European Football Championship 1976

European Football Championship 1976
UEFA EURO 76
Number of nations	4  (of 32 applicants)
European champion	Czechoslovakia (1st title)
venue	Yugoslavia
Opening game	June 16, 1976 in Zagreb
Endgame	June 20, 1976 in Belgrade
Games	4th
Gates	19  (⌀: 4.75 per game)
spectator	106,087  (⌀: 26,522 per game)
Top scorer	Dieter Müller (4 goals)
yellow cards	6  (⌀: 1.5 per game)
Red cards	3  (⌀: 0.75 per game)

The final round of the fifth European football championship was held from June 16 to 20, 1976 in Yugoslavia .

Czechoslovakia became European champions in the final in Belgrade against defending champion and reigning world champion Germany . The final, known as Belgrade Night , was the first final in a major tournament to be decided by penalties rather than a replay. Host Yugoslavia failed in the semifinals to Germany. Austria , the GDR and Switzerland failed to qualify. The top scorer was the German Dieter Müller with four goals.

qualification

→ Main article : Qualifying for the 1976 European Football Championship

32 national teams, divided into eight groups, took part in the qualification. The qualifying matches were held in 1974 and 1975. In the run-up to the final round, the group winners played a quarter-finals with a return leg in their respective home countries. The quarter-finals took place in April and May 1976. As in all previous European championships, the host of the final round was only chosen after the four participants in the semi-finals had been determined.

Federal Republic of Germany

The German team played in Group 8 with Greece, Bulgaria and Malta. World champions Germany were in upheaval at the beginning of the qualification after the careers of some important players had ended. Remaining players from the world championship had passed their zenith. The first competitive game after the World Cup in 1974 brought only a 2-2 win against Greece. Greece took the lead twice, Germany was able to equalize twice through Bernhard Cullmann and Herbert Wimmer . In the second game, the Germans struggled to a 1-0 win in Malta. The golden goal was scored by Bernd Cullmann from Cologne . At the next game against Bulgaria, the team tensed up again and was able to equalize in the 75th minute with a penalty from Offenbach's Manfred Ritschel .

A turn in the so far poor qualification should bring the first home game against Greece. Jupp Heynckes was able to put the German team in the lead in the second half, but they didn't bring the result over time and played again 1: 1. Heynckes was also the one who scored the only goal against Bulgaria, and after beating Malta 8-0 in their last game, the German team reached the quarter-finals thanks to a win by Malta over Greece.

Germany met Spain in the quarter-finals, played 1-1 in the first leg in Madrid and won the second leg in Munich 2-0. Klaus Toppmöller , at the time one of the many contenders to succeed Gerd Müller , scored the winning goal in his first international match.

GDR

The GDR team hopefully awaited qualification for the European Championship after the respectable successes at the 1974 World Cup. Opponents in Group 7 were Belgium, France and Iceland. But three draws against these opponents and a subsequent defeat in Iceland quickly dashed all hopes. Belgium was able to prevail as the group first despite a home defeat against the GDR.

Austria

Austria played in Group 2 with Wales, Hungary and Luxembourg to reach the quarter-finals. The surprise team of this group was Wales, which could clearly prevail with only one defeat in the opening game against Austria.

Switzerland

The Switzerland played in Group 6 with the Soviet Union, Ireland and Turkey and won only one game against Ireland.

Venues

Belgrade ( Red Star Stadium )	Belgrade Zagreb Venues 1976 in Yugoslavia
Zagreb ( Maksimir Stadium )

Attendees

BR Germany ( squad )

Yugoslavia ( squad )

Netherlands ( squad )

Czechoslovakia ( squad )

Finals

Semifinals

June 16, 1976 in Zagreb ( Maksimir Stadium )
Czechoslovakia	-	Netherlands	3: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 0)

Czechoslovakia seemed unpredictable as the conquerors of England in qualifying and the Netherlands were the clear favorites as runner-up world champions. Defender Anton Ondruš took the lead after just 20 minutes. The Netherlands attacked in a more than tough game, but only an own goal by Czechoslovak captain Anton Ondruš in the 73rd minute brought the Oranje into extra time. Shortly after the Czechoslovaks took a 2-1 lead through their star striker Zdeněk Nehoda in the 114th minute, the Dutch weakened again after Dutchman Willem van Hanegem was sent off in the 115th minute. The referee had to expel one player from each team in the regular playing time ( Johan Neeskens in the 78th minute and Pollák in the 60th minute). Four minutes after the Czechoslovaks had taken the lead, František Veselý decided the game to make it 3-1 and thus sealed the Dutch defeat.

June 17, 1976 in Belgrade ( Red Star Stadium )
Yugoslavia	-	BR Germany	2: 4 n.V. (2: 2, 2: 0)

The German team also struggled to get into this semi-final after the agony of qualification. The Yugoslavs, who were strong in attack and spurred on by the frenetic audience, were leading 2-0 up to the 30th minute. The Braunschweig Bundesliga professional Danilo Popivoda (19th minute) and the Yugoslav captain Dragan Džajić (30th minute) had presented impressively. In particular, the Yugoslavian wing tongs, which consisted of these two players, made the German team very difficult - Džajić was the clear winner in the duel with Germany's star defender Berti Vogts . After the game, observers spoke of perhaps the best half that a Yugoslav national team had ever delivered. At half-time brought national coach Helmut Schoen to Cologne midfielder Heinz fleas for Mönchengladbach Dietmar Danner . The game of the Germans became much more aggressive and Flea scored the next goal in the 64th minute. In the 79th minute, Schön brought the Cologne center forward Dieter Müller for Herbert Wimmer . It was the 22-year-old's first international match. He ran straight into the Yugoslav penalty area and expected a German corner. The first touch of the ball in the national team by D. Müller brought the 2-2 equalizer. In extra time, the shocked Yugoslavs collapsed and D. Müller scored with two more goals in the 115th and 119th minute, the 4-2 final of a memorable semi-final.

