UEFA Euro 1984

1984 UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA Championnat Européen de Football
France 1984

UEFA Euro 1984 official logo
Tournament details
Host country France
Dates 12 June – 27 June
Teams 8
Venue(s) 7 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  France (1st title)
Runners-up  Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played 15
Goals scored 41 (2.73 per match)
Attendance 599,669 (39,978 per match)
Top scorer(s) France Michel Platini (9 goals)

The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France. West Germany also bid for the hosting of this event.[1] It was the seventh European Football Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place from 12 to 27 June 1984.

At the time, only eight countries took part in the final stage of the tournament, seven of which had to come through the qualifying stage. France qualified automatically as hosts of the event; led by Michel Platini, who scored nine goals in France's five matches, Les Bleus won the tournament – their first major international title.[2]

Tournament summary

Group matches

The opening game of tournament featured France and Denmark. The sides played out a very close encounter until Michel Platini’s goal on 78 minutes gave the hosts a 1–0 victory. The opening game also saw a premature end to the tournament for Danish midfielder Allan Simonsen, who suffered a broken leg. Platini then scored hat-tricks against both Belgium and Yugoslavia as the French recorded maximum points in Group A. Denmark took second-place in the group with victories over Belgium and Yugoslavia, while Belgium finished third with two points. Yugoslavia, despite going out with no points, gave the hosts a fright in their last group game when they took a 1–0 lead into half-time and then reduced France's 3–1 lead to one goal six minutes from time. The games in Group A were unusually high-scoring, and featured 23 goals over the six matches.

Group B provided fewer goals, but produced a huge surprise as West Germany failed to qualify for the semi-finals after a 1–0 defeat in their last match to Spain, Antonio Maceda's goal at the death sending the holders out. Portugal also scored a late goal in their final match, against Romania, to take the second qualifying place behind Spain, while the Romanians finished bottom with one point.

Semi-finals and final

The first semi-final between France and Portugal is often considered one of the best matches in the history of the European Championship.[3] Jean-François Domergue opened the scoring for France but Portugal equalised through Rui Jordão on 74 minutes. The game went to extra time and Jordão scored again in the 98th minute to give the Portuguese a shock lead, but the French rallied and Domergue equalised with six minutes left. Then, with the penalty shoot-out looming, Platini scored his eighth goal of the championship to give France a memorable 3–2 victory.

The other semi-final between Spain and Denmark saw two evenly-matched sides draw 1–1 after extra time, as Soren Lerby’s goal after only seven minutes was cancelled out by Maceda’s strike an hour later. The match went to a penalty shoot-out, and Spain converted all five of their penalties to win 5–4 and reach the final for the first time since 1964.

The final was played to a capacity crowd at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Just before the hour mark, Platini scored from a free-kick to put France ahead following a mistake by Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada. France were reduced to ten players when Yvon Le Roux was sent off, but the Spain were unable to equalise, and Bruno Bellone’s goal in injury time made the final score 2–0. France had won their first major championship in world football.

Qualification

1984 UEFA European Football Championship finalists.

The following teams participated in the final tournament:

Organisation

Tournament format

After trying out several formats, UEFA finally developed for the 1984 tournament the format that would serve for all subsequent eight-team European Championships.[4] The eight qualified teams were split into two groups of four that played a round-robin schedule. The top two teams of each group advanced to semi-finals (reintroduced after being absent from the 1980 tournament) and the winners advanced to the final. The third-place game, widely perceived as an unnecessary chore, was dropped. As usual at the time, a win was credited with two points only, teams on equal points were ranked by goal difference instead of head-to-head results, and the sudden-death rule in extra time did not apply.

Venues and fixtures

France's winning bid to host the Euro was based on seven stadia. The 48,000-seat Parc des Princes in Paris was the venue for the opening match and the final. Built in 1972, it was still state-of-the-art in 1984 and needed minor improvements only. Marseille's Stade Vélodrome was expanded to 55,000 seats to host one semi-final and some group matches, becoming France's largest stadium on the occasion. Stade de Gerland in Lyon, the venue for the other semi-final and some group matches as well, was thoroughly renovated and expanded to 40,000. Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne and Stade Félix-Bollaert in Lens were the other existing stadia that hosted group matches and were expanded to 53,000 and 49,000, respectively. Lastly, two all-new stadia were built to host group matches (and subsequently provided worthy home grounds for the traditionally strong local club teams): Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes (53,000) was built on an entirely new site while Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg was rebuilt from the ground up on the site of the old stadium into a modern 40,000-seat arena.

Fixtures were scheduled according to an innovative rotation schedule in which each team played its three first-round matches in three different stadia. Host France, for instance, played in Paris, Nantes, and Saint-Étienne. This formula had the advantage of exposing residents of a given city to more teams but implied multiple and sometimes costly trips from town to town for fans who wanted to follow their side. In subsequent championships, the organisers reverted to conventional schedules in which teams played in one or two cities only.

Paris Marseille
Parc des Princes Stade Vélodrome
Capacity: 48,360 Capacity: 55,000
Lyon Saint-Étienne
Stade de Gerland Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Capacity: 51,860 Capacity: 48,274
Lens Nantes Strasbourg
Stade Félix-Bollaert Stade de la Beaujoire Stade de la Meinau
Capacity: 49,000 Capacity: 52,923 Capacity: 42,756

Overall impressions

Very few hooligan-related incidents were recorded throughout the tournament. Only one minor instance of fan trouble was recorded, in Strasbourg around the West Germany vs. Portugal match. The small group of German hooligans responsible for the incidents was arrested and deported back to West Germany on the same day using a new law specially passed by the French Parliament ahead of the Euro. Overall, the organisation was flawless, a feat that established France's credentials as a host nation and eventually helped it win the right to stage the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

The entire competition was marked by exceptionally fine weather which, along with the high quality of play throughout the tournament (a welcome change from the 1980 European Championship) and the absence of hooligans, contributed to a very positive and enjoyable experience for teams and fans alike.

