European Football Championship 1968

European Football Championship 1968
UEFA EURO 68
Number of nations	4  (of 31 applicants)
European champion	Italy (1st title)
venue	Italy
Opening game	June 5, 1968 in Naples
Endgame	June 10, 1968 in Rome
Games	5
Gates	7  (⌀: 1.4 per game)
spectator	260,916  (⌀: 52,183 per game)
Top scorer	Dragan Džajić (2 goals)
References	1  (⌀: 0.2 per game)

The third tournament for the Henri Delaunay Cup was the first official European football championship . It was held as the semi-finals from June 5 to 10, 1968. While the previous competitions of 1960 and 1964 were still called the European Nations Cup , the term European Championship was used for the first time in 1968 . As the number of tournaments is often equated with the number of European championships in the press, this tournament is also referred to as the third European championship.

For the first time, all major European football nations took part in the qualifying rounds. The draw took place on February 23, 1966 in the Zunfthaus “Zum Rüden” in Zurich. Of the 33 member states of UEFA, Iceland did not register and Malta withdrew its nomination, so that seven groups of four and one group of three were drawn to determine the eight quarter-finalists; the dates for the home and return games were August 1, 1966 to February 28, 1968. The only exception was Group 4 with only three participants, with the DFB team from the Federal Republic of Germany meeting Yugoslavia and Albania. Only the winners qualified for the quarter-finals.

Four teams qualified in the quarter-finals, which were played as a round trip with two group winners. Among these, Italy was chosen as the host country for the finals.

Qualification of German-speaking teams

→ Main article : Qualifying for the 1968 European Football Championship

Federal Republic of Germany

The national team of the Federal Republic of Germany played in qualifying group 4 against Yugoslavia and Albania. It was the only qualifying group in which only three teams were represented. So only four games had to be played. Germany and Yugoslavia each won their home games and, as expected, their home games against Albania. After the Yugoslavs were victorious in their neighboring country, the German team also needed a victory at the “football dwarf” Albania in their last game on December 17, 1967, in order to reach the quarter-finals due to the better goal difference (9: 2 against 8: 3 by Yugoslavia) to qualify. The team that started with Günter Netzer and Wolfgang Overath , however, did not get past a 0-0 in Tirana and was eliminated. ( see shame of Tirana )

GDR

The GDR national team played in Group 5 against Hungary, the Netherlands and Denmark. She could win any of her home games, but lost all away games except for a 1-1 draw in Denmark. As second in the group behind Hungary, she was not qualified.

Austria

Austria played in Group 3 against the Soviet Union, Greece and Finland. In this group, the Soviet Union marched through the qualification without any problems, but had to bow 0: 1 in Austria. After two wins and two draws, Austria finished third behind Greece, with one more goal conceding the decisive factor.

Switzerland

The Switzerland played in Group 6 against Italy, Romania and Cyprus. The Swiss had to give the Cypriots their first international success in Nicosia and only finished third. They recorded two wins and one respectable success against the easily qualified Italians at 2-2 in Switzerland.

Venues

Rome Olympic Stadium Capacity: 90,000	Rome Florence Naples Venues 1968 in Italy
Florence Stadio Comunale Capacity: 40,000
Naples Stadio San Paolo Capacity: 70,000

Attendees

Yugoslavia ( squad )

England ( squad )

Italy ( squad )

Soviet Union ( squad )

Finals

Semifinals

June 5, 1968 in Naples ( Stadio San Paolo )
Italy	-	Soviet Union	0: 0 a.d.
Italy reached the final after a coin toss

The Soviet Union faced hosts Italy without their legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin and reached 0-0 over 120 minutes. Dino Zoff was in goal for Italy . During those 120 minutes, the Soviet Union team had clearer scoring chances, while Italy relied on their defense. The winner was finally determined by tossing a coin . The German referee Kurt Tschenscher wanted to decide the coin in the center circle of the pitch in the presence of the two team captains Giacinto Facchetti and Juri Istomin when the Soviet association president Valentin Granatkin and his Italian colleague Artemio Franchi stepped in. They required the referee to flip the coin in an enclosed space. The association presidents finally met in the referee's cabin. The two crew captains had to wait in front of the cabin door. The two teams were waiting in the stadium on the pitch. First of all, the President of the Soviet Union asked for a test throw in which the Soviet Union would have been the winner. The second throw should be the decisive one. Italy was determined as the winner. The toss of the coin was seen as a great injustice by all involved and a penalty shoot-out was seen as a future possibility. After this game, there was never another coin toss decision in an international competition.

June 5, 1968 in Florence ( Stadio Comunale )
Yugoslavia	-	England	1: 0 (0: 0)

The high favorite and world champion England had an extremely difficult time against Yugoslavia, although he had all but Geoff Hurst . With Hurst, however, the English lacked the reliable executor in the attack. Yugoslavia won through a late goal from Dragan Džajić in the 86th minute.

