European Football Championship 1984

European Football Championship 1984
UEFA EURO 84
Number of nations	8  (of 33 applicants)
European champion	France (1st title)
venue	France
Opening game	June 12, 1984 in Paris
Endgame	June 27, 1984 in Paris
Games	15th
Gates	41  (⌀: 2.73 per game)
spectator	599,669  (⌀: 39,978 per game)
Top scorer	Michel Platini (9 goals)
yellow cards	32  (⌀: 2.13 per game)
Red cards	3  (⌀: 0.2 per game)

The finals of the 7th European Football Championship took place in France from June 12 to June 27, 1984 . European champions became host France with a victory over Spain in the final in Paris. Defending champion Germany failed in the group stage. Austria , the GDR and Switzerland failed to qualify. The top scorer was the Frenchman Michel Platini , who not only set the record for the most goals in a European Championship finals with nine goals, but has also been the record scorer at the European Championships since then. He was also voted Europe's Footballer of the Year in the same year as the year before .

Third place has not been played out since this European Championship; on the other hand, a semi-final of the two group first and second will be played again. France were automatically qualified to host.

Award

France , Germany , England and Greece were interested in hosting the 1984 European Championship .

The favorites were Germany (had already tried to organize at the two previous European Championships) and France. The main reason why UEFA opted for France was that if it were to host the country, it would have a chance to expand its outdated stadiums and build new ones through government grants.

This decision has been widely criticized. Karl-Heinz Heimann , columnist for the specialist magazine Kicker , described the decision as “development aid for French football” and an “affront to German football”.

The qualification of the German speaking teams

→ Main article : Qualifying for the 1984 European Football Championship

Germany and Austria

The team from the Federal Republic of Germany met in Group 6 against Austria , Northern Ireland, Turkey and Albania. The Austrians started the qualification well, in contrast to the German team. After their defeat in the first game against Northern Ireland with 0: 1 followed a narrow 2: 1 success in Albania. The second leg in Gelsenkirchen between Germany and Austria should be a decisive match (first leg 0-0). The German team started very powerfully and led by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 1-0 after just four minutes. Rudi Völler increased to 3-0 in the 19th and 21st minute. So the game was quickly decided. Austria failed after further defeats in Northern Ireland and Turkey.

The German team put themselves under pressure when they lost 1-0 to Northern Ireland a second time in Hamburg . In the last game against Albania, for example, a victory was essential to push Northern Ireland from the top of the table. The shock was deep when Albania took the lead in Saarbrücken in the 23rd minute . Rummenigge was able to equalize a minute later, but the team was very insecure and ran the risk of running into counterattacks . It was only in the 80th minute that Cologne central defender Gerd Strack released the German fans with his header for a 2-1 victory.

GDR and Switzerland

The GDR team played in Group 1 against Switzerland , Belgium and Scotland. The Belgians dominated the group and the GDR, like Switzerland, did not have the slightest chance of qualifying for the tournament in France.

Venues

Lens ( Stade Félix-Bollaert ) Capacity: 51,100	Lens Lyon Marseille Nantes Paris Saint-Etienne Strasbourg Venues 1984 in France
Paris ( Prinzenpark ) Capacity: 48,400
Strasbourg ( Stade de la Meinau ) Capacity: 54,500
Nantes ( Stade de la Beaujoire ) Capacity: 52,000
Saint-Étienne ( Stade Geoffroy-Guichard ) Capacity: 52,200
Lyon ( Stade Gerland ) Capacity: 51,200
Marseille ( Stade Vélodrome ) Capacity: 56,300

Attendees

Group 1	Group 2
France ( squad )	Spain ( squad )
Denmark ( squad )	Portugal ( squad )
Belgium ( squad )	BR Germany ( squad )
Yugoslavia ( squad )	Romania ( squad )

Preliminary round

Group 1

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	France	3	3	0	0	009: 200	+7	06-00
2.	Denmark	3	2	0	1	008: 300	+5	04: 20
3.	Belgium	3	1	0	2	004: 800	−4	02: 40
4th	Yugoslavia	3	0	0	3	002:100	−8	00: 60

June 12, 1984 in Paris (Prinzenparkstadion)
France	-	Denmark	1: 0 (0: 0)
June 13, 1984 in Lens (Stade Félix-Bollaert)
Belgium	-	Yugoslavia	2: 0 (2: 0)
June 16, 1984 in Nantes (Stade de la Beaujoire)
France	-	Belgium	5: 0 (3: 0)
June 16, 1984 in Lyon (Stade Gerland)
Denmark	-	Yugoslavia	5: 0 (2: 0)
June 19, 1984 in Saint-Étienne (Stade Geoffroy-Guichard)
France	-	Yugoslavia	3: 2 (0: 1)
June 19, 1984 in Strasbourg (Stade de la Meinau)
Denmark	-	Belgium	3: 2 (1: 2)

Host France around Michel Platini was a big favorite. At the Soccer World Cup in Spain in 1982 , the French were still unhappy in the semi-finals - after a penalty shoot-out - failed by Germany. Now the team of coach Michel Hidalgo finally wanted the first title. In the opening game, the team met the sensation team of the qualification, Denmark (they had knocked out England with a 1-0 win at Wembley ) under the German coach Josef Piontek and found it surprisingly difficult. Former Allan Simonsen from Mönchengladbach had bad luck on the side of the Danes. He broke his leg in the first half and that ended the tournament for him. Platini managed to redeem the French fans in the Paris Prinzenparkstadion with his goal to make it 1-0 in the 78th minute. The young left defender Manuel Amoros was sent off shortly before the end. The French and Danes showed enthusiastic attacking football in the further course of the group.

