World Cup Corner

When it comes to European nations and international football the UEFA European Football Championships is the most important. This championship occurs every four years and has been going on since 1960. Today this tournament is one of the world’s most prestigious however it has changed significantly since its beginning.

The French Football Association first brought up the idea of a European Championship competition back in 1927 by Henri Delaunay. However, the first qualifying rounds did not take place until 1958. These occurred on a home and away basis and it was immediate knockout for the losers. This resulted in a final stage made up of four teams that resulted in semi final games and an ultimate final game to determine the winner.

The UEFA was hosted for the first time in France in 1960 and the Soviet Union won after beating out Yugoslavia. The first tournament was hosted in France to honor Henri Delauney who initiated the plans for such an event.

The following European Nation’s Cup, which is what the tournament was called originally, was hosted by Spain in 1964. Hosting the tournament had its affect on the teams because Spain beat Soviet Union 2-1 during the final game in Madrid. The new name of the tournament, the UEFA European Football Championship, would be in place for the next tournament in Italy in 1968. Some other changes took place as well. This included a change in format so that the eight different groups played at home and away and the winner of the group then progressed to the quarter finals. The quarter finals resulted in the winners that went to Italy to the semi finals and the ultimate final game. The first final resulted in a tie between Italy and Yugoslavia so the replay game was won by Italy 2-0.

In 1972 the UEFA European Football Championship was hosted in Belgium and the Henri Delaunay trophy was won by West Germany after scoring three goals on the Soviet Union in the final game. In 1976 the final game included West Germany once again however a penalty shootout resulted in their downfall and Czechoslovakia’s win.