Uefa Euro 1996
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA.
It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996. It was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFA's decision to expand the tournament from eight teams.
| England '96 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | England |
| Dates | 8–30 June |
| Teams | 16 |
| Venue(s) | 8 (in 8 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Germany (3rd title) |
| Runners-up |  Czech Republic |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 31 |
| Goals scored | 64 (2.06 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,275,857 (41,157 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Alan Shearer (5 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Matthias Sammer |
Matches were staged in eight cities and, although not all games were sold out, the tournament holds the European Championship's second-highest aggregate attendance (1,276,000) and average per game (41,158) for the 16-team format, surpassed only in 2012.
The tournament was the first European Championship where three points were awarded for a win during the qualification and finals group stages, as opposed to the old system of two points for a win, reflecting the growing use of this system in domestic leagues throughout the world during the previous decade.
Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a golden goal from Oliver Bierhoff during extra time; this was the first major competition to be decided using this method. This was also Germany's first major title won as a unified nation, adding to the two European Championship titles won by West Germany prior to reunification.
Bid process
At the time of the bidding process, it had not yet been confirmed that 16 teams would be participating. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, meaning only four venues were due to be required. All candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991.
The hosting of the event was contested by five bids: Austria, England, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal. The English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992. In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped plans to also bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were planning to bid for that event.
Summary
Group matches
The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in the opening match of Group A when Alan Shearer's 23rd-minute goal was cancelled out by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick. England defeated rivals Scotland 2–0 in their next game, and then produced one of their finest performances ever with a 4–1 win over the Netherlands. Patrick Kluivert's late goal for the Netherlands secured his team second place in the group and ensured that Scotland would exit another major competition on tie-breaking criteria.
Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated the group, with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle, and World Cup quarter-finalists Romania going home, with no points and only one goal scored.
Groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stage. The Czechs lost to Germany, the eventual group winners, in their opener, but then defeated Italy and drew with Russia. Italy's defeat meant they had to beat Germany in their final game to progress, but the World Cup finalists could only manage a 0–0 draw and were eliminated. In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey (1–0) and Denmark (3–0). The loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992, home. Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a group stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal.
The other three quarter-finalists were Portugal (whose "Golden Generation" was competing at its first major tournament), Spain, and a France team featuring a young Zinedine Zidane.
Quarter-finals and semi-finals
The knockout stage was characterised by negative, defensive play; as a result, only nine goals were scored in the seven games and four of the matches were decided on penalties. The first quarter-final between the hosts and Spain ended goalless, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for a penalty denied. The English progressed 4–2 on spot kicks. France and Netherlands also played out a 0–0 draw, with France winning the penalty shootout 5–4. Jürgen Klinsmann opened the scoring for Germany in their match against Croatia. A goal from Davor Šuker evened the score after 51 minutes, before Matthias Sammer of Germany scored eight minutes later, and the game ended 2–1 to Germany. Czech Republic progressed after beating Portugal 1–0.
The first semi-final, featuring France and Czech Republic, resulted in another 0–0 draw and penalties. Reynald Pedros was the one player to miss in the shootout, as Czech Republic won the penalty shoot-out 6–5. The other semi-final was a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Germany and England. Alan Shearer headed in after three minutes to give his side the lead, but Stefan Kuntz evened the score less than 15 minutes later, and the score remained 1–1 after 90 minutes. In extra time, Paul Gascoigne came very close to scoring a golden goal, but fractionally missed a cross from Shearer in front of the empty goal, Darren Anderton hit the post, and Kuntz had a goal disallowed for pushing. Neither team was able to find a second goal. In penalties, both sides scored their first five kicks, but in the sixth round, Gareth Southgate had his penalty saved, allowing Andreas Möller to score the winning goal.
Final match
The final saw the Czech Republic hoping to repeat Euro 1976 when Czechoslovakia defeated West Germany; the Germans were aiming to win their third European Championship. Patrik Berger scored from a penalty in 59th minute to put the Czechs ahead. German substitute Oliver Bierhoff scored in the 73rd minute to make it 1–1. Five minutes into extra time, Bierhoff's shot was mishandled by Czech goalkeeper Kouba and the ball ended up in the back of the net for the first golden goal in the history of the competition. Germany were European champions again, but for the first time as a unified country.
Qualification
On 30 November 1992, UEFA formally decided to expand the tournament to sixteen teams. UEFA cited the increased number of international teams following the recent break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia – rising from 33 UEFA members in 1988 to 48 by 1994 – as a driving factor behind the expansion. Forty-seven teams ultimately entered to compete for the fifteen remaining places in the finals, alongside hosts England.
The draw for the qualifying competition took place in Manchester on 22 January 1994. The teams were divided into eight groups, each containing either six or five teams. The qualifying process began in April 1994 and concluded in December 1995. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage in November 1995, the eight group winners qualified automatically, along with the six highest-ranked second-placed teams. The remaining two second-placed teams, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, contested a one-off play-off match in England to decide the final qualifier.
Qualified teams
With the extended format, three teams were able to qualify for their first European Championship: Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Turkey. Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Russia competed for the first time in their own right since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union (though the Russian team is considered by FIFA to be the direct descendant of the Soviet Union and CIS teams that had appeared in six past tournaments and the Czech team is the descendant of the Czechoslovakia team). Seven of the eight participants at the previous tournament in 1992 were again present, with only Sweden – despite also having finished third in the World Cup two years earlier – missing out. Italy and Spain qualified after missing out Euro 1992 and Romania and Portugal after 12 years.
The following sixteen teams qualified for the finals:
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | Host | 5 May 1992 | 4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992) |
 Spain | Group 2 winner | 11 October 1995 | 4 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988) |
 Russia | Group 8 winner | 11 October 1995 | 6 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992) |
 Switzerland | Group 3 winner | 15 November 1995 | 0 (debut) |
 Croatia | Group 4 winner | 15 November 1995 | 0 (debut) |
 Scotland | 4th best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 1 (1992) |
 Bulgaria | 2nd best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 0 (debut) |
| Germany | Group 7 winner | 15 November 1995 | 6 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992) |
 Romania | Group 1 winner | 15 November 1995 | 1 (1984) |
 Turkey | 3rd best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 0 (debut) |
 Denmark | 5th best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992) |
| Czech Republic | Group 5 winner | 15 November 1995 | 3 (1960, 1976, 1980) |
 Italy | 1st best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 3 (1968, 1980, 1988) |
 France | 6th best runner-up | 15 November 1995 | 3 (1960, 1984, 1992) |
 Portugal | Group 6 winner | 15 November 1995 | 1 (1984) |
 Netherlands | Play-off winner | 13 December 1995 | 4 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992) |
Final draw
The draw for the final tournament took place on 17 December 1995 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Only four teams were seeded: England (as hosts), Denmark (as holders), Spain and Germany (as the two highest ranked teams). The remaining twelve teams were all unseeded and could be drawn in any group.
| Pot 1: Seeded teams | Pot 2: Unseeded teams | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| England (hosts) | Bulgaria | Italy | Russia |
| Denmark (holders) | Croatia | Netherlands | Scotland |
| Germany | Czech Republic | Portugal | Switzerland |
| Spain | France | Romania | Turkey |