On the last day of the group - France was the first team to qualify for the semi-finals - the Danes and Belgians fought a thrilling duel for second place in the table in the decisive match. Although the Belgian team were able to take a 2-0 lead, the Danes then had nothing more to oppose and lost 3-2 to Preben Elkjær Larsen's decisive goal.

Group 2

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	3	1	2	0	003: 200	+1	04: 20
2.	Portugal	3	1	2	0	002: 100	+1	04: 20
3.	BR Germany	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	03: 30
4th	Romania	3	0	1	2	002: 400	−2	01: 50
For 1st and 2nd place the number of goals scored in all group matches is decisive.

June 14, 1984 in Strasbourg (Stade de la Meinau)
BR Germany	-	Portugal	0-0
June 14, 1984 in Saint-Étienne (Stade Geoffroy-Guichard)
Romania	-	Spain	1: 1 (1: 1)
June 17, 1984 in Lens (Stade Félix-Bollaert)
BR Germany	-	Romania	2: 1 (1: 0)
June 17, 1984 in Marseille (Stade Vélodrome)
Portugal	-	Spain	1: 1 (0: 0)
June 20, 1984 in Paris (Prinzenparkstadion)
BR Germany	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 0)
June 20, 1984 in Nantes (Stade de la Beaujoire)
Portugal	-	Romania	1: 0 (0: 0)

Germany disappointed immensely in the first group game against Portugal. In a boring game, the team couldn't get to game-changing scenes. She won against Romania with two goals from Rudi Völler. The 19-year-old Gheorghe Hagi played for Romania in the first half . This success gave Germany an advantage over Spain before the last group game. A draw would have been enough to advance to the semi-finals. The Germans had some chances to take the lead. They were shocked in the final stages of the first half when the Czechoslovak referee Vojtěch Christov gave a penalty against Germany, which Toni Schumacher parried against Carrasco. Luck stood by the German team until the 89th minute, but then a cross from the Spaniards landed on the head of their Libero Maceda and from there in the goal of the German team. The reigning European champion was already eliminated in the preliminary round. The national coach Jupp Derwall , who was mainly to blame for leaving, announced his resignation a little later; he was replaced by Franz Beckenbauer .

Final round

Semifinals

June 23, 1984 in Marseille ( Stade Vélodrome )
France	-	Portugal	3: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 0)

The first semi-final was the most dramatic game of this European Championship. France charged a counterattacked Portuguese team for 120 minutes, and yet Portugal seemed like the sure winner until the closing stages of extra time. France took the lead in the first half with a goal from Jean-François Domergue (24th minute), after which Portugal's equalizer in the 74th minute through center forward Rui Jordão came as a shock. In extra time, France pressed the goal of goalkeeper Manuel Bento permanently and ran into a counterattack in the 98th minute, which Rui Jordão converted to 2-1 for Portugal. Michel Platini pushed his side even harder and their efforts were rewarded with a second goal from Domergue in the 114th minute. Platini himself scored the 3-2 winner one minute before the end (119th minute).

June 24, 1984 in Lyon ( Stade Gerland )
Spain	-	Denmark	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 1), 5: 4 i. E.

The surprise team Denmark delighted European football fans in this game too. But Spain was very well occupied on the defensive and held against it. Even after the Danes 1-0 lead in the 7th minute by Søren Lerby , they always remained dangerous due to fast counterattacks and were equalized in the 67th minute by Maceda. After goalless extra time there was a penalty shoot-out with a tragic end for the Danes: Preben Elkjær Larsen missed his penalty and Spain moved into the final.

final

France - Spain 2: 0 (0: 0)

France		Spain
	final Wednesday, June 27, 1984 at 8:00 p.m. in Paris ( Prinzenpark ) Spectators: 47,368 Referee: Vojtěch Christov ( Czechoslovakia )
	Joël Bats - Maxime Bossis - Patrick Battiston (73rd Manuel Amoros ), Yvon Le Roux , Jean-François Domergue - Jean Tigana , Luis Fernández , Michel Platini , Alain Giresse - Bernard Lacombe (80th Bernard Genghini ), Bruno Bellone Trainer: Michel Hidalgo	Luis Arconada - Ricardo Gallego - Santiago Urquiaga , Salva (85th Roberto ), José Antonio Camacho - Juan Señor , Víctor Muñoz , Julio Alberto (77th Manuel Sarabia ), Francisco - Santillana , Francisco Carrasco Trainer: Miguel Muñoz
	1-0 Platini (57th) 2-0 Bellone (90th)
	Fernández (27th), Le Roux (53rd)	Gallego (27.), Carrasco (30.)
	Le Roux (86th)

