European Football Championship 1996 / Czech Republic

This article covers the Czech national team at the 1996 European Football Championship .

By making it into the final of the European Football Championship in England in 1996, the Czech Republic achieved the greatest success to date in the young history of the independent Czech association. The team only had to admit defeat to Germany in the 5th minute of extra time in the final, when Oliver Bierhoff decided the game with the very first golden goal in an international tournament. In the course of the competition, the future European Footballer of the Year Pavel Nedvěd first attracted international attention.

qualification

Although the young Czech team could only win against Belarus away , the team was able to win with only one game against the football dwarf Luxembourg , one point ahead of the Netherlands and Norway for the first time since the separation from Slovakia qualify for an international soccer tournament.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Czech Republic	10	6th	3	1	021: 600	+15	21st
2.	Netherlands	10	6th	2	2	023: 500	+18	20th
3.	Norway	10	6th	2	2	017: 700	+10	20th
4th	Belarus	10	3	2	5	008:130	−5	11
5.	Luxembourg	10	3	1	6th	003:210	−18	10
6th	Malta	10	0	2	8th	002:220	−20	02

Game results

09/06/1994	Czech Republic	-	Malta	6: 1 (3: 0)
10/12/1994	Malta	-	Czech Republic	0-0
11/16/1994	Netherlands	-	Czech Republic	0-0
03/29/1995	Czech Republic	-	Belarus	4: 2 (2: 1)
04/26/1995	Czech Republic	-	Netherlands	3: 1 (0: 1)

06/07/1995	Luxembourg	-	Czech Republic	1: 0 (0: 0)
08/16/1995	Norway	-	Czech Republic	1: 1 (1: 0)
09/06/1995	Czech Republic	-	Norway	2: 0 (1: 0)
07/10/1995	Belarus	-	Czech Republic	0: 2 (0: 1)
11/15/1995	Czech Republic	-	Luxembourg	3: 0 (1: 0)

Czech contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Petr Kouba	Sparta Prague	01/28/1969	6th	0	0	0	0
16	Pavel Srníček	Newcastle United	03/10/1968	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Ladislav Maier	Slovan Liberec	01/04/1966	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
3	Jan Suchopárek	Slavia Prague	09/23/1969	5	1	2	0	0
5	Miroslav Kadlec	1. FC Kaiserslautern	06/22/1964	5	0	2	0	0
12	Luboš Kubík	FC Petra Drnovice	01/20/1964	3	0	0	0	0
13	Radek Bejbl	Slavia Prague	08/29/1972	5	1	2	0	0
15th	Michal Horňák	Sparta Prague	04/28/1970	6th	0	1	0	0
18th	Martin Kotůlek	SK Sigma Olomouc	09/11/1969	1	0	0	0	0
19th	Karel Rada	SK Sigma Olomouc	03/02/1971	2	0	0	0	0
midfield player
2	Radoslav Látal	FC Schalke 04	01/06/1970	4th	0	1	0	0
4th	Pavel Nedvěd	Sparta Prague	08/30/1972	5	1	3	0	0
6th	Václav Němeček	Servette FC Genève	01/25/1967	4th	0	1	0	0
7th	Jiří Němec	FC Schalke 04	05/15/1966	6th	0	1	0	0
8th	Karel Poborský	Slavia Prague	03/30/1972	6th	1	0	0	0
11	Martin Frýdek	Sparta Prague	03/09/1969	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Patrik Berger	Borussia Dortmund	11/10/1973	6th	1	0	0	0
17th	Vladimír Šmicer	Slavia Prague	May 24, 1973	5	1	1	0	0
20th	Pavel Novotný	Slavia Prague	09/14/1973	1	0	0	0	0
striker
9	Pavel Kuka	1. FC Kaiserslautern	07/19/1968	5	1	2	0	0
10	Radek Drulák	FC Petra Drnovice	01/12/1962	2	0	1	0	0
21st	Milan Kerbr	SK Sigma Olomouc	09/06/1967	0	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Dušan Uhrin		02/05/1943

Czech games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff	Points
1	Germany	3	2	1	0	5-0	+5	7th
2	Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	5: 6	−1	4th
3	Italy	3	1	1	1	3: 3	+0	4th
4th	Russia	3	0	1	2	4: 8	−4	1
For positions 2 and 3, the direct comparison is decisive.

09 June 1996 in Manchester (Old Trafford)
Germany	-	Czech Republic	2: 0 (2: 0)
June 14, 1996 in Liverpool (Anfield)
Czech Republic	-	Italy	2: 1 (2: 1)
June 19, 1996 in Liverpool (Anfield)
Czech Republic	-	Russia	3: 3 (2: 0)

In the preliminary round, the Czech Republic faced runner-up world champions Italy , Germany and Russia in tournament group 3 . The first game against Germany was decided by the Germans in the middle of the first half within 5 minutes. The second game against Italy could be won. This meant that the Czech Republic and Italy each with three points behind the Germans with six points, but they could no longer reach the quarter-finals on their own, as Italy won by one goal against the selection of the DFB Czech Republic in the decisive direct Would have been inferior to both.

At halftime, after goals from Suchopárek and Kuka, the Czech Republic looked like the sure winner, but began, initiated by the follow-up goal by Mostovoi five minutes after the restart, a chase by the Russian team, which even took the lead in the 85th minute. Only the goal of Šmicer in injury time saved a point. In the end, this point was enough because the Italians, considered by many to be the best team in the tournament, could not break the German defensive bar in 90 minutes of the last game.

Quarter finals

June 23, 1996 in Birmingham ( Villa Park )
Czech Republic	-	Portugal	1: 0 (0: 0)

Semifinals

June 26, 1996 in Manchester ( Old Trafford )
Czech Republic	-	France	0: 0 a. E.

final

June 30, 1996 in London ( Wembley Stadium )
Germany	-	Czech Republic	2: 1 n.GG (1: 1, 0: 0)