Match officials

Squads

Main article: UEFA Euro 1984 squads

Results

Group stage

All times are CEST/UTC+2

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 France 330092+76
 Denmark 320183+54
 Belgium 31024842
 Yugoslavia 300321080

12 June 1984
20:30
France  1 – 0  Denmark
Platini  78' (Report)
Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 47,570
Referee: Volker Roth (West Germany)

13 June 1984
20:30
Belgium  2 – 0  Yugoslavia
Vandenbergh  28'
Grün  45'
(Report)
Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
Attendance: 41,774
Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)

16 June 1984
17:15
France  5 – 0  Belgium
Platini  4', 74' (pen.), 89'
Giresse  33'
Fernández  43'
(Report)
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Attendance: 51,359
Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)

16 June 1984
20:30
Denmark  5 – 0  Yugoslavia
Arnesen  8', 69' (pen.)
Berggreen  16'
Elkjær  82'
Lauridsen  84'
(Report)
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
Attendance: 24,736
Referee: Augusto Lamo Castillo (Spain)

19 June 1984
20:30
France  3 – 2  Yugoslavia
Platini  59', 62', 77' (Report) Šestić  32'
D. Stojković  84' (pen.)
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
Attendance: 47,589
Referee: André Daina (Switzerland)

19 June 1984
20:30
Denmark  3 – 2  Belgium
Arnesen  41' (pen.)
Brylle  60'
Elkjær  84'
(Report) Ceulemans  26'
Vercauteren  39'
La Meinau, Strasbourg
Attendance: 36,911
Referee: Adolf Prokop (East Germany)

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 312032+14
 Portugal 312021+14
 West Germany 31112203
 Romania 30122421

14 June 1984
17:15
West Germany  0 – 0  Portugal
(Report)
La Meinau, Strasbourg
Attendance: 44,707
Referee: Romualdas Yushka (Soviet Union)

14 June 1984
20:30
Romania  1 – 1  Spain
Bölöni  35' (Report) Carrasco  22' (pen.)
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne
Attendance: 16,972
Referee: Alexis Ponnet (Belgium)

17 June 1984
17:15
West Germany  2 – 1  Romania
Völler  25', 66' (Report) Coraş  46'
Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
Attendance: 31,787
Referee: Jan Keizer (Netherlands)

17 June 1984
20:30
Portugal  1 – 1  Spain
Sousa  52' (Report) Santillana  73'
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
Attendance: 24,364
Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

20 June 1984
20:30
West Germany  0 – 1  Spain
(Report) Maceda  90'
Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 47,691
Referee: Vojtěch Christov (Czechoslovakia)

20 June 1984
20:30
Portugal  1 – 0  Romania
Nené  81' (Report)
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Attendance: 24,464
Referee: Heinz Fahnler (Austria)

Knockout stage

Semi-finals Final
23 June – Marseille (Stade Vélodrome)
  France (aet) 3  
  Portugal 2  
 
27 June – Paris (Parc des Princes)
      France 2
    Spain 0
24 June – Lyon (Stade Gerland)
  Spain (p) 1 (5)
  Denmark 1 (4)  

Semi-finals

23 June 1984
20:00
France  3 – 2 (a.e.t.)  Portugal
Domergue  24', 114'
Platini  119'
(Report) Jordão  74', 98'
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
Attendance: 54,848
Referee: Paolo Bergamo (Italy)

24 June 1984
20:00
Spain  1 – 1 (a.e.t.)  Denmark
Maceda  67' (Report) Lerby  7'
  Penalties  
Santillana
Señor
Urquiaga
Víctor Muñoz
Sarabia
5 – 4 Brylle
Olsen
Laudrup
Lerby
Elkjær
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
Attendance: 47,843
Referee: George Courtney (England)

Final

Main article: UEFA Euro 1984 Final

27 June 1984
20:00
France  2 – 0  Spain
Platini  57'
Bellone  90'
(Report)
Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 47,368
Referee: Vojtěch Christov (Czechoslovakia)

Statistics

Goalscorers

With nine goals, Michel Platini is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 41 goals were scored by 26 different players in 15 games for an average of 2.73 goals per game. None of the goals are credited as own goal.

9 goals
3 goals
2 goals

1 goal

Awards

UEFA Team of the Tournament[5]
Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
West Germany Harald Schumacher Portugal João Pinto Portugal Fernando Chalana West Germany Rudi Völler
West Germany Karlheinz Forster France Alain Giresse
Denmark Morten Olsen France Jean Tigana
West Germany Andreas Brehme Denmark Frank Arnesen
France Michel Platini

Mascot

The official mascot of this European Championship was Peno, a rooster, representing the emblem of the host nation, France. It has the number 84 on the left side of its chest and its outfit is the same as the French national team, blue shirt, white shorts and red socks.

References

  1. Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Die Geschichte der Fußball-Europameisterschaft, Verlag Die Werkstatt, ISBN 978-3-89533-553-2
  2. Shemilt, Stephan (2012-05-12). "BBC Sport - Euro 1984: Euro 1984: Michel Platini at his peak inspires France". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  3. "BBC SPORT | Football | Euro 2004 | History | France 1984". BBC News. 2004-05-17. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
  4. John Brewin and Martin Williamson April 29, 2012 (2012-04-29). "Euro 2012: European Championships 1984 | Live football and soccer news". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  5. "1984 team of the tournament". Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 23 January 2015.

External links

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