football tournament
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Also known as: Euro, European Nation’s Cup, UEFA European Championship
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: •Article History
European Championship, in football (soccer), a quadrennial tournament held between the member countries of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The European Championship is second in prestige to the World Cup among international football tournaments.
The first final of the European Championship (then known as the European Nations’ Cup) took place in 1960 after two years of preliminary contests between 17 national football clubs. In 1960 the Euro final tournament consisted of four teams, but it expanded to eight teams in 1980 and 16 teams in 1996. Currently, qualification for a European Championship begins two years before the scheduled final when all members of UEFA begin playing among themselves to earn a berth in the 16-team tournament (the qualification process does not include the host country or countries, which automatically qualify for the final).
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Results of the European Championship are provided in the table.
| year | result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Czechoslovakia won penalty shoot-out 5–3. | ||||
| **Postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||||
| ***Italy won penalty shoot-out 3–2. | ||||
| 1960 | U.S.S.R. | 2 | Yugoslavia | 1 |
| 1964 | Spain | 2 | U.S.S.R. | 1 |
| 1968 | Italy | 2 | Yugoslavia | 0 |
| 1972 | West Germany | 3 | U.S.S.R. | 0 |
| 1976 | Czechoslovakia* | 2 | West Germany | 2 |
| 1980 | West Germany | 2 | Belgium | 1 |
| 1984 | France | 2 | Spain | 0 |
| 1988 | Netherlands | 2 | U.S.S.R. | 0 |
| 1992 | Denmark | 2 | Germany | 0 |
| 1996 | Germany | 2 | Czech Republic | 1 |
| 2000 | France | 2 | Italy | 1 |
| 2004 | Greece | 1 | Portugal | 0 |
| 2008 | Spain | 1 | Germany | 0 |
| 2012 | Spain | 4 | Italy | 0 |
| 2016 | Portugal | 1 | France | 0 |
| 2020** | Italy*** | 1 | England | 1 |
| 2024 | Spain | 2 | England | 1 |
