UEFA Euro 1996

The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 96) was hosted by England (for the first time), who won the right to host the tournament ahead of bids from Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands.^[2] It was the tenth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first to use the "Euro" name, and the first where 16 nations competed. The tournament's final stages took place between 8 and 30 June 1996. The slogan of the tournament was "Football Comes Home", as England is where the rules of the game were first standardised. English football and popular culture has since referenced the competition fondly^[3][4] even though the home team did not reach the final.

Since the Taylor Report in January 1990, England now boasted enough all-seater stadia of sufficient capacity to hold an expanded tournament due to the necessary stadium refurbishment by its leading clubs. Although no such stadiums were used as Euro 96 venues, the tournament was held at a time when relocation to new stadiums was becoming a trend in English football.

Although not all the games were sold out, the tournament had the highest aggregate attendance in championship history (1,276,000) and the highest average per game of 41,158 for the revised 16 team format with 31 games. Only Germany had had a higher average attendance in championship history with an average of 56,656 in 1988 but only staged 15 games in an 8 team championship.

Qualification

Fifteen teams had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event. This was the first European Championship to introduce the current format of 16 countries competing in the final tournament. UEFA had made the decision to expand the tournament as in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was far easier for European nations to qualify for the World Cup than their own continental championship; 14 of the 24 teams at the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups had been European, whereas the European Championship finals still involved only eight teams. The number of UEFA members wishing to participate had also drastically increased after the recent break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia, from 33 teams in 1988 to 48 teams in 1996.

The qualifying round was played throughout 1994 and 1995. There were eight qualifying groups of six teams each, with the exception of group 3, which only had five. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis.

The winner and the runner-up of each group qualified automatically, with the exception of the two worst runners-up. These two teams had to play an additional playoff between them (single match in neutral ground), to determine the 16th team to join all others in the final tournament. This was between Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool which the Dutch won 2–0.

Red and yellow cards leading to suspensions in qualifying also applied to the final tournament and were not wiped off a players record, which resulted in Jürgen Klinsmann missing the first game in England due to two yellow cards in the qualifiers, with the second one in the final qualifier against Bulgaria. Only England as host country was not in danger of missing a player due to suspension, because bookings in friendly preparation games did have no affect on the tournament.

The following teams participated in the final tournament:

* Since the break-up of Czechoslovakia. ** Since the break-up of the USSR. *** Since the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Venues

All of the stadium capacities were correct at the time of the tournament.

Match officials

Seeding

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1996 UEFA European Football Championship squads.

Summary

First round

The hosts, England, got off to a slightly disappointing start in their opening match, drawing 1–1 with the Swiss when Alan Shearer’s 23rd minute goal was equalled by a late penalty kick. However, England defeated rival 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 goal difference.

Groups C and D saw some surprising results as the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only come into existence within the past several years, qualified for the knockout stages. 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 earlier than expected. 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-finalist 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 stages were characterised by negative, defensive play and as result only 9 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, although England had several major calls go their way as the Spanish had two goals disallowed and two valid claims for a penalty denied.^[5] The English progressed 4–2 on spot kicks. The shootout is still remembered for the emphatic reaction of Stuart Pearce after he scored England’s third penalty, erasing the memory of his miss in the 1990 World Cup semi-final. France and the Netherlands also played out a drab 0–0 draw with France winning the penalty shootout 5–4. Jürgen Klinsmann opened the scoring for Germany in their match against Croatia. A great 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. The Czech Republic progressed after beating Portugal 1–0.

The first semi-final, featuring France and the Czech Republic, resulted in yet another 0–0 draw and penalties were required again. Reynald Pedros was the lone player to miss in the shootout as the Czech Republic won 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 3 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 missed a cross from Shearer by mere inches, Darren Anderton hit the post and Kuntz had a goal disallowed for pushing. Neither team was able to find a second goal and another knockout game in this competition required 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

The final saw the upstart Czech Republic hoping to repeat the dramatics of Euro 76 when Czechoslovakia defeated West Germany; the Germans were aiming to secure their third European Championship. A repeat of 1976 looked possible when Patrick Berger scored from a penalty in 59th minute to put the Czech ahead. However, German substitute Oliver Bierhoff scored to make it 1–1, sending the game to extra-time. Five minutes into the extra frame, 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 once again, the first time as a unified country.

Results

In the group stage, for the first time three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw.

First round

Note: All times local (BST/UTC+1).

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

5 goals

• Alan Shearer

3 goals

• Hristo Stoichkov
• Jürgen Klinsmann
• Davor Šuker
• Brian Laudrup

2 goals

• Oliver Bierhoff
• Matthias Sammer
• Teddy Sheringham
• Pierluigi Casiraghi

UEFA Team of the Tournament

UEFA Tournament Golden Boot Award

• Alan Shearer^[1]

UEFA Player of the Tournament

• Matthias Sammer^[1]

Fastest goal

3 minutes : Alan Shearer (England vs Germany); Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria vs Romania)

Average goals

2.06 goals per game

References