UEFA Euro 1996

UEFA Euro 96
England '96

UEFA Euro 1996 official logo
Football Comes Home
Tournament details
Host country England
Dates 8 – 30 June
Teams 16
Venue(s) 8 (in 8 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Germany (3rd title)
Runners-up  Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Matches played 31
Goals scored 64 (2.06 per match)
Attendance 1,275,857 (41,157 per match)
Top scorer(s) England Alan Shearer (5 goals)
Best player Germany Matthias Sammer

The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations. It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996.

It was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFA's decision to expand the tournament from eight teams. Games were staged in eight cities and, although not all games were sold out, the tournament holds the European Championship's second-highest aggregate attendance (1,276,000) and average per game (41,158) for the 16-team format,[1] surpassed only in 2012.[2]

Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a golden goal during extra time; this was the first major competition to be decided using this method. This was also Germany's first major title won as a unified nation.

Bid process

At the time of the bid process, the event was still not confirmed to include sixteen teams. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, meaning only four venues were due to be required.[3] All candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991.[4]

The hosting of the event was contested by five bids: Austria, England, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal. The English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992.[5] In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped out of their plans to also bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were to bid for that event.[5]

Summary

First round

The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in the opening match of Group A when Alan Shearer's 23rd-minute goal was equalled by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated the group,[9][10] with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle,[11] and World Cup quarter-finalists Romania going home,[12] with no points and only one goal scored.

Groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stages. The Czechs lost to Germany, the eventual group winners, in their opener, but then defeated Italy and drew with Russia.[13][14] 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.[15] In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey (1–0) and Denmark (3–0).[16] The loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992, home. 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-finalists 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; as a result, only nine 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, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for a penalty denied.[17] The English progressed 4–2 on spot kicks.[18] France and Netherlands also played out a 0–0 draw, with France winning the penalty shootout 5–4.[19] Jürgen Klinsmann opened the scoring for Germany in their match against Croatia. A 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.[20] Czech Republic progressed after beating Portugal 1–0.[21][22]

View of Wembley Stadium from Wembley Way before the Germany v England semi-final

The first semi-final, featuring France and Czech Republic, resulted in another 0–0 draw and penalties. Reynald Pedros was the one player to miss in the shootout, as Czech Republic won the penalty shoot-out 6–5.[23] The other semi-final was a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Germany and England. Alan Shearer headed in, after three 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 fractionally missed a cross from Shearer in front of the empty goal, Darren Anderton hit the post, and Kuntz had a goal disallowed for pushing. Neither team was able to find a second goal. In 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.[24]

Final

The final saw the Czech Republic hoping to repeat Euro 1976 when Czechoslovakia defeated West Germany; the Germans were aiming to win their third European Championship. Patrik Berger scored from a penalty in 59th minute to put the Czechs ahead. German substitute Oliver Bierhoff then scored to make it 1–1. Five minutes into extra time, Bierhoff's shot was mishandled by Czech goalkeeper Kouba[25] 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 again, the first time as a unified country.

Qualification

On 30 November 1992, UEFA formally decided to expand the tournament to sixteen teams.[26] UEFA cited the increased number of international teams following the recent break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia – rising from 33 UEFA members in 1988 to 48 by 1994 – as a driving factor behind the expansion.[27] Forty-seven teams ultimately entered to compete for the fifteen remaining places in the finals, alongside hosts England.[28]

The draw for the qualifying competition took place in Manchester on 22 January 1994.[29] The teams were divided into eight groups, each containing either six or five teams. The qualifying process began in April 1994 and concluded in December 1995. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage in November 1994, the eight group winners qualified automatically, along with the six highest ranked second placed teams. The remaining two second placed teams – The Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland – contested a one-off play-off match in England to decide the final qualifier.

Qualified teams

The following sixteen teams qualified for the finals:

Country Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances[n 1][n 2]
 England Hosts 5 May 1992 4 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992)
 Romania Group 1 winner 15 November 1995 1 (1984)
 France Group 1 runners-up 15 November 1995 3 (1960, 1984, 1992)
 Spain Group 2 winner 15 November 1995 4 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988)
 Denmark Group 2 runners-up 15 November 1995 4 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992)
  Switzerland Group 3 winner 11 October 1995 0 (debut)
 Turkey Group 3 runners-up 15 November 1995 0 (debut)
 Croatia Group 4 winner 15 November 1995 0 (debut)
 Italy Group 4 runners-up 15 November 1995 3 (1968, 1980, 1988)
 Czech Republic[n 3] Group 5 winner 15 November 1995 3 (1960, 1976, 1980)
 Portugal Group 6 winner 15 November 1995 1 (1984)
 Germany[n 4] Group 7 winner 15 November 1995 6 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
 Bulgaria Group 7 runners-up 15 November 1995 0 (debut)
 Russia[n 5] Group 8 winner 15 November 1995 6 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992)
 Scotland Group 8 runners-up 15 November 1995 1 (1992)
 Netherlands Play-off winner 13 December 1995 4 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992)

