European Football Championship 1960 / qualification

Euro 1960 qualifiers

qualified

not qualified

not participated

not a UEFA member

17 national teams took part in the qualification for the European Football Championship in 1960 , which determined the four finalists according to the knockout system . In contrast to today, the host was not automatically qualified; rather, the applicants for the final round had to reach the semi-finals. If France had not reached the semi-finals, a new host would have been selected from among the semi-finalists.

Preliminary round

	total		First leg	Return leg
Ireland	2: 4	Czechoslovakia	2-0	0: 4

Because 17 participants had registered, there was a preliminary round between two teams so that the number of teams for the round of 16 was limited to sixteen. In the first leg, Ireland won 2-0 in front of 37,000 spectators in Dublin on April 5, 1959 with goals from Liam Tuohy and Noel Cantwell . The return match on May 10, 1959 in Bratislava in front of a home crowd (41,000 spectators) was won by Czechoslovakia. She took the lead in the fourth minute with a penalty from goalkeeper Imrich Stacho and secured three more goals in the second half - Titus Buberník (57th), Ladislav Pavlovič (67th), Milan Dolinský (75th) 4-0 win the round of 16, thanks to the better goal difference.

Round of 16

	total		First leg	Return leg
Soviet Union	4: 1	Hungary	3: 1	1-0
France	8: 2	Greece	7: 1	1: 1
Romania	3: 2	Turkey	3-0	0: 2
Norway	2: 6	Austria	0: 1	2: 5
Yugoslavia	3: 1	Bulgaria	2-0	1: 1
GDR	2: 5	Portugal	0: 2	2: 3
Poland	2: 7	Spain	2: 4	0: 3
Denmark	3: 7	Czechoslovakia	2: 2	1: 5

With the game on September 28, 1958 in Moscow by hosts USSR against Hungary, the round of 16 of the European Cup of Nations 1960 began. In front of 100,572 spectators, the home team sat down after goals from Anatoli Ilyin (9th), Slava Metreweli (20th) and Valentin Ivanov in the 32nd minute of the game. János Göröcs was only able to reduce to 1: 3 in the 84th minute. A year later, on September 27, 1959, the second leg took place in front of 78,000 spectators in Budapest. With a goal by Yuri Woinow in the 58th minute of the game, the hosts also lost the second leg. Gyula Grosics was in goal for the home team , and coach Lajos Baróti also resorted to József Bozsik .

France decided the duel against Greece in the first leg with a clear 7-1 win on October 1, 1958 in Paris. Romania defeated Turkey 3-0 in Bucharest on November 2, 1958, but still had anxious minutes to survive in the second leg of the 2-0 defeat in Istanbul on April 26, 1959.

On the other hand, it was clear that Austria played against Norway in the quarter-finals. The team of coach Karl Decker already prevailed on May 20, 1959 in Oslo with a goal by Erich Hof and also won the second leg on September 23, 1959 in Vienna 5-2. Yugoslavia prevailed 2-0 against Bulgaria in Belgrade on May 31, 1959, so the 1-1 draw on October 25 in Sofia was enough to advance.

Portugal won both games against the GDR within seven days: 2-0 on June 21 in Berlin and 3-2 on June 28, 1959 in Porto. Mário Coluna , the Benfica Lisbon midfielder, scored three goals in the two games against the DFV selection overseen by Fritz Gödicke .

Spain also won both games against rivals from Poland, in Chorzow on June 28, 1959 with 4: 2 and in Madrid on October 14, 1959 with 3: 0. In the second leg, the offensive with László Kubala , Alfredo Di Stéfano , Luis Suárez and Francisco Gento clearly dominated the game and placed Spain in the favorites for the quarter-finals.

Czechoslovakia also prevailed after a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Copenhagen with a superior 5-1 home win against Denmark on October 18 in Brno.

Quarter finals

	total		First leg	Return leg
France	9: 4	Austria	5: 2	4: 2
Portugal	3: 6	Yugoslavia	2: 1	1: 5
Soviet Union	6-0	Spain	3: 0 (without a fight)	3: 0 (without a fight)
Romania	0: 5	Czechoslovakia	0: 2	0: 3

France defeated Austria 5-2 on December 13, 1959 at the Stade de Colombes in Paris with the players of the 1958 World Cup third in Sweden, Robert Jonquet , Armand Penverne , Raymond Kopa , Just Fontaine and Jean Vincent , under coach Albert Batteux . The top scorer of the 1958 World Cup, Fontaine, scored three goals. In the second leg on March 27, 1960 in Vienna's Prater Stadium, Kopa performed outstandingly and was involved in all four French goals. The final score to 4: 2 in the 84th minute he marked himself. Fontaine had broken a leg in the league game against Sochaux and was injured. The Austrian team of coach Karl Decker could not prevent the two defeats with the veterans Kurt Schmied , Karl Stotz , Erich Probst , Karl Koller and Gerhard Hanappi .

Portugal and Yugoslavia played their games in the quarter-finals on May 8 and 27, 1960. In Lisbon, the Portuguese beat Benfica players Mário Coluna , Dominiciano Cavem , Joaquim Santana and Germano Figuereido 2-1. In the second leg, in front of 55,000 spectators in Belgrade, the Yugoslavs and captain Bora Kostić won 5-1. Cavem was able to equalize Šekularac's lead in the 29th minute, but the other hits from “Plavi” (Blue) Zvezdan Čebinac , Milan Galić and two Kostić decided the match.

The encounters between Spain and the Soviet Union fell victim to the Cold War . At the behest of the then government under dictator Francisco Franco , Spain refused to play in the Soviet Union, even though the Spanish team had already gathered at Madrid airport on their way to the USSR. The leadership of the Soviet Union, for its part, refused to hold it on neutral ground. The two games were rated 3-0 by UEFA for the USSR team. Spain also had to pay a contractual penalty.

Romania and Czechoslovakia played their quarter-finals on May 22 and 29, 1960 in Bucharest and Bratislava. In both meetings, the Czechs trained by Rudolf Vytlačil set the tone. In Bucharest Josef Masopust and Vlastimil Bubník stood out , in the second leg with two goals Titus Buberník and again Bubník as goalscorers. Ion Nunweiller's Romanians had no chance.

Web links

• Euro 1960 on uefa.com
• All information about the tournament on rsssf.com (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ralf Klee and Broder-Jürgen Trede: "When Spain and Russia almost blew up the EM", in one day: Zeitgeschichten on Spiegel-Online, June 9, 2008