UEFA Euro 1996
The 1996 European Football Championship (or simply Euro 96) was hosted by England.
It was the 10th edition of the European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The tournament's final stages took place between June 8 and June 30, 1996. The slogan of the tournament was "Football Comes Home."
This was the very first edition to introduce the current format of 16 countries competing in the final tournament. Fifteen teams had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.
The qualifying round was played throughout 1994 and 1995. There were eight qualifying groups of six teams each, with the exception of group 3, which only had 5. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis.
The winner and the runner-up of each group qualified automatically, with the exception of the two worst runners-up. These two teams had to play an additional playoff between them (single match in neutral ground), to determine the 16th team to join all others in the final tournament. This was between Republic of Ireland and Holland at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool which the Dutch won 2-0.
Continental power Germany reclaimed the title after their surprising '92 finals loss to Denmark.
Qualification
The following teams participated in the final tournament:
England automatically qualified for the tournament as host
For details concercing the qualifying phase, check 1996 UEFA European Championship (qualifying)
Venues
- Wembley Stadium, London - Capacity: 80,000
- Villa Park, Birmingham - Capacity: 40,000
- Elland Road, Leeds - Capacity: 43,000
- St James' Park, Newcastle - Capacity 32,000
- Old Trafford, Manchester - Capacity: 43,000
- Anfield, Liverpool - Capacity: 40,000
- Hillsborough, Sheffield - Capacity: 41,000
- City Ground, Nottingham - Capacity: 30,000
Squads
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1996 European Football Championship (squads).
First round
Note: All times local (BST), with half-time scores in brackets.
Group A
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England | 1 - 1 (1-0) | Switzerland | 15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Manuel Diaz Vega (Spain) |
Shearer 23' | Türkyilmaz (p) 84' |
Netherlands | 0 - 0 (0-0) | Scotland | 16:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Leif Sundell (Sweden) |
Switzerland | 0 - 2 (0-0) | Netherlands | 19:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Atanas Uzunov (Bulgaria) |
Cruyff 66' | |||
Bergkamp 79' |
Scotland | 0 - 2 (0-0) | England | 15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy) |
Shearer 53' | |||
Gascoigne 79' |
Scotland | 1 - 0 (1-0) | Switzerland | 19:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Vaclav Krondl (Czech Republic) |
McCoist 36' | |||
Netherlands | 1 - 4 (0-1) | England | 19:30 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Gerd Grabher (Austria) |
Kluivert 78' | Shearer (p) 23' | ||
Sheringham 51' | |||
Shearer 57' | |||
Sheringham 62' |
Group B
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Spain | 1 - 1 (0-0) | Bulgaria | 14:30 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Piero Ceccarini (Italy) |
Alfonso 74' | Stoitchkov (p) 65' |
File:Romania flag large.png Romania | 0 - 1 (0-1) | France | 19:30 - St James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Hellmut Krug (Germany) |
Dugarry 25' |
Bulgaria | 1 - 0 (1-0) | File:Romania flag large.png Romania | 16:30 - St James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark) |
Stoitchkov 3' |
France | 1 - 1 (0-0) | Spain | 18:00 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus) |
Djorkaeff 49' | Caminero 86' |
France | 3 - 1 (1-0) | Bulgaria | 16:30 - St James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Dermot Gallagher (England) |
Blanc 21' | Stoitchkov 69' | ||
Penev (og) 63' | |||
Loko 90' | |||
Romania | 1 - 2 (1-1) | Spain | 16:30 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Ahmet Çakar (Turkey) |
Raducioiu 29' | Manjarín 11' | ||
Amor 84' |
Group C
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Germany | 2 - 0 (2-0) | Czech Republic | 17:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: David Elleray (England) |
Ziege 26' | |||
Möller 32' |
Italy | 2 - 1 (1-1) | Russia | 16:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Leslie Mottram (Scotland) |
Casiraghi 5' | Tsymbalar 21' | ||
Casiraghi 52' |
Czech Republic | 2 - 1 (2-1) | Italy | 19:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Antonio López Nieto (Spain) |
Nedvěd 4' | Chiesa 18' | ||
Bejbl 35' |
Russia | 0 - 3 (0-0) | Germany | 15:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark) |
