top European nations (and sometimes England too!) do battle to be crowned the best side on the continent.<\/p>\n

Like the World Cup, the European Championship takes place every four years (assuming a global health crisis doesn\u2019t cause a postponement of course). Since the first tournament in 1960, there have been 10 different winners with two sides having won it three times each (Germany and Spain) and two more (Italy and France) claiming a brace of titles.<\/p>\n

On this page, we\u2019ll run through the winners and runners-up for all the Euros tournaments to date, and we\u2019ll explain format of the tournament, including the qualification process and the tournament proper. We\u2019ll also explain how hosts are selected and ascertain whether hosting gives a side a better chance of winning the Euros.<\/p>\n

European Championship Results: 1960 to 2020<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Year<\/th>\nHosts<\/th>\nWinner<\/th>\nRunner Up<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2020<\/td>\nPan Europe (Held in 2021)<\/td>\nItaly<\/a><\/td>\nEngland<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>\nFrance<\/td>\nPortugal<\/a><\/td>\nFrance<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>\nPoland \/ Ukraine<\/td>\nSpain<\/a><\/td>\nItaly<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>\nAustria \/ Switzerland<\/td>\nSpain<\/a><\/td>\nGermany<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004<\/td>\nPortugal<\/td>\nGreece<\/a><\/td>\nPortugal<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>\nBelgium \/ Netheralnds<\/td>\nFrance<\/a><\/td>\nItaly<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1996<\/td>\nEngland<\/td>\nGermany<\/a><\/td>\nCzech Republic<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1992<\/td>\nSweden<\/td>\nDenmark<\/a><\/td>\nGermany<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1988<\/td>\nWest Germany<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/a><\/td>\nSoviet Union<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1984<\/td>\nFrance<\/td>\nFrance<\/a><\/td>\nSpain<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1980<\/td>\nItaly<\/td>\nWest Germany<\/a><\/td>\nBelgium<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1976<\/td>\nYugoslavia<\/td>\nCzechoslovakia<\/a><\/td>\nWest Germany<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1972<\/td>\nBelgium<\/td>\nWest Germany<\/a><\/td>\nSoviet Union<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1968<\/td>\nItaly<\/td>\nItaly<\/a><\/td>\nYugoslavia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1964<\/td>\nSpain<\/td>\nSpain<\/a><\/td>\nSoviet Union<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1960<\/td>\nFrance<\/td>\nSoviet Union<\/a><\/td>\nYugoslavia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

European Championship History, Facts & Stats<\/h2>\n

\"Euro<\/a>

Joaocastro at the English language Wikipedia<\/a> [CC BY-SA<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>The European Championship is the premier international football competition in Europe. From humble beginnings due to the political climate of the continent at the time, it has grown to a 24-team tournament showcasing some of the best players in the world. The tournament is run by UEFA, the governing body of European football, and is second only in terms of popularity to the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

In order to qualify for the finals, national teams have to get through a lengthy qualification process including every UEFA member state. The qualifying campaign allows some of the lesser lights of European football, like San Marino and Andorra, to play alongside major footballing nations like Germany and England.<\/p>\n

The tournament is held every four years, two years after the World Cup. Euro 2012, was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine and Spain were crowned the champions, becoming the first team to ever win back-to-back European Championship. Despite this, they didn’t even get past the final 16 in the 2016 Euros which was hosted by France, and was won by Portugal.<\/p>\n

A Brief History of the European Championship<\/h3>\n

The political history of Europe and the member nations of UEFA is complicated and fractured to say the least. When the first tournament was held in 1960, Europe was still recovering from World War II and the Berlin Wall was yet to be built. The idea that the continent could gather together to bond over a football tournament was ludicrous to many Europeans.<\/p>\n

Henri Delaunay<\/h4>\n

\"HenriThe initial idea actually came about in the 1920s when the cogs in Henri Delaunay’s head began whirring. The Frenchman had been involved in the early stages of the World Cup and wanted something similar specifically for Europe.\u00a0The trophy is still named in Delaunay\u2019s honour, but he died five years before the Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia in the first ever European Championship final in Paris.<\/p>\n

Only four teams played that year and the tensions were clear when Spain refused to play their game against the USSR. The number of teams steadily increased to 8 in 1980 and then 16 from 1996, as political tensions between the competing nations eased and the breakup of the Soviet Union and other states led to the creation of \u201cnew\u201d footballing countries.<\/p>\n

Many pundits had remarked that the Euros were a more difficult tournament to win than the World Cup because the smaller field was full of quality. However, in UEFA\u2019s infinite wisdom, they increased the number of teams to 24 for Euro 2016. Another major change for the tournament from 2020 onwards, was that there would be no host nation. Instead, the matches are played in cities all around Europe. It remains to be seen whether this change, aimed at broadening the appeal and involvement of the competition, will prove to be successful.<\/p>\n

Previous Winners<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Germany<\/a><\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s three European Championship victories equal that of Germany\u2019s all-time record (the first two German wins came with them competing as West Germany), and they actually defeated Germany in the final to claim one of them. In total, there have been ten different winners of the Delaunay trophy, but England are not among them. The Three Lions have never reached the final but came agonisingly close in Euro 96, the tournament they hosted.<\/p>\n

The 1976 tournament is the only one that has been decided by penalties, when Czechoslovakia beat West Germany (yes, you read that right, the Germans lost on penalties). In both 1996 and 2000, the final was decided by the now-defunct golden goal rule.<\/p>\n

Biggest Wins<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are usually big defeats for the minnows in the qualifying rounds. The unfortunate San Marino were on the end of a 13-0 walloping at the hands of Germany in 2006, but in the tournament proper there have been three 5-0 wins and the Netherlands beat Yugoslavia 6-1 in 2000 as well.<\/p>\n

