In the 60 years since its inception, the European Championship - which takes place every four years - has provided some of the best matches and moments in the history of world football.

In this report, the "101greatgoals" website reviews a list of the most fun and exciting matches in the history of the European Nations Championship, ahead of the start of the 16th edition of the competition next Friday.

Updated - European Football Championship (Euro 2020)

England 1-2 Iceland: Euro 2016 final price

The Allianz Riviera stadium in the French city of Nice was the scene of a strong match between Iceland in its first appearance in the major tournaments, and England, which has extensive experience in the European Nations and the World Cup.

The Icelanders surprised everyone by qualifying for the round of 16, but their loss seemed inevitable when England advanced from the fourth minute with a penalty scored by Wayne Rooney.

But Ragnar Sigurdsson spoiled the joy of the English fans with a equalizer in the sixth minute.

After that, Iceland advanced in the 19th minute and held out to the end, achieving a historical victory that resembles a fairytale.

🤔 Most memorable EURO result?

🇮🇸 Iceland came from behind to beat England in Nice and reach the EURO 2016 quarter-finals.

#OTD |

@footballiceland pic.twitter.com/oH2Va9iFYa

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 27, 2020

Croatia 1-1 Turkey: Euro 2008 quarter-finals

Croatia and Turkey met at the Ernst Happel Stadium in the Austrian capital Vienna, in a match that lasted without goals throughout the original time.

Qualification seemed very close to Croatia when Ivan Klasnic scored the goal in the 119th minute, but Semih Şenturk equalized for Turkey in the 122nd minute, the last goal scored so far in the history of the tournament.

The two teams went to penalty kicks, and Turkey scored 3 times, while Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mladen Petrich failed to score for Croatia, so the confrontation ended with the qualification of the Turkish team.

🇹🇷 Pick 1 player to shoot in the last minute?#OTD at EURO 2008 ➡️ Turkey completed a famous comeback when Semih Şentürk scored late into extra time against Croatia before prevailing in a shoot-out!

⏪ @MilliTakimlar pic.twitter.com/ualeo7H6wg

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 20, 2020

Germany 1-1 England: Euro 1996 semi-finals

England organized the European Nations Championship 1996, and was looking forward to prove to the world that her ball had regained its glow after several successive disappointments, continental and internationally.

The semi-final match marked the first official encounter against Germany since they met in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup, when the Germans won on penalties.

The two teams tied 1-1 in normal time, and the match entered extra time under the golden goal rule, which means the end of the confrontation as soon as a goal is scored from this or that side.

England tried to settle the qualification to no avail, and the two teams resorted to penalty kicks to decide the result, so Germany qualified after a missed kick from current England coach Gareth Southgate.

🇩🇪 Andreas Möller at EURO 1996!

Germany got the better of England with a shoot-out win to reach a second successive EURO final.#OTD |

@DFB_Team pic.twitter.com/4uwm6TQoHL

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 26, 2020

Germany 1-2 Italy: Euro 2012 semi-finals

At Euro 2012, Germany was one of the favorites to win the tournament title, winning all three of its first-round matches, beating Greece easily in the quarter-finals.

On the other hand, Italy qualified from Group C with 5 points, and needed penalty kicks to beat England in the quarter-finals.

Most of the followers thought that Italy's chance of winning was very small, but the Azzurri advanced with two goals from Mario Balotelli in the first half, and Germany could not reduce the difference until the 92nd minute through a penalty kick scored by Mesut Ozil.

🇮🇹 Mario Balotelli struck twice as Italy beat Germany 2-1 to set up a EURO 2012 final against Spain!#OTD |

@azzurri |

@FinallyMario pic.twitter.com/odInfb93QY

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 28, 2020

France 3-2 Portugal: Euro 1984 semi-finals

In the 1984 tournament, France hosted the tournament for the second time in its history, after the first edition in 1960. At that time, the French team had not won any major tournament titles, so they had to make every effort to win the cup at home.

France advanced steadily to the semi-finals to face Portugal.

Jean-Francois Dominguez put the hosts ahead, but Roy Jordao scored twice for Portugal, and France was on the verge of being knocked out.

In the 114th minute, Domerg equalized and it seemed that the match was heading to a penalty shootout.

But in the last minute, Jean Tigana crossed a perfect cross from the right to Michel Platini, who managed to score a wonderful goal that proved his status as one of the greatest players of his generation.

#Tigana Sa plus belle compétition, c'est 1982, 1984 ou 1986 🤔

On lui souhaite un joyeux anniversaire en revivant sa perf' contre le Portugal en 1984 😍 🇫🇷#EURO #France pic.twitter.com/SXEsun9VHj

— EURO 2020 🇫🇷 (@EURO2020FR) June 23, 2020

France 0-1 Portugal: Euro 2016 final

Portugal returned in the last European Championship to settle an old score with France, a 30-year-old.

France were looking to win the title at home with a star-studded squad, such as Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann, and looked close to achieving their goal when they faced Portugal in the final.

Portugal stumbled since the start of the confrontation with the injury of its star Cristiano Ronaldo, but France did not manage to score during the original time, and the confrontation lasted for an additional half hour.

Eleven minutes before the end of the match, substitute Eder hit a ball from a distance that landed in the net of Hugo Lloris and left the French fans in a daze, as Portugal won its first title in the competition.

