Facchetti with the Cup won by Italy in 1968 (from Wikipedia)

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09 June 2021The 2021 multi-venue European Championship will be the 60th anniversary of the Tournament.

Here are the previous editions:



France 1960: 1st edition with 17 participating teams.

The USSR won the competition, overcoming Czechoslovakia in the semifinals and Yugoslavia in the final.



Spain 1964: 2nd edition with 30 participating teams.

Spain won by overcoming the USSR champion in the Madrid final.



Italy 1968: 3rd edition. For the first time, England's World Champion is also enrolled in the continental review. Furthermore, the early stages no longer required simple home and away games, but groups were introduced. The winner was Italy that in a semi-final with white goals overcame the USSR thanks to the toss of the coin, and then overtook Yugoslavia with a double final: 1-1 in the first match, 2-0 for the Azzurri in the repetition.



Belgium 1972: 4th edition. The triumph was West Germany, who two years later also became World Champion, beating the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final. In the semifinals the Germans had eliminated the hosts of Belgium and overtook England in the quarterfinals, beaten for the first time at Wembley.



Yugoslavia 1976: 5th edition. Czechoslovakia won, thanks to Antonín Panenka's decisive penalty, in the final against West Germany. Fatal mistake in the penalty lottery was that of the then future president of Bayern Munich, Uli Hoeness. in the semifinals the Czechs had overtaken even Cruyff's Holland.



Italy 1980: 6th edition. The Euro '80 formula changed radically from that of the previous editions. In the first place, the organizing country was designated even before the start of the qualifications (it was Italy, the first country to organize the European football championship for the second time, which obtained the organization on 12 November 1977 with a unanimous verdict) and his national team (the Italian one) was automatically admitted to the final stage. The tournament then passed to 8 teams, while the other national teams faced each other in qualifying rounds, which determined the other 7 admitted to the final phase. The championship was won by West Germany, who defeated Belgium 2-1 in the final in Rome. It was the only edition in which the semifinals were not played and the last with a final for the third and fourth place,then abolished starting from the next edition, where Italy was defeated on penalties by Czechoslovakia.



France 1984: 7th edition. Won by France who beat Spain 2-0 in the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris. For France it was the first official statement ever in


the international arena.



Germany 1988: 8th edition. The elimination phase saw the participation of 32 teams, divided into 7 groups, of which the winners of each group would qualify. TO


a surprise were the exclusions of France which, as reigning champion, was overtaken by the USSR in its eliminatory group and Belgium, which had performed well at the Mexican World Cup and who finished third in its qualifying group, behind Ireland and Bulgaria. The Netherlands triumphed, boasting players of the caliber of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, beating the USSR 2-0. That defeat was the last for the USSR, which four years later would compete as the Commonwealth of Independent States after the collapse of the Soviet Union.



Sweden 1992: 9th edition. He saw Denmark victorious, at the first title in their history. The assignment of the tournament to the Scandinavian country took place on December 16, 1988, with Spain losing the candidacy. However, the political events of the time upset the fate of the Soviets and Slavs: the former participated under the name of CSI after the dissolution of the previous state, while the latter were disqualified for war and replaced by Denmark (came second in the group).



England 1996: 10th edition. For the first time it was opened to 16 teams instead of 8 as in the four previous editions. Held with the classic formula of direct elimination after the group stage, in the competition for the award of the title, at the Wembley stadium in London, the revival of the final of 1976, when West Germany and Czechoslovakia faced each other in Belgrade, with the victory of the latter: twenty years later Germany presented itself unified and the Czech Republic separated from Slovakia but heir to the sporting title of the country dissolved three years earlier. To prevail were the Germans, European champions for the third time, who with a brace from Oliver Bierhoff overturned the score that saw them


losing until a quarter of an hour from the end of the match.



Belgium / Netherlands 2000: 11th edition. The trophy was won by France, who beat Italy 2-1 in the final thanks to David Trezeguet's golden goal, thus winning his second European title just two years after winning the 1998 world championship played at home.



Portugal 2004: 12th edition. Portugal was ex officio admitted as host nation (it won the competition from Spain, while Austria and Hungary had jointly applied). Lusitanians defeated in a final that was supposed to be without history against Greece, but which ended in favor of the guests thanks to the network of Charisteas, who gave the Hellenes a historic title.



Austria / Switzerland 2008: 13th edition. Another shared event disappointed the hosts as neither Austria nor Switzerland made it beyond the groups, scoring only one win


in the six matches combined. Tournament that instead marked the beginning of the Spanish hegemony, which will last until 2012, thanks to the goal of Fernando Torres that allowed to overcome Germany in the final.



Poland / Ukraine 2012: 14th edition. Encore from Spain who, after having also graduated as World Champion, replicates the success of 4 years earlier. An initial draw against Italy had suggested a slowdown, but the overall path culminating in the 4-0 in the final for the Azzurri, leaves no room for interpretation. The tournament was the first organized in Central and Eastern Europe. However, Prandelli's blues had eliminated England in the quarterfinals and Germany in the semifinals.



France 2016: 15th edition. For the first time, 24 teams take part in the finals, which means that the four best third-place finishers from six groups have progressed to the round of 16.


the final. The revenge of Portugal who, after losing the 2004 final as a super favorite, beat, against the odds, the hosts of France even without Cristiano Ronaldo, who went out due to injury. The Lusitanians beat the group with 3 draws against Iceland, Austria and Hungary and then beat Croatia 0-1 in extra time, beat Poland in the quarterfinals thanks to penalties before inflicting a sharp 2-0 on Wales in the semifinals. Azzurri eliminated in the quarterfinals on penalties against Germany.