Individual Records<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Cristiano<\/a>

Ludovic Peron \/\u00a0Flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The top goalscorer in the history of the tournament \u2013 including qualifying \u2013 is Cristiano Ronaldo with 40 goals. He also matched Michel Platini\u2019s record nine goals in the tournament finals, but whereas he took 21 matches to do it, Platini needed just 5. In 1984, Platini scored two hat-tricks in the same tournament adding his name to the list of just eight players to ever score hattricks at the finals. The most consistent hot-shot in European Championship history is Alan Shearer who scored in six consecutive games.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo also holds the record for for the most finals games played at 21, but if you include qualifiers that title goes to Gianluigi Buffon with 58. The youngest ever player was Jetro Willems who played for the Netherlands shortly after turning 18, while Hungarian goalkeeper G\u00e1bor\u00a0Ferenc\u00a0Kir\u00e1ly became the oldest when he stepped out against Belgium in 2016, aged 40 years and 86 days.<\/p>\n

Team Records<\/h3>\n

The highest scoring game in the tournament was Yugoslavia\u2019s 5-4 win over France, a game in which Yugoslavia twice came back from a two goal deficit. Yugoslavia also hold the record for the biggest comeback to get a draw when they drew 3-3 with Slovenia having been 3-0 down. The 2012 final when Spain beat Italy 4-0 was the biggest margin of victory of any final, and although Spain were the best team that year, the German team had the highest number of different goalscorers with eight.<\/p>\n

UEFA European Championship\u00a0Tournament Format<\/h2>\n
\"England

England & Estonia qualifier match (johnthescone<\/a> \/ Flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

As you will see from the brief tournament history section, the Euros have expanded a couple of times over the years and the tournament proper includes a total of 24 teams. In theory, we could see UEFA look to expand the competition once again, probably to 32 nations, but for now, they are split into six groups of four.<\/p>\n

Before we arrive at the final 24, however, we have the qualification process. In this section, we\u2019ll explain how teams qualify for the Euros and then we\u2019ll run through the format of the tournament itself once qualification has been decided.<\/p>\n

Qualification<\/h3>\n

The qualification process for the Euros is open to all national teams that fall within the UEFA remit (unless they have been suspended for any reason, such as Russia who were suspended from qualification for Euro 2024). We\u2019ll focus on how the qualification process runs at present (so, at the time of writing for the 2024 tournament) rather than looking back at previous tournaments.<\/p>\n

Note that since the 1980 competition, the host nation (or nations) have qualified automatically for the tournament proper (except for Euro 2020 which was a pan-European event and so didn\u2019t have one or two defined hosts). As such, for Euro 2024, Germany \u2013 who are hosting the tournament \u2013 do no need to go through the qualifying process as detailed below.<\/p>\n

Qualifying Through the Groups<\/h4>\n

The qualification process for Euro 2024 saw the 53 national teams in UEFA split into pots based on their seedings and then drawn into 10 groups of five or six teams. Certain teams were kept apart for political reason (such as Belarus and Ukraine, and Kosovo and Serbia), while the number of sides in a group that were at risk of severe winter conditions was also limited to two (covering such nations as Finland, Iceland, Estonia and so on).<\/p>\n

The seedings were based on the Nations League overall rankings from September 2022, the latest figures available prior to the draw in October 2022. The qualification process then seeks to whittle down the 53 entrants to 23 sides to join hosts Germany in the tournament finals.<\/p>\n

Once the groups are decided, the teams then play each other team twice, once at home and once away from home. Once all group fixtures are completed, the winners of each group and the runners-up (so 20 teams in total) qualify for the tournament in Germany.<\/p>\n

Play Off Route<\/h4>\n

While 20 sides qualify for the Euros tournament by winning or finishing second in their group, the remaining three sides are to be decided through the play offs. Prior to Euro 2020, the teams that made it to the play offs were those with the best records in the qualifying groups that hadn\u2019t made it through. But from 2020 onwards, the teams in the play offs have been based on how they finished in the Nations League.<\/p>\n

As such, looking at qualification for Euro 2024, the play off phase will include the four best-ranked sides from each of League A, League B and League C of the Nations League, assuming they haven\u2019t already qualified through their qualifying group.<\/p>\n

So, to be specific, the following teams finished in the top four positions in their Nations League pots, and hence if they don\u2019t qualify for Euro 2024 through their qualifying group, they get another chance to qualify through the play offs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
League A<\/th>\nLeague B<\/th>\nLeague C<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Netherlands<\/td>\nIsrael<\/td>\nGeorgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Croatia<\/td>\nBosnia and Herzogovina<\/td>\nGreece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spain<\/td>\nSerbia<\/td>\nTurkey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Italy<\/td>\nScotland<\/td>\nKazakhstan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If any of these teams qualify through their group (by winning or finishing second), which is of course to be expected for a number of them, their place in the play offs will be handed to the next-best ranked side in their Nations League league. Got all that?<\/p>\n

Each play off consists of two single-leg semis and a final. In the semis, the team ranked highest of the four will host the team ranked lowest of the four, while the team ranked second highest will host the team ranked third highest. The winners of the two semis will meet in their play off final, with the home side being decided by a draw.<\/p>\n

Each league of the Nations League (League A, League B and League C) gets its own play off path and hence a team from each qualifies for the Euros tournament proper. Note that League D of the Nations League doesn\u2019t get a play off route, so the likes of San Marino, Andorra and Liechtenstein will have to do it the hard way! Good luck with that fellas!<\/p>\n

How Long Does Qualifying Take?<\/h4>\n

Here we give you the rough timeline of qualification for the Euros, using Euro 2024 as the example. Future qualifiers will likely take place around similar dates, though will vary slightly from the below:<\/p>\n