History of the European Championships: interesting facts

Until 1968, the competition of the best teams in Europe was not called the championship, but the European Cup and was held exclusively according to the Olympic system.
 
Until 1980, four teams each took part in the EuroCup final tournaments.
 
In 1996, 16 teams took part in the final tournament of the European Championship for the first time.
 
In 2000, the European Championship for the first time was hosted by two countries at once - Belgium and the Netherlands.
 
The European Championship trophy is called the Henri Delon Cup. It is named after the first UEFA Secretary General, who suggested the idea of ​​holding the tournament, but did not live to see the first European Cup.
 
In 2016 the European Championship will be held in France. Thus, France will become the first three-time hosts of the tournament.
 
The attendance record for a European Championship match was set not in the final part of the tournament, but in the qualification. 130,711 spectators watched the game between Scotland and England in 1968 from the stands of Hampden Park.
 
82 cities from 13 countries hosted matches in the final stages of the European Championships.
 
According to statistics, the matches of the European Championship from 1960 to 2008 were attended by 10,120,467 people.
 
485 goals have been scored in the history of the European Championships.
 
The average performance in the European Championships is 2.7 goals per game.
 
The outcome of 6% of matches was decided in a penalty shoot-out. 
 
23% of European Championship matches ended in a draw.
 
85 goals were scored at the European Championship in 2000. This is a record figure.
 
9 teams became European champions: Germany, Spain, France, USSR, Italy, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Denmark and Greece.
 
27 teams took part in the final tournaments of the European Championships (FIFA and UEFA consider the teams of Russia, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Germany to be the legal successors of the teams of the USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Germany, respectively).
 
The German national team took part in the final tournaments of the European Championships 10 times. This is a record figure.
 
In the entire history of the tournament, no team has managed to defend the championship title.
 
The most successful team in the history of the European Championships is the German national team. The Germans celebrated victory in the tournament three times and lost in the final three more times.
 
The main loser of the European Championships can be called the Yugoslav national team, which twice lost in the final matches (1960, 1968) and twice suffered defeats with a record score: 0:5 from Denmark in 1984 and 1:6 from the Netherlands in 2000.  
 
For the performance at Euro 2008, the Turkish national team can be safely called the most strong-willed team in the history of the tournament. At the group stage, the Turks scored the winning goal in stoppage time against Switzerland, then pulled out a 3-2 victory in the match against the Czech Republic, scoring in the 87th and 89th minutes, and in the quarterfinals against the Croats, they bounced back in stoppage time to overtime and won by penalty. In the semi-final against Germany, Turkey again equalized in the last minutes, but in the end was defeated by their own weapons - Philipp Lahm managed to bring the Germans victory in regular time of the match.
 
The Czech national team is the most cold-blooded in the history of the European Championships. Three times the Czechs beat post-match penalties and won the "lottery" three times, having realized a total of 20 penalty kicks and not allowing a single miss. In the final of the 1976 European Championship, Czechoslovakia defeated the Germans 5:3 on penalties, four years later won the match for third place against the Italians in the 11-meter series, which ended with a score of 9:8, and in the semi-finals of Euro 96 defeated the French 6:5 .
 
The largest number of victories in the European Championship matches in percentage terms belongs to the Netherlands national team - 53.1%. Following are the Portuguese (52.2%) and only then the three-time champions the Germans, along with the French (50% each).
 
Most goals in the European Championships were scored by the Germans and the Dutch - 55 each.
 
The best indicator of goals per game is for the Netherlands team (1.7). France (1.65) and Portugal (1.5) follow.
 
Four participants in the final stages of the European Championships did not win a single match: Poland, Slovenia, Austria, Latvia.
 
The Dutch have not conceded in 64 European matches, taking into account all stages. They lead the way in this regard. The Italians have gotten away with 63 clean sheets and the British 60.
 
San Marino and Andorra remain the only teams to have never taken points at any stage of the European Championship.
 
17 teams took part in the first European Cup in 1960. Four of them advanced to the final stage.
 
France scored a record 14 goals at the 1984 European Championship. In 2000, Le Bleu scored 13 times.
 
The most goals in the history of European tournaments were conceded by the Germans and the Yugoslavs - 39 each. But if the first needed 38 matches for this, then the second needed 14.
 