3rd place match

June 8, 1968 in Rome ( Olympic Stadium )
England	-	Soviet Union	2: 0 (1: 0)

So far, the Soviet Union has been the most successful team at European Championships as European champions in 1960 and finalists in 1964. World champions England, however, won sovereign thanks to goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst, who the English had missed in the semifinals.

final

Italy - Yugoslavia 1: 1 aet (1: 1, 0: 1)

Italy		Yugoslavia
	Saturday, June 8, 1968 at 9:15 p.m. in Rome ( Olympic Stadium ) Spectators: 68,817 Referee: Gottfried Dienst ( Switzerland )
	Dino Zoff - Tarcisio Burgnich , Ernesto Castano , Giacinto Facchetti - Giorgio Ferrini , Aristide Guarneri , Antonio Juliano , Giovanni Lodetti - Pietro Anastasi , Angelo Domenghini , Pierino Prati Trainer: Ferruccio Valcareggi	Ilija Pantelić - Mirsad Fazlagić , Milan Damjanović - Blagoje Paunović , Dragan Holcer , Ilija Petković - Vahidin Musemić , Dragan Džajić , Miroslav Pavlović , Jovan Aćimović , Dobrivoje Trivić Coach: Rajko Mitić
	1: 1 Angelo Domenghini (78th)	0: 1 Dragan Džajić (40.)

The Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst , known from the 1966 World Cup final and the controversial Wembley goal , was again the focus of criticism at the 1968 European Championship final. Again he was accused of favoring the host.

Outsider Yugoslavia took the lead through Dragan Džajić just before the break and Angelo Domenghini only equalized in the 78th minute . Since a penalty shoot-out was not yet part of the regulations, a replay took place, which was played two days later, on Monday, at the same place.

Final (replay)

Italy - Yugoslavia 2: 0 (2: 0)

Italy		Yugoslavia
	Monday, June 10, 1968 at 9:15 p.m. in Rome ( Olympic Stadium ) Spectators: 32,866 Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil ( Spain )
	Dino Zoff - Tarcisio Burgnich , Sandro Salvadore , Roberto Rosato , Giacinto Facchetti - Aristide Guarneri , Giancarlo De Sisti - Pietro Anastasi , Angelo Domenghini , Sandro Mazzola , Luigi Riva Trainer: Ferruccio Valcareggi	Ilija Pantelić - Mirsad Fazlagić , Milan Damjanović - Blagoje Paunović , Dragan Holcer , Ilija Petković - Vahidin Musemić , Dragan Džajić , Miroslav Pavlović , Jovan Aćimović , Dobrivoje Trivić Coach: Rajko Mitić
	1-0 Luigi Riva (12th) 2-0 Pietro Anastasi (32nd)

Italy made the decision in the first half. Striker Luigi Riva and Pietro Anastasi scored the goals in the 12th and 32nd minute to make it 2-0.

The European champions

Italy's path to the only European championship title so far has been a long one, which was favored by luck. First you were selected as the host because England had only hosted the World Cup two years earlier and the other two participants, as socialist states, were not predestined to host. In the semifinals, luck decided the coin toss, and the final was not won either, so it was only after a replay that the host team decided. It was the first title for Italy after winning the World Championships in 1934 and 1938 .

Enrico Albertosi , Lido Vieri , Dino Zoff , Angelo Anquilletti , Giancarlo Bercellino , Tarcisio Burgnich , Ernesto Castano , Giacinto Facchetti , Roberto Rosato , Sandro Salvadore , Giancarlo De Sisti , Giorgio Ferrini , Aristide Guarneri , Antonio Juliano , Giovanni Lodetti , Gianni Rivera , Pietro Anastasi , Giacomo Bulgarelli , Angelo Domenghini , Sandro Mazzola , Pierino Prati , Luigi Riva . Coach: Ferruccio Valcareggi

All-Star Team

An official UEFA All-Star team of the most valuable players in a tournament was first elected at the 1996 European Championship in England. The following players were selected by UEFA in 2011 for the EM 1968 team.

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Dino Zoff	Giacinto Facchetti Mirsad Fazlagić Bobby Moore Albert Schesternjow	Sandro Mazzola Ivica Osim	Angelo Domenghini Dragan Džajić Geoff Hurst Luigi Riva

List of goalscorers (final round)

rank	player	Gates
1	Dragan Džajic	2
2	Pietro Anastasi	1
	Bobby Charlton	1
	Angelo Domenghini	1
	Geoff Hurst	1
	Luigi Riva	1

The top scorer of the entire competition was the Italian Luigi Riva with seven goals.

Web links

• Euro 1968 on uefa.com
• All data on rsssf.com (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "First European Football Championship drawn" in "Volkszeitung Kärnten" No. 44 of February 24, 1966, page 7, columns 3 and 4, center
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ European Football Championship 1968 Final. In: uefa.com. August 17, 2000, archived from the original on August 17, 2000 ; accessed on June 28, 2016 . 
4. ^ European Football Championship 1968 Final Replay. In: uefa.com. August 29, 2000, archived from the original on August 29, 2000 ; accessed on June 28, 2016 . 
5. ^ Team of the 1968 tournament. In: uefa.com. UEFA, April 1, 2011, accessed September 5, 2014 .