With the extended format, three teams were able to qualify for their first European Championship: Bulgaria, Switzerland and Turkey. Croatia and Russia competed for the first time in their own right since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union (though the Russian team is considered by FIFA to be the direct descendant of the Soviet Union and CIS teams that had appeared in six past tournaments). Seven of the eight participants at the previous tournament in 1992 were again present, with only Sweden – despite also having finished third in the World Cup two years earlier – missing out.

Final draw

The draw for the final tournament took place on 17 December 1995 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.[30] Only four teams were seeded: England (as hosts), Denmark (as holders), Spain and Germany. The remaining twelve teams were all unseeded and could be drawn in any group.[30]

In the draw procedure, the unseeded teams were drawn one-by-one into each of the four groups before finally the four seeds were then drawn out. While it was decreed in advance that England's group would be Group A, the remaining three groups were then drawn out a letter to decide the name of their group, and therefore determine what venues they would play at.[30] The balls were drawn by UEFA figures Gerhard Aigner and Lennart Johansson.[30]

Venues

Since the implementation of the Taylor Report in 1990, following the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, England now had enough all-seater stadia of sufficient capacity to hold an expanded tournament due to the necessary stadium refurbishment by its leading clubs. The stadium capacities listed in the table are for the time of the tournament.

London
Manchester
Liverpool
Birmingham
Leeds
Sheffield
Newcastle
Nottingham
London Manchester
Wembley Stadium
Capacity: 76,567
Old Trafford
Capacity: 55,000
Liverpool Birmingham
Anfield
Capacity: 42,730
Villa Park
Capacity: 40,310
Leeds Sheffield Nottingham Newcastle
Elland Road
Planned capacity: 40,204
Hillsborough
Capacity: 39,859
City Ground
Capacity: 30,539
St James' Park
Capacity: 36,649

Match ball

Main article: Adidas Questra

A custom version of the Adidas Questra, the Questra Europa, was the official match ball of the championships. The design of the ball included a reworking of the England badge, and was the first coloured ball in a major football tournament.[31]

Match officials

Match officials are listed in the two collapsed tables below.

Match summary

Results

Finishing positions of the participating teams

Group stage

The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the four groups progress to the quarter-finals, while the bottom two teams in each group were eliminated from the tournament. For the first time at a European Championship three points were awarded for a win, with one for a draw and a none for a defeat.

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 England 321072+57
 Netherlands 311134−14
 Scotland 311112−14
  Switzerland 301214−31
8 June 1996
England 1–1  Switzerland
10 June 1996
Netherlands 0–0 Scotland
13 June 1996
Switzerland  0–2 Netherlands
15 June 1996
Scotland 0–2 England
18 June 1996
Scotland 1–0  Switzerland
Netherlands 1–4 England

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 France 321052+37
 Spain 312043+15
 Bulgaria 311134–14
 Romania 300314–30
9 June 1996
Spain 1–1 Bulgaria
10 June 1996
Romania 0–1 France
13 June 1996
Bulgaria 1–0 Romania
15 June 1996
France 1–1 Spain
18 June 1996
France 3–1 Bulgaria
Romania 1–2 Spain

Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Germany 321050+57
 Czech Republic 311156–14
 Italy 31113304
 Russia 301248–41
9 June 1996
Germany 2–0 Czech Republic
11 June 1996
Italy 2–1 Russia
14 June 1996
Czech Republic 2–1 Italy
16 June 1996
Russia 0–3 Germany
19 June 1996
Russia 3–3 Czech Republic
Italy 0–0 Germany

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Portugal 321051+47
 Croatia 320143+16
 Denmark 31114404
 Turkey 300305–50
9 June 1996
Denmark 1–1 Portugal
11 June 1996
Turkey 0–1 Croatia
14 June 1996
Portugal 1–0 Turkey
16 June 1996
Croatia 3–0 Denmark
19 June 1996
Croatia 0–3 Portugal
Turkey 0–3 Denmark

Knockout stage

Format

The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament with each round eliminating the losers. Any game that was undecided by the end of the regular 90 minutes, was followed by up to thirty minutes of extra time. For the first time in a major football competition, the golden goal system was applied, whereby the first team to score during the extra time would become the winner. If no goal was scored there would be a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. For the first time the final was won by a golden goal.