The Dutch have the best goal difference in the European Championships (+23), while the Yugoslavs have the worst (-17).
 
The hosts won only three European Championships (Spain in 1964, Italy in 1968 and France in 1984).
 
The first match of the first European Championship was the most productive in the history of European tournaments: in 1960, Yugoslavia defeated the French hosts with a score of 5:4.
 
The top scorer of the European Championships now holds the position of UEFA President. As you may have guessed, we are talking about Michel Platini, who upset the opponents of the French national team nine times at the 1984 European Championship.
 
Michel Platini is the only author of two hat-tricks in the history of the European Championship. Moreover, both hat-tricks were perfect (goals scored with the head and both legs).
 
Six players share the palm for the number of European Championships held: Lothar Matthäus, Peter Schmeichel, Aron Winter, Alessandro Del Piero, Edwin van der Sar and Lilian Thuram participated in four tournaments. Del Piero had a chance to become an absolute record holder, because he is the only one of these six who continues active performances, but he has not been called up to the Italian national team for a long time.
 
German Rainer Bonhof is the only two-time European champion. He received gold medals with the German national team in 1972 and 1980. At the same time, he did not appear on the field in the final stages of those tournaments. But he was one of the best in the German national team in 1976, when the Germans took silver.
 
Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and French defender Lilian Thuram hold the record for the most appearances in the final stages of the European Championship. They played 16 matches at the Euro.
 
Only once did the coach manage to lead the team of another country to victory at the European Championship. Germany's Otto Rehhagel won the Euro 2004 gold medals with the Greek national team. All other European Championship winners were led by domestic specialists.
 
Five times the winner was not revealed in the main time of the final match of the European Championship (1960, 1968, 1976, 1996, 2000). At the same time, only once the champion was determined in a penalty shootout - in 1976, Czechoslovakia defeated the German national team in the "lottery".
 
Luis Aragonés, who led Spain to victory at Euro 2008 the day before his 70th birthday, was the most senior coach to win the European Championship.
 
Twice in a row - in 1972 and 1976 - a German named Müller became the top scorer of the European Championship. But these were two different people: in 1972, Gerd Müller was the hero, and four years later, his namesake Dieter Müller.
 
In 1964, the Luxembourg national team stopped one step away from the final stage of the European Championship, in which four teams took part. In the 1/8 finals, Luxembourg defeated the Dutch, and then fought with dignity against the Danes, losing minimally only after the replay.
 
The semi-finals of the 1968 European Championship between Italy and the USSR ended in a 0-0 draw. The winner of the match was determined by lot, which was a unique case at such a high level. Luck smiled on the Italians, who later became champions.
 
In the final of the 1968 European Championship against Yugoslavia, Italy again drew (1: 1), but this time they did not resort to drawing lots. A replay was scheduled, in which the Italian hosts took over with a score of 2:0.
 
The name of this Czech was immortalized thanks to one single blow, which was inflicted in the penalty shoot-out in the 1976 EURO final against Germany. Now all such strikes from the 11-meter mark are called "panenki" in honor of Antonin Panenka. He gently hooked the ball in the center of the gate, mocking the sprawling goalkeeper Sepp Mayer and bringing victory to his team.
 
To reach the final stage of the 1984 European Championship, the Spaniards had to defeat Malta in the final qualifying match with a difference of 11 goals. Spain won 12-1 with 13 shots on goal and were ahead of the Netherlands thanks to more goals scored.
 
Denmark sensationally won Euro 92, although they should not have taken part in the tournament at all. The Danes took second place in the qualifying group and did not qualify, but then Yugoslavia, which was ahead of them, was disqualified for political reasons and the future champions took its place at the European Championship, having learned about it a few days before the start of the tournament.
 
In 1996, the golden goal rule was used for the first time at the European Championships. Despite the fact that extra time was repeatedly appointed in the playoffs, none of the teams could take advantage of the innovation. As it turned out, the first golden goal in the history of the Euro was postponed for dessert. Oliver Bierhoff scored it in the final match against the Czech Republic. Curiously, four years later, the fate of the trophy was again decided by the “golden goal” - the Frenchman David Trezeguet scored it against the Italian national team. In 2004, the “golden goal” was replaced by a “silver goal”, and four years later they completely abandoned the early completion of matches in overtime.