Sammer 56' | |||
Klinsmann 77' | |||
Klinsmann 90' |
Russia | 3 - 3 (0-2) | Czech Republic | 19:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Anders Frisk (Sweden) |
Mostovoi 49' | Suchopárek 5' | ||
Tetradze 54' | Kuka 19' | ||
Beschastnykh 85' | Šmicer 88' | ||
Italy | 0 - 0 (0-0) | Germany | 19:30 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Guy Goethals (Belgium) |
Group D
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Denmark | 1 - 1 (1-0) | Portugal | 19:30 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands) |
B. Laudrup 22' | Sá Pinto 53' |
Turkey | 0 - 1 (0-0) | Croatia | 19:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland) |
Vlaović 86' |
Portugal | 1 - 0 (0-0) | Turkey | 16:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary) |
Couto 66' |
Croatia | 3 - 0 (0-0) | Denmark | 18:00 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Marc Batta (France) |
Šuker (p) 53' | |||
Boban 81' | |||
Šuker 90' |
Croatia | 0 - 3 (0-2) | Portugal | 16:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Bernd Heynemann (Germany) |
Figo 4' | |||
João Vieira Pinto 33' | |||
Domingos 82' | |||
Turkey | 0 - 3 (0-0) | Denmark | 16:30 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia) |
B. Laudrup 50' | |||
A. Nielsen 69' | |||
B. Laudrup 84' |
Quarter-finals
England | 0 - 0 (0-0) | Spain | 15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Marc Batta (France) | |
after extra-time: | 0 - 0 (0-0) | |||
Penalty shootout | ||||
England | 4 - 2 | Spain | ||
Shearer: goal | 1-0 | Hierro: crossbar | ||
Platt: goal | 2-1 | Amor: goal | ||
Pearce: goal | 3-2 | Belsue: goal | ||
Gascoigne: goal | 4-2 | Nadal: Seaman saved | ||
Netherlands | 0 - 0 (0-0) | France | 18:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Antonio López Nieto (Spain) | |
after extra-time: | 0 - 0 (0-0) | |||
Penalty shootout | ||||
Netherlands | 4 - 5 | France | ||
de Kock: goal | 1-1 | Zidane: goal | ||
R. de Boer: goal | 2-2 | Djorkaeff: goal | ||
Kluivert: goal | 3-3 | Lizarazu: goal | ||
Seedorf: Lama saved | 3-4 | Guérin: goal | ||
Blind: goal | 4-5 | Blanc: goal |
Germany | 2 - 1 (1-0) | File:Croatia flag large.png Croatia | 15:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Leif Sundell (Sweden) |
Klinsmann (p) 20' | Šuker 51' | ||
Sammer 59' | |||
Czech Republic | 1 - 0 (0-0) | File:Portugal flag large.png Portugal | 18:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Hellmut Krug (Germany) |
Poborský 53' |
Semi-finals
France | 0 - 0 (0-0) | Czech Republic | 16:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Leslie Mottram (Scotland) | |
after extra-time: | 0 - 0 (0-0) | |||
Penalty shootout | ||||
France | 5 - 6 | Czech Republic | ||
Zidane: goal | 1-1 | Kubík: goal | ||
Djorkaeff: goal | 2-2 | Nedvěd: goal | ||
Lizarazu: goal | 3-3 | Berger: goal | ||
Guérin: goal | 4-4 | Poborský: goal | ||
Blanc: goal | 5-5 | Rada: goal | ||
Pedros: Kouba saved | 5-6 | Kadlec: goal | ||
England | 1 - 1 (1-1) | Germany | 19:30 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary) | |
after extra-time: | 1 - 1 (1-1) | |||
Shearer 3' | Kuntz 16' | |||
Penalty shootout | ||||
England | 5 - 6 | Germany | ||
Shearer: goal | 1-1 | Hässler: goal | ||
Platt: goal | 2-2 | Strunz: goal | ||
Pearce: goal | 3-3 | Reuter: goal | ||
Gascoigne: goal | 4-4 | Ziege: goal | ||
Sheringham: goal | 5-5 | Kuntz: goal | ||
Southgate: Köpke saved | 5-6 | Möller: goal |
Final
Germany | 1 - 1 (0-0) | Czech Republic | 19:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy) Attendance: 73,611 |
after extra-time: | 2 - 1 | ||
Bierhoff 73' | Berger (p) 59' | ||
Bierhoff (GG) 95' |
European Champions: GERMANY (Third title) |
Tournament Statistics
Goal Scorers
5 Goals
3 Goals
2 Goals
1 goal
- File:Portugal flag large.png Domingos - Fernando Couto - João Vieira Pinto - Luis Figo - Ricardo Sá Pinto
- File:Croatia flag large.png Zvonimir Boban - Goran Vlaović
- Radek Bejbl - Patrik Berger - Pavel Kuka - Pavel Nedvěd - Karel Poborský - Vladimír Šmicer - Jan Suchopárek
- Allan Nielsen
- Paul Gascoigne
- Laurent Blanc - Youri Djorkaeff - Christophe Dugarry - Patrice Loko
- Stefan Kuntz - Andreas Möller - Christian Ziege
- Enrico Chiesa
- Dennis Bergkamp - Jordi Cruyff - Patrick Kluivert
- File:Romania flag large.png Florin Raducioiu
- Vladimir Beschastnykh - Alexander Mostovoi - Omar Tetradze - Ilya Tsymbalar
- Ally McCoist
- Alfonso - Guillermo Amor - José Luis Caminero - Javier Manjarín
- Kubilay Türkyilmaz
Own goals
Fastest Goal
3 Minutes : Alan Shearer (England vs Germany); Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria vs Romania)
Average Goals
2.06 per game.