3rd place match

June 19, 1976 in Zagreb ( Maksimir Stadium )
Netherlands	-	Yugoslavia	3: 2 n.V. (2: 2, 2: 1)

The Dutch led 2-0 up to the 39th minute with goals from Ruud Geels in the 27th minute and Willy van de Kerkhof in the 39th minute, but Josip Katalinski's goal just before the break mobilized the Yugoslavs' last strength for the second half. Dragan Džajić only managed to equalize 2-2 in the 82nd minute. The Dutch were physically stronger in extra time and Ruud Geels scored the winning goal with his second goal in the 107th minute.

final

Czechoslovakia - Federal Republic of Germany 2: 2 a.d. (2: 2, 2: 1), 5: 3 i. E.

Czechoslovakia		Germany
	Sunday; June 20, 1976 at 8:15 p.m. CET in Belgrade ( Red Star Stadium ) Spectators: 30,790 Referee: Sergio Gonella ( Italy )   Match report
	Ivo Viktor - Anton Ondruš - Ján Pivarník , Jozef Capkovic , Koloman Gögh - Karol Dobiaš (93. František Veselý ), Jozef Móder , Antonín Panenka - Marián Masný , Ján Švehlík (80. Ladislav Jurkemik ), Zdeněk Nehoda Coach: Václav Jezek	Sepp Maier - Franz Beckenbauer - Berti Vogts , Georg Schwarzenbeck , Bernard Dietz - Herbert Wimmer (46th Heinz Flohe ), Rainer Bonhof , Erich Beer (80th Hans Bongartz ) - Uli Hoeneß , Dieter Müller , Bernd Hölzenbein Trainer: Helmut Schön
	1-0 Ján Švehlík (8th) 2-0 Karol Dobiaš (25th)	2: 1 Dieter Müller (28th) 2: 2 Bernd Hölzenbein (90th)
	penalties shoot
	1: 0 Marián Masný 2: 1 Zdeněk Nehoda 3: 2 Anton Ondruš 4: 3 Ladislav Jurkemik 5: 3 Antonín Panenka	1: 1 Rainer Bonhof 2: 2 Heinz Flohe 3: 3 Hans Bongartz Uli Hoeneß shoots over the goal
	Karol Dobiaš (55th), Jozef Móder (59th)

• See also: Night of Belgrade

The final between world champion and defending champion Germany, in which captain Franz Beckenbauer was the fifth player to play his 100th international match , and the surprise finalist ČSSR began like the semi-finals for the Germans. The Germans looked sedate, while the Czechoslovaks acted more purposefully. Ján Švehlík and Karol Dobiaš achieved the lead to 2-0 by the 25th minute. But again Dieter Müller awakened the Germans' hopes in the 28th minute with his fourth goal in the second international match. The German game still lacked penetration and it was only in the last minute of regular time that Bernd Hölzenbein managed to equalize to 2-2 (90th minute) with a header after the last corner of the game.

Not much happened in extra time. Neither team had clear chances, and for the first time in the history of major football tournaments, a penalty shoot-out was decided . The Czechoslovaks began: Masný, Nehoda, Ondruš and Jurkemik met. Rainer Bonhof , Heinz Flohe and Hans Bongartz scored for the Germans , while Uli Hoeneß missed the score 3: 4. Now only Antonín Panenka had to convert and the Czechoslovaks were European champions. Panenka lured Sepp Maier into a corner and lifted the ball into the middle of the goal. Thus Czechoslovakia had defeated world champions Germany in the final of the European championship in 1976.

The European champions

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Ivo Viktor	Anton Ondruš Jozef Čapkovič Karol Dobiaš Ján Pivarník	Koloman Gögh Ladislav Jurkemik Jozef Móder Ján Švehlík Marián Masný Antonín Panenka	Zdeněk Nehoda František Veselý

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 team was selected by UEFA to compile the best players from the Euro 1976:

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Ivo Viktor	Ján Pivarník Anton Ondruš Ruud Krol Franz Beckenbauer	Rainer Bonhof Jaroslav Pollák Antonín Panenka Dragan Džajić	Dieter Müller Zdeněk Nehoda

List of goalscorers (final round)

rank	player	Gates
1	Dieter Müller	4th
2	Dragan Džajic	2
	Ruud Geels	2
4th	Karol Dobiaš	1
	Heinz Flea	1
	Bernd Hölzenbein	1
	Josip Katalinski	1
	Zdeněk Nehoda	1
	Anton Ondruš	1
	Danilo Popivoda	1
	Ján Švehlík	1
	Willy van de Kerkhof	1
	František Veselý	1
	Anton Ondruš	ET

The top scorer of the entire competition was the Irishman Don Givens with 8 goals.

Web links

Commons : UEFA Euro 1976  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about the 1976 tournament on uefa.com
• Details on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: Ten Czechoslovaks defeat nine Dutch. In: uefa.com. November 3, 2003, accessed February 25, 2016 . 
2. ↑ uefa.com: Müller celebrates dream debut for Germany. In: uefa.com. November 3, 2003, accessed February 25, 2016 . 
3. ↑ uefa.com: Netherlands wins crime thriller by third place. In: uefa.com. November 3, 2003, accessed February 25, 2016 . 
4. ↑ uefa.com: Panenka dethrones the defending champion. In: uefa.com. November 3, 2003, accessed February 25, 2016 . 
5. ↑ uefa.com: UEFA EURO 2016 Finals - UEFA.com. In: uefa.com. June 1, 2011, accessed October 28, 2015 .