X European Championship (England 1996)

X EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP (ENGLAND 1996)

(From 8-06-1996 to 30-06-1996)

EC Logo

EC Mascot (Goaliath)

COMPETITION SYSTEM

· 47 national squads enter a Qualifying Stage, in which they are divided in 8 groups (seven of them with 6 teams each and one with 5) playing a round robin. The host nation (England) is bye from this round.

· The 8 group winners and the 6 best runners-up (only computing the scores against the 1st, 3rd, and 4th of each group) qualify directly for the Final Stage in England, where they join the host. The 2 remaining runners-up have to play a tie-break to earn an extra berth. This completes the list of 16 participants in the Final Stage, which are divided in 4 groups of 4 teams each.

· Both the group winners and runners-up of each group advance to 1/4 Finals, played as an X-pairing. Winners move to the Semifinals, and the two surviving teams after this round qualify for the Final.

::::: QUALIFYING STAGE :::::

GROUP STAGE

GROUP A

GROUP B

Competition Day 1 (10-06-1996)

London

England - Switzerland

1-1 (*)

Leeds

Spain - Bulgaria

1-1 (x)

Birmingham

Netherlands - Scotland

0-0

Newcastle

Romania - France

0-1

Competition Day 2 (15-06-1996)

Birmingham

Switzerland - Netherlands

0-2 (y)

Newcastle

Bulgaria - Romania

1-0 (y)

London

Scotland - England

0-2

Leeds

France - Spain

1-1

Competition Day 3 (18-06-1996)

Birmingham

Scotland - Switzerland

1-0

Newcastle

France - Bulgaria

3-1

London

Netherlands - England

1-4

Leeds

Romania - Spain

1-2

FINAL STANDING	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
1. England	3	2	1	0	7	2	7
2. Netherlands	3	1	1	1	3	4	4
3. Scotland	3	1	1	1	1	2	4
4. Switzerland	3	0	1	2	1	4	1

FINAL STANDING	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
1. France	3	2	1	0	5	2	7
2. Spain	3	1	2	0	4	3	5
3. Bulgaria	3	1	1	1	3	4	4
4. Romania	3	0	0	3	1	4	0

* Opening game, played on 8-06-1996. (x) Game played on 9-06-1996. (y) Games played on 13-06-1996.

GROUP C

GROUP D

Competition Day 1 (11-06-1996)

Manchester

Germany - Czech Republic

2-0 (x)

Sheffield

Denmark - Portugal

1-1 (x)

Liverpool

Italy - Russia

2-1

Nottingham

Turkey - Croatia

0-1

Competition Day 2 (16-06-1996)

Liverpool

Czech Republic - Italy

2-1 (y)

Nottingham

Portugal - Turkey

1-0 (y)

Manchester

Russia - Germany

0-3

Sheffield

Croatia - Denmark

3-0

Competition Day 3 (19-06-1996)

Liverpool

Russia - Czech Republic

3-3

Nottingham

Croatia - Portugal

0-3

Manchester

Italy - Germany

0-0

Sheffield

Turkey - Denmark

0-3

FINAL STANDING	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
1. Germany	3	2	1	0	5	0	7
2. Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	5	6	4
3. Italy	3	1	1	1	3	3	4
4. Russia	3	0	1	2	4	8	1

FINAL STANDING	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
1. Portugal	3	2	1	0	5	1	7
2. Croatia	3	2	0	1	4	3	6
3. Denmark	3	1	1	1	4	4	4
4. Turkey	3	0	0	3	0	5	0

(x) Games played on 9-06-1996. (y) Games played on 14-06-1996.

1/4 FINALS (22-06-1996)
A1-B2 (1): England - Spain	0-0 (pk:4-2)	London
B1-A2 (2): France - Netherlands	0-0 (pk:5-4)	Liverpool
C1-D2 (3): Germany - Croatia	2-1 (*)	Manchester
D1-C2 (4): Portugal - Czech Republic	0-1 (*)	Birmingham
* Games played on 23-06-1996.

1/2 FINALS

(26-06-1996)

1-3: England - Germany

1-1 (pk:5-6)

London

2-4: France - Czech Republic

0-0 (pk:5-6)

Manchester

FINAL

STADIUM: Wembley (London)

DATE: 30-06-1996 (19:00 h)

ATTENDANCE: 73.611

REFEREE: Pierluigi Pairetto (ITA)

GOALS: 0-1 (Berger [p.] 59’); 1-1 (Bierhoff 73’); 2-1 (Bierhoff [Golden Goal] 95’)

BOOKED: Helmer (63’), Sammer (69’), Ziege (91’) / Horňák (47’)

[Incidents: For the first time in the history of the European Championship, the “Golden Goal” rule (or sudden death) applied in a final: in order to encourage attacking play during the extra-time and avoid the prospect of sterile defending waiting for the penalty shoot-out, the first team to score a goal in this additional period would become the winner, with no need to play the remaining time. So, when Bierhoff scored his second goal in minute 5 of extra-time, the game was over and Germany became European champions. This goal was controversial, however, as the linesman raised his flag to signal a positional offside by Kuntz. Although all the German players were celebrating their victory, Pairetto talked with his assistant and decided that this offside wasn't influential on the play, so he didn't disallow the goal.]

Germany - Czech Republic

2-1 (0-0;1-1)

Germany (coach: Berti Vogts)

Andreas Köpke

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Thomas Strunz

Markus Babbel

Matthias Sammer

Thomas Helmer

Christian Ziege

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Mehmet Scholl (Oliver Bierhoff 69’)

Dieter Eilts (Marco Bode 46’)

Thomas Häßler

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Stefan Kuntz

Jürgen Klinsmann (c)

Czech Republic (coach: Dušan Uhrin)

Petr Kouba

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Michal Horňák

Karel Rada

Miroslav Kadlec (c)

Jan Suchopárek

Jiří Němec

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Radek Bejbl

Pavel Nedvěd

Patrik Berger

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Karel Poborský (Vladimír Šmicer 88’)

Pavel Kuka

FINAL STANDING
1.	Germany
2.	Czech Republic
3.	England
4.	France
5.	Portugal
6.	Croatia
7.	Spain
8.	Netherlands
9.	Denmark
10.	Italy
11.	Bulgaria
12.	Scotland
13.	Switzerland
14.	Russia
15.	Romania
16.	Turkey