UEFA Euro 1968

1968 UEFA European Football Championship
Italia '68

UEFA Euro 1968 official logo
Tournament details
Host country Italy
Dates 5 – 10 June
Teams 4
Venue(s) 3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Italy (1st title)
Runners-up  Yugoslavia
Third place  England
Fourth place  Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played 5
Goals scored 7 (1.4 per match)
Attendance 260,916 (52,183 per match)
Top scorer(s) Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Džajić (2 goals)

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 organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968.

It was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the European Nations' Cup to the European Championship.[1]

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.

Only four countries played in the final tournament. There were semi-finals, the final and a 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.[2]

Venues

Florence
Rome
Naples
Rome Naples
Stadio Olimpico Stadio San Paolo
Capacity: 80,000 Capacity: 82,000
Florence
Stadio Comunale
Capacity: 52,000

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:

Country Qualified as Date of qualification Previous appearances1
 England Play-off winner 8 May 1968 0 (debut)
 Italy (host) Play-off winner 20 April 1968 0 (debut)
 Soviet Union Play-off winner 11 May 1968 2 (1960, 1964)
 Yugoslavia Play-off winner 24 April 1968 1 (1960)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Match officials

Country Referee
Switzerland Switzerland Gottfried Dienst
Spain Spain José María Ortiz de Mendíbil
West Germany West Germany Kurt Tschenscher
Hungary Hungary István Zsolt

Final tournament

1968 UEFA European Football Championship finalists.

In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
5 June – Naples
 
 
 Italy (coin toss)0
 
8 June / 10 June – Rome
 
 Soviet Union0
 
 Italy (replay)1 / 2
 
5 June – Florence
 
 Yugoslavia1 / 0
 
 Yugoslavia1
 
 
 England0
 
Third place play-off
 
 
8 June – Rome
 
 
 England2
 
 
 Soviet Union0

Semi-finals

5 June 1968 (1968-06-05)
18:00
Italy  0–0 (a.e.t.)
Italy won on coin toss 		 Soviet Union
Report

5 June 1968 (1968-06-05)
21:15
Yugoslavia  1–0  England
Džajić  86' Report

Third place play-off

8 June 1968 (1968-06-08)
15:00
England  2–0  Soviet Union
 Report
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance: 68,817
Referee: István Zsolt (Hungary)

Final

8 June 1968 (1968-06-08)
21:15
Italy  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Yugoslavia
Domenghini  80' Report Džajić  39'

10 June 1968 (1968-06-10)
21:15
Italy  2–0  Yugoslavia
 Report

Statistics

Top scorers

Seven goals were scored by six different players in the five matches, for an average of 1.4 goals per game. None of the goals were credited as own goals. Yugoslavia's Dragan Džajić was the top scorer by virtue of being the only player to score more than one goal.

2 goals
1 goal

Awards

UEFA Team of the Tournament[5]
Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Italy Dino Zoff Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Mirsad Fazlagić Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ivan Osim England Geoff Hurst
Italy Giacinto Facchetti Italy Sandro Mazzola Italy Luigi Riva
Soviet Union Albert Shesternyov Italy Angelo Domenghini Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Džajić
England Bobby Moore

References

  1. ↑ John Brewin and Martin Williamson 29 April 2012 (29 April 2012). "Euro 2012: European Nations Cup 1968 | Live football and soccer news". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Sheringham, Sam (12 May 2012). "BBC Sport - Euro 1968: Alan Mullery's moment of madness". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "European Football Championship 1968 FINAL". UEFA euro2000.org. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "European Football Championship 1968 FINAL Replay". UEFA euro2000.org. Archived from the original on 29 August 2000. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "1968 team of the tournament". Union of European Football Associations. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
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