Bracket

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
22 June – Liverpool        
  France (p)  0 (5)
26 June – Manchester
  Netherlands  0 (4)  
  France  0 (5)
23 June – Birmingham
      Czech Republic (p)  0 (6)  
  Czech Republic  1
30 June – London
  Portugal  0  
  Czech Republic  1
23 June – Manchester    
    Germany (aet)  2
  Germany  2
26 June – London
  Croatia  1  
  Germany (p)  1 (6)
22 June – London
      England  1 (5)  
  Spain  0 (2)
  England (p)  0 (4)  
 

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Quarter-finals

22 June 1996
16:00
Spain  0–0 (a.e.t.)  England
Report
  Penalties  
Hierro
Amor
Belsué
Nadal
2–4 Shearer
Platt
Pearce
Gascoigne
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 75,440
Referee: Marc Batta (France)


23 June 1996
16:00
Germany  2–1  Croatia
Klinsmann  20' (pen.)
Sammer  59'
Report Šuker  51'
Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 43,412
Referee: Leif Sundell (Sweden)

23 June 1996
19:30
Czech Republic  1–0  Portugal
Poborský  53' Report
Villa Park, Birmingham
Attendance: 26,832
Referee: Hellmut Krug (Germany)

Semi-finals


Final

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 Final

30 June 1996
20:00
Czech Republic  1–2 (a.e.t.)  Germany
Berger  59' (pen.) Report Bierhoff  73'  95'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 73,611
Referee: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy)

Statistics

Goalscorers

Alan Shearer received the Golden Boot award for scoring five goals. In total, 64 goals were scored by 48 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.

5 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal

Awards

Team of the Tournament[32]
Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards
England David Seaman
Germany Andreas Köpke
Czech Republic Radoslav Látal
France Laurent Blanc
France Marcel Desailly
Germany Matthias Sammer
Italy Paolo Maldini
Czech Republic Karel Poborský
England Steve McManaman
England Paul Gascoigne
France Didier Deschamps
Germany Dieter Eilts
Portugal Rui Costa
Bulgaria Hristo Stoichkov
Croatia Davor Šuker
Czech Republic Pavel Kuka
England Alan Shearer
France Youri Djorkaeff
Golden Boot

Alan Shearer was awarded the Golden Boot award, after scoring five goals in the group stage and in the semi-finals against Germany.

UEFA Player of the Tournament

Fastest goal

2 minutes and 14 seconds: Alan Shearer (England vs Germany)

Average goals

2.06 goals per game

Marketing

Slogan and theme songs

Three Lions single

The competition slogan was Football Comes Home reflecting that the sport's rules were first standardised in the United Kingdom. UEFA President Lennart Johansson had said that the organisation had felt it time to bring the event "back to the motherland of football".[29] The slogan was incorporated into the competition's most popular song: "Three Lions" recorded by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner with Britpop band the Lightning Seeds. Baddiel and Skinner were then strongly connected with football owing to their BBC show Fantasy Football League.[34] Released as a single, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for a total of two weeks.[35] It was promoted by a video featuring the England squad.[34]

The song was prominently sung by England fans during all their games, and was also chanted by the German team upon parading the trophy in Berlin after the tournament. It was even referenced by future Prime Minister Tony Blair in an address at the 1996 Labour Party Conference with the line: "Seventeen years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming, Labour's coming home".[36]

Despite Three Lions being the song most strongly connected with the tournament, its official song was instead "We're in This Together" by Simply Red. The song was performed at the tournament's opening ceremony.[37]

Merchandise and mascots

The British Royal Mint issued a commemorative £2 coin in 1996, which featured a representation of a football, "1996" in the centre, and 16 small rings representing the 16 competing teams. Further special coins were only issued in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.[38]

The official mascot, 'Goaliath', was designed in a similar fashion to the original World Cup mascot from the 1966 World Cup. Goaliath comprised a lion, the image on the English team crest, dressed in an England football strip and football boots whilst holding a football under his right arm.[39]

Sponsorship

Global sponsors Event sponsors

Controversies

Terrorist attack

A terrorist attack took place in Manchester on 15 June, one day before the group stage match between Germany and Russia was due to take place in the same city.[42] The detonation of a van bomb in the city centre injured 212 people and caused an estimated £700 million worth of damage. Four days after the blast, the Provisional Irish Republican Army issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility, but regretted causing injury to civilians.[43]

The Manchester bombing was the first and so far only major terrorist attack in the host city of an ongoing UEFA European Championship. The scheduled match at Old Trafford on the day following the bombing went ahead as planned after the stadium had been heavily guarded overnight and carefully searched; the game, in which Germany defeated Russia 3–0, was watched by a near capacity crowd of 50,700.

