UEFA Euro 1972

1972 UEFA European Football Championship
Championnat du Football Belgique 1972 (French)
UEFA Fußball-Europameisterschaft 1972 (German)
Europees kampioenschap voetbal 1972 (Dutch)

UEFA Euro 1972 official logo
Tournament details
Host country  Belgium
Dates 14 June – 18 June
Teams 4
Venue(s) (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  West Germany (1st title)
Runners-up  Soviet Union
Third place  Belgium
Fourth place  Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches played 4
Goals scored 10 (2.5 per match)
Attendance 121,880 (30,470 per match)
Top scorer(s) Gerd Müller (4 goals)
1968
1976

The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972.

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, as well, for the final stage.

Contents

Venues

Brussels Liège Brussels Antwerp
Heysel Stadium Sclessin Stadium Stade Émile Versé Bosuil Stadium
Capacity: 50,000 Capacity: 31,000 Capacity: 28,000 Capacity: 20,000

Squads

To read a list of all the squads that took part in UEFA Euro 1972, go to UEFA Euro 1972 squads.

Qualifying round

The qualifying round was played throughout 1970 and 1971 (group phase), and 1972 (quarter-finals). There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each. 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:

Final tournament

All time are CET/UTC+1

  Semi-finals Final
14 June – Antwerp (Bosuil Stadium)
  Belgium  1  
  West Germany  2  
 
18 June – Brussels (Heysel Stadium)
      West Germany  3
    Soviet Union  0
Third place
14 June – Brussels (Stade Émile Versé) 17 June – Liège (Sclessin Stadium)
  Hungary  0   Belgium  2
  Soviet Union  1     Hungary  1

Semi-finals

14 June 1972
20:00
Belgium  1 – 2  West Germany Bosuilstadion, Antwerp
Attendance: 55,669
Referee: William J. Mullan (Scotland)
Polleunis  83' Report Müller  24'71'

14 June 1972
20:00
Hungary  0 – 1  Soviet Union Stade Émile Versé, Brussels
Attendance: 16,590
Referee: Rudi Glöckner (East Germany)
Report Konkov  53'

Third place play-off

17 June 1972
20:00
Hungary  1 – 2  Belgium Stade Maurice Dufrasne, Liege
Attendance: 6,184
Referee: Johan Einar Boström (Sweden)
 53' (pen.) Report Lambert  24'
Van Himst  28'

Final

18 June 1972
16:00
West Germany  3 – 0  Soviet Union Heysel Stadium, Brussels
Attendance: 43,437
Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)
Müller  27'58'
Wimmer  52'
Report

Statistics

Top scorers

There were 10 goals scored in 4 matches, for an average of 2.5 goals per game.

4 goals
1 goal