France was initially surprised in this game by the very offensive style of play of the Spanish. Spain got chances first. Center-forward Santillana , the veteran Real Madrid , led the Spanish team. In the second half, when the French fans were already restless, a fatal mistake by Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada led to France taking the lead. A direct free kick from Michel Platini let Arconada slip through his hands and the ball rolled over the line. The 1-0 lead opened up counter-chances for the French when the Spaniards tried to attack even more , but their central defender Yvon Le Roux got the red card in the 86th minute . In the 90th minute, such a counterattack by left winger Bruno Bellone decided the Paris final. France won its first major title with it.

Honors of the finalists

World Footballer of the Year (unofficial)	Michel Platini
Europe's footballer of the year	Michel Platini (first)
	Jean Tigana (second)
Footballer of the year in France	Jean Tigana

The European champions

France
Joël Bats (5 / -) Maxime Bossis (5 / -) Patrick Battiston (5 / -), Yvon Le Roux (3 / -), Jean-François Domergue (5/2) Jean Tigana (5 / -), Luis Fernández (5/1), Michel Platini (5/9) , Alain Giresse (5/1) Bernard Lacombe (4 / -), Bruno Bellone (3/1) Coach: Michel Hidalgo
also : Philippe Bergeroo (- / -), Albert Rust (- / -) - Manuel Amoros (2 / -) - Daniel Bravo (1 / -), Jean-Marc Ferreri (2 / -), Bernard Genghini (2 / - ), Thierry Tusseau (2 / -) - Dominique Rocheteau (2 / -), Didier Six (3 / -) (in brackets: appearances / goals)

List of goalscorers (final round)

rank player Gates 1  Michel Platini 9 2  Frank Arnesen 3 3  Jean-François Domergue 2  Preben Elkjær Larsen 2  Rui Jordão 2  Antonio Maceda 2  Rudi Völler 2 8th  Bruno Bellone 1  Klaus Berggreen 1  László Bölöni 1  Kenneth Brylle 1  Francisco Carrasco 1  Jan Ceulemans 1

rank player Gates 8th  Marcel Coraș 1  Luis Fernández 1  Alain Giresse 1  Georges Green 1  John Lauridsen 1  Søren Lerby 1  Tamagnini Nené 1  Santillana 1  Miloš Šestić 1  Antonio Sousa 1  Dragan Stojkovic 1  Erwin Vandenbergh 1  Franky Vercauteren 1

The top scorer of the entire competition (including qualification) was also the Frenchman Michel Platini with his 9 goals from the final round.

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. For the compilation of the best players of the Euro 1984 the following team was chosen by UEFA:

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Toni Schumacher	João Domingos Pinto Karlheinz Forester Morten Olsen	Andreas Brehme Fernando Chalana Jean Tigana Michel Platini Frank Arnesen	Rudi Völler Alain Giresse

The Frenchman Michel Platini was named the best player of the tournament. Because of his achievements at this European Championship, Platini was voted Europe's Footballer of the Year by a large margin ; the other two stars of these games, Jean Tigana and Preben Elkjær Larsen , took second and third place.

referee

UEFA nominated 14 referee collectives, of which only the Czechoslovakian was used in two games.

Surname	country	Number d. Games			Remarks
Michel Vautrot	France	1	2	0
Paolo Bergamo	Italy	1	4th	0
George Courtney	England	1	7th	1
Jan Keizer	Netherlands	1	2	0
Erik Fredriksson	Sweden	1	1	0
Alexis Ponnet	Belgium	1	1	0
Heinz Fahnler	Austria	1	3	0
Volker Roth	Germany	1	1	1
Vojtěch Christov	Czechoslovakia	2	5	1	Final referee
Adolf Prokop	GDR	1	1	1
Romualdas Juschka	Soviet Union	1	1	0
Robert Valentine	Scotland	1	2	0
André Daina	Switzerland	1	0	0
Agugusto Lamo Castillo	Spain	1	0	0

literature

• Hardy Greens : European Football Championship encyclopedia. 1960-2008. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-89784-241-6 .
• FUWO: Born 1984, Sportverlag Berlin, ISSN  0323-8407
• Kicker sports magazine : Born in 1984 , Olympia-Verlag GmbH, ISSN  0023-1290

Web links

Commons : UEFA Euro 1984  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about the 1984 tournament on uefa.com
• Details on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: Platini the difference in semi-final thriller. In: uefa.com. October 4, 2003, accessed February 29, 2016 . 
2. ↑ In the match report from weltfussball.de Roberto is not mentioned but Fernández. Those named here are mentioned in the match report from fussballdaten.de , but Le Roux is said to have received yellow-red. There are no warnings in the UEFA match report . The FFF only names the red card for Le Roux.
3. ↑ uefa.com: UEFA EURO 2016 Finals - History - UEFA.com. In: uefa.com. August 8, 2011, accessed October 28, 2015 .