1968 UEFA European Football Championship

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The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third European Football Championship, an event held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between June 5 and June 10, 1968.

It was in this year that the tournament changed its name from European Nations Cup to European Championship.

There were also some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase.

At the time, only four countries could play the final tournament which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third place match.

The hosts were only announced after the qualifying round, which meant that they had to qualify along with all the others for the final stage.

1 Venues
2 Qualification
3 Final tournament
4 Statistics

[edit] Venues

Stadio San Paolo, Naples - 72,800 capacity
Stadio Comunale, Florence - 47,000 capacity
Stadio Olimpico, Rome - 86,500 capacity

[edit] Qualification

The qualification competition was played in two stages: a group stage (taking place from 1966 until 1968) and the quarter-finals (played in 1968). There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each with the exception of group 4, which only had three. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament.

The following teams participated in the final tournament:

For details concerning the qualifying phase see, 1968 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying.

[edit] Final tournament

Semi finals			Finals

5 June – Naples (Stadio San Paolo)
USSR	0 (0)
Italy (coin toss)	0 (0)

			8 June – Rome (Stadio Olimpico) (replayed 10 June)
			Italy	2 (1)
			Yugoslavia	0 (1)


			Third place
5 June - Florence (Stadio Comunale)		8 June - Rome (Stadio Olimpico)
England	0	England	2
Yugoslavia	1		USSR	0

[edit] Semi-finals

June 5, 1968 18:00
	Italy ^[1]	0–0	USSR	San Paolo, Naples Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (Germany)
				San Paolo, Naples Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (Germany)

June 5, 1968 21:15
	Yugoslavia	1–0	England	Artemio Franchi, Florence Referee: José Maria Ortiz De Mendibil (Spain)
	Džajić 86'

^ Match decided by toss of coin

[edit] Third place play-off

June 8, 1968 15:00
	England	2–0	USSR	Olimpico, Rome Referee: Istvan Zsolt (Hungary)
	Charlton 39' Hurst 63'			Olimpico, Rome Referee: Istvan Zsolt (Hungary)

[edit] Final

June 8, 1968 22:15
	Italy	1–1	Yugoslavia	Olimpico, Rome Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Swiss)
	Domenghini 80'		Džajić 39'	Olimpico, Rome Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Swiss)