Denmark 2-0 Germany: Euro 1992 final

Prior to Euro 1992, 8 teams were preparing to travel to Sweden, and Denmark was not among them, having finished second in Group D during qualifying.

But after Yugoslavia were eliminated on May 30, 1992, the Danes were called up just 10 days before the start of the tournament.

Denmark initially performed poorly, drawing 0-0 with England, then losing 1-0 to hosts Sweden.

But in the last match in the group stage, Denmark beat France 2-1 in Malmö and qualified for the semi-finals.

After defeating the defending champions Netherlands in the semi-finals on penalties, Denmark played the match against Germany at the Gothenburg stadium.

The Danish team managed to surprise and win the first title in its history after winning 2–0.

In the first half, John Jensen opened the score after hitting a powerful ball with his right foot from inside the penalty area, and in the second half, 12 minutes before the end of the match, Kim Villefort scored the second goal and decided the superiority of his country.

Germany will face Denmark in a pre-#EURO2020 friendly tonight.

Throwback to when the two teams met in the 1992 Euro final 🇩🇪🇩🇰

Via @EURO2020 #GERDEN pic.twitter.com/qWYesTBawb

— DW Sports (@dw_sports) June 2, 2021

Germany 0-1 Spain: Euro 2008 final

The 2008 European Championship final between Spain and Germany at the Ernst Happel Stadium was one of the best matches in the history of the competition.

Spain needed a penalty shootout to defeat Italy in the quarter-finals, before crushing Russia 3-0 in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the German national team achieved two impressive 3-2 victories, over Portugal and then Turkey.

Vienna hosted the final match that witnessed a single goal that came in the 33rd minute, when Xavi played a smart pass to Fernando Torres, who skillfully put the ball in the goal of Jens Lehmann, and Spain achieved its second title, after the first title in 1964.

🏆 #OTD at EURO 2008…

🇪🇸 Fernando Torres's first-half strike earned Spain a first EURO crown in 44 years!

🤩 @SeFutbol |

@Torres pic.twitter.com/0Fp3u4oETd

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2020

USSR 0-2 Netherlands: Euro 1988 final

Despite the passage of 33 years, Van Basten's goal in that match is still firmly remembered as the most beautiful goal in the history of the tournament.

Under their historic coach Rinus Michaels, the Netherlands had an outstanding performance at Euro 1988, beating the Republic of Ireland, England and then hosts West Germany on their way to the final.

In the final, the Netherlands advanced in the first half with a goal by Ruud Gullit, then the second goal came with an amazing shot from a narrow angle signed by Marco van Basten.

Marco van Basten 😱🇳🇱 #UEFAEURO pic.twitter.com/L8x9afqETR

— La UEFA (@UEFAcom_it) October 31, 2019

Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany: Euro 1976 final

In 1976, the fifth edition of the tournament was held in Yugoslavia, with the participation of only 4 teams.

Czechoslovakia defeated the Netherlands 3-1 after the time extension, and West Germany qualified at the expense of the hosts 4-2.

In the final in Belgrade, Czechoslovakia advanced 2-0 with goals from Jan Schwelick and Karol Dubisch, but Germany equalized with goals from Gerd Muller and Bernd Holzenbein.

The Czechoslovakian team managed to win the first title in its history after winning 5-3 on penalties, and the most memorable moment from that confrontation is the famous Panenka strike.

#OnThisDay in 1976 🏆

Antonín Panenka 1⃣1⃣m 😜😜😜 |

@ceskarepre_cz 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/eDPhxUa0vG

— UEFA.com DE (@UEFAcom_de) June 20, 2020

France 2-1 Italy: Euro 2000 final

Euro 2000 was the first edition to be hosted by two countries, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Two years earlier, France had crowned their first World Cup title, beating Brazil 3-0 at home.

The French won their first two matches in the group stage, then lost to the Netherlands, before outselling Spain and then Portugal in the knockout stages.

In the final, Marco Delvecchio gave Italy the lead in the 55th minute, and the result remained unchanged until the last minute, when Silvan Wiltord hit a deceptive ball that mistook Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo, to pass the two teams into overtime.

France managed to win when Robert Perez crossed David Trezeguet, who scored the golden goal, the goal to crown the title.

#OnThisDay in 2000, David Trezeguet came off the bench to score an iconic golden goal to make history against Italy, as France became the first World Champions to win the following Euros.

pic.twitter.com/SeN4YlBjsp

— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) July 2, 2020

Portugal 0-1 Greece: Euro 2004 final

Prior to its participation in the Euro 2004 finals, Greece had qualified for only two major tournaments: Euro 1980 and the World Cup hosted by the USA in 1994, collecting one point each time.

The first surprise was when Greece beat hosts Portugal 2-1 in the opening match at Stade de Dargao in Porto.

🇬🇷 The moment that gave Greece glory 🙌

2⃣0⃣0⃣4⃣🏆#FlashbackFriday |

@EthnikiOmada pic.twitter.com/WRaylJJlRU

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) May 31, 2019

The biggest surprise was the victory over Portugal in the final with a goal without a response, scored by Angelos Charistias with a wonderful header, to crown the Greek team with its only title in the competition.