Disorder

After England's defeat to Germany in the semi-finals, a large-scale riot took place in Trafalgar Square and the surrounding area. Further outbreaks of trouble occurred in the streets of several other towns. The police, German-made cars were targeted, with damage also caused to various other properties.[44] A Russian student was stabbed in Brighton after attackers mistook him for being German.[45]

Despite this outbreak, the tournament overall was free of hooliganism, helping rehabilitate England's reputation after their fans' conduct during the previous decades.[44] UEFA's awarding of the tournament to England was in itself a further step in bringing the country back fully into the international fold, coming soon after their decision in 1990 to re-admit English clubs back into UEFA competitions after the indefinite ban issued to them following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.[46][47]

See also

Notes

  1. Bold indicates champion for that year
  2. Italic indicates host for that year
  3. from 1960 to 1992, Czech Republic competed in the European Championship final tournament as Czechoslovakia
  4. from 1972 to 1988, Germany competed in the European Championship final tournament as West Germany
  5. from 1960 to 1988, Russia competed in the European Championship final tournament as the Soviet Union and in 1992 as the Commonwealth of Independent States

References

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  4. Jones, Stuart (4 December 1991). "Rivals to be given extra time". The Times. London.
  5. 1 2 Jones, Stuart (5 May 1992). "England will host 1996 Championship". The Times. London.
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  7. Moore, Glenn (19 June 1996). "England's night of rapture". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  8. "Kluivert's late strike sinks Scotland". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. 19 June 1996. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
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  10. Hodgson, Guy (17 June 1996). "Euro '96: Clemente short of firepower". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  11. Hodgson, Guy (19 June 1996). "France banish the ghost of Bulgaria to reach last eight". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  12. Culley, Jon (19 June 1996). "Spanish eyes are smiling for Amor". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  13. Hodgson, Guy (15 June 1996). "Italians left on the brink of disaster". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  14. Shaw, Phil (20 June 1996). "Smicer strike takes Czechs through". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  15. Moore, Glenn (20 June 1996). "Passion play not enough to save Italy". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
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  17. Brewin, John (1 May 2008). "Euro '96". ESPNSoccernet. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  18. Moore, Glenn (24 June 1996). "Fortune favours brave England". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
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  27. Jones, Stuart (13 November 1992). "Championship field likely to be doubled". The Times. London.
  28. Hughes, Rob (22 January 1994). "Manchester's grief puts draw under cloud". The Times. London.
  29. 1 2 Hughes, Rob (24 January 1994). "Comfort for England in playing host to Europe". The Times. London.
  30. 1 2 3 4 "England may draw Scotland". The Independent. 16 December 1995.
  31. "The Official UEFA European Championship 1996 Tournament Match ball". SoccerBallWorld.com. 22 January 2004.
  32. "All-Star Macca". Sunday Mirror. The Free Library. 30 June 1996. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  33. 1 2 "UEFA Euro 2008 Information" (PDF). UEFA. p. 88. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  34. 1 2 Rampton, James (17 May 1996). "Song for Euro 96 ready for airplay". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  35. "Number Ones in 1996". number-ones.co.uk.
  36. "Blair: My Decent Society". The Independent. London. 22 October 1996.
  37. "Mind-bender Uri Geller". Daily Mirror. London. 8 June 1996.
  38. Longmore, Andrew (22 May 1996). "Euro 96 coins enjoy royal approval". The Times. London.
  39. "EURO 2012 mascots have big shoes to fill". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 6 December 2010.
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  42. "IRA's message in blood". The Independent. London. 16 June 1996.
  43. "IRA apologises to bomb victims". The Independent. London. 20 June 1996.
  44. 1 2 "England fans riot after defeat". The Times. London. 27 June 1996.
  45. Lee, Adrian (28 June 1996). "Russian stabbed for sounding like a German". The Times. London.
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