Euro 1960 Championships - Review & History
The current UEFA European Championship format bears little resemblence to the inaugural Euro event of 44 years ago - even the tournament name has been changed!
The 1960 UEFA European Football Championship, then called the European Nations Cup, was conceived by French Football Federation secretary Henri Delaunay, whom after the Euro trophy is still named. UEFA invited countries to enter the qualifying stages from 1958 onwards, with a view to a four-team event to be staged in France in 1960.
The 1960 tournament was a knockout competition; just 17 teams entered with some notable absentees including the former West Germany and Italy amongst them. The teams would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals where the final four teams would move on to the finals, the host nation was selected after these four teams became known.
Spain refused to travel to the Soviet Union and pulled out of the tournament, so the final four had three Eastern European countries: USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France. In the semi-finals, the Soviets defeated Czechoslovakia 3-0 in Marseille. The other semi-final saw Yugoslavia triumph 5-4 over the French! Following their exit from the tournament, Czechoslovakia beat the hosts France 2-0 to take third place.
In the final, Yugoslavia scored the first goal, but the Soviet's, inspired by their world acclaimed goalkeeper Lev Yashin, drew level in the 49th minute. At the end of normal time the score was 1-1, but Viktor Ponedelnik scored for the Soviet Union with seven minutes remaining in extra time to lead the Soviet Union to the inaugural European Championship title.
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Euro 1960 Nations Cup results (Held in France)
Semi-finals
France 4-5 Yugoslavia
Soviet Union 3-0 Czechoslovakia
Third place play-off
France 0-2 Czechoslovakia
FINAL
Soviet Union 2-1 Yugoslavia (AET)
TOP SCORERS 1960
Ivanov (Former USSR) 2
Jerkovic (Former Yugoslavia) 2
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