Euro 1996 Championships - Review & History
Euro '96 and those immortal words sung by Baddiel, Skinner, the Lightening Seeds and almost the entire English nation - "Football's Coming Home" , the European Championships had arrived in England! However, as so many times in the past, it was the Germany who carried off the spoils!
Euro 1996 was the first European Championship to introduce the current format of 16 countries competing in the final tournament. Fifteen teams had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.
The winner and the runner-up of each group qualified automatically, with the exception of the two worst runners-up. These two teams had to play an additional playoff between them (single match in neutral ground), to determine the 16th team to join all others in the final tournament. This was between Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool which the Dutch won 2-0.
The first round group stage went mainly as most observers would have expected, with almost all the major teams qualifying for the quarter-finals. The only exceptions to this were the failures of Italy (from the "Group of Death" which also had Germany and the Czech Republic in it) and defending champions Denmark. The hosts England, after a slow start against Switzerland, defeated arch rivals Scotland and then defeated the Netherlands 4-1 with a superb performance to qualify.
However, the knock-out stages were marked for their generally uninspiring play. Only 9 goals were scored in the 7 matches, with four of the games decided by penalty shoot-outs (three of them without goals). The semi-final between England and Germany ultimately ended in disappointment for the home side, as Germany beat England on penalties!
The Euro '96 final was held at Wembley and featured Germany and the surprise of the tournament - the Czech Republic. In the end, it was a triumph for German striker Oliver Bierhoff, who scored Germany's equaliser in the 2nd half after Patrik Berger's penalty had given the Czechs the lead. As the game went into extra time, it was Bierhoff who scored the first Golden Goal in the history of international football to give Germany another major tournament success.
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Euro 1996 results (Held in England)
Semi-finals
France 0-0 Czech Rep (AET - Czech Rep won 6-5 on penalties)
England 1-1 Germany (AET - Germany won 6-5 on penalties)
FINAL
Germany 2-1 Czech Rep (AET) - Oliver Bierhoff Golden Goal
TOP SCORERS Euro 1996
Alan Shearer (England) 5
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Watch highlights from the Euro 1996 Final Tournament here. We bring you Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne's Wonder Goal against Scotland (re-created due to UEFA!) and all the action from the Euro 1996 Final at Wembley!
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