Sport and Leisure/UEFA European Championship

The idea for a pan-European football tournament was first proposed by the French Football Federation's secretary-general Henri Delaunay in 1927, but it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started, three years after Delaunay's death. In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him

1960 France

Qualifying competition

The 1960 UEFA European Nations' Cup was the first European Football Championship. Just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy and England among them

Czechoslovakia beat Republic of Ireland in Preliminary round

Spain, still under Francisco Franco's far-right dictatorship, refused to travel to the Soviet Union, and withdrew from the tournament

Semi-finals

France 4 Yugoslavia 5

Czechoslovakia 0 Soviet Union 3

Third place playoff

Czechoslovakia 2 France 0

Final

Soviet Union 2 Yugoslavia 1. Played at Parc des Princes, Paris

Winning captain – Igor Netto

Winning manager – Gavriil Kachalin

Referee – Arthur Ellis (England)

Top scorer(s) all with 2 goals: Viktor Ponedelnik, Milan Galić, Dražan Jerković, Valentin Ivanov, François Heutte

1964 Spain

Qualifying competition

29 teams entered the 1964 European Nations' Cup. The teams played home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known

England drew 1-1 with France at Hillsborough, but lost the second leg 5-2 in Paris

Luxembourg beat Netherlands, but lost to Denmark in the quarter-finals after a replay

Greece withdrew after being drawn against Albania, with whom they were still at war

Semi-finals

Spain 2 Hungary 1

Denmark 0 Soviet Union 3

Third place playoff

Hungary 3 Denmark 1

Final

Spain 2 Soviet Union 1. Played at Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid

Winning captain – Ferran Olivella

Winning manager – Jose Villalonga

Referee: Arthur Holland (England)

Top scorer(s) all with 2 goals: Jesús María Pereda, Ferenc Bene, Dezső Novák

1968 Italy

Qualifying competition

The tournament changed its name from the European Nations' Cup to the European Championship

There were some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase, with eight groups. The quarter-finals were played by the group winners in two legs on a home-and-away basis

Group 8's results were formed by combining the results of the 1967 and 1968 British Home Championships

England beat Spain in the quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Italy 0 Soviet Union 0. Italy won on a coin toss

England 0 Yugoslavia 1

Third place playoff

England 2 (Charlton, Hurst) Soviet Union 0

Final

Italy 1 Yugoslavia 1. Played at Olympic Stadium, Rome

Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)

Replay – Italy 2 Yugoslavia 0. Played at Olympic Stadium, Rome

Winning captain – Giacinto Facchetti

Winning manager – Ferruccio Valcareggi

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Top scorer: Dragan Džajić (2 goals)

1972 Belgium

Qualifying competition

In the quarter-finals, England lost 3-1 at home to West Germany, with Francis Lee scoring for England. The second leg, played in Berlin, was a 0-0 draw

Semi-finals

Belgium 1 West Germany 2

Hungary 0 Soviet Union 1

Third place playoff

Belgium 2 Hungary 1

Final

West Germany 3 Soviet Union 0. Played at Heysel Stadium, Brussels

Winning captain – Franz Beckenbauer

Winning manager – Helmut Schon

Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

Top scorer: West Germany Gerd Müller (4 goals) - two goals in the semi-final and two goals in the final

1976 Yugoslavia

Qualifying competition

The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which only four teams took part in the final tournament, and the last in which the hosts had to qualify

Czechoslovakia finished a point ahead of England in Group 1

Malcolm Macdonald scored five goals in a match against Cyprus

Wales won Group 2, but lost in the quarter-finals to Yugoslavia

Semi-finals

Czechoslovakia 3 Netherlands 1

Yugoslavia 2 West Germany 4

Dieter Muller scored a hat-trick for West Germany

Third place playoff

Netherlands 3 Yugoslavia 2

Final

Czechoslovakia 2 West Germany 2. Played at Marakana Stadium, Belgrade

Czechoslovakia won 5-3 on penalties

Winning captain – Anton Ondrus

Winning manager – Vaclav Jezek

Referee: Sergio Gonella (Italy)

Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout. Uli Hoeness missed, and Antonin Panenka scored the winning penalty, with an audacious chip over Sepp Maier which is now known as a “Panenka penalty”

It was the first and only time that all four matches in the final tournament were decided after extra time, either on penalties or by goals scored

Top scorer: Dieter Müller (4 goals)

1980 Italy

Qualifying competition

The competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, hosted by Italy for the second time. It involved a group stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final, and the runners-up playing in the third place play-off

England were undefeated in Group 1, with Kevin Keegan scoring seven goals

Group stage

West Germany won Group A, with Klaus Allofs scoring a hat-trick against Netherlands

England finished third in Group B, after a 1-1 draw against Belgium, a 1-0 loss to Italy, and a 2-1 win against Spain

Third place playoff

Czechoslovakia 1 Italy 1

Czechoslovakia won 9-8 on penalties

Final

West Germany 2 Belgium 1 Played at Olympic Stadium, Rome

Horst Hrubesch scored both goals for West Germany

Winning captain – Bernard Dietz

Winning manager – Jupp Derwall

Referee: Nicolae Rainea (Romania)

The official mascot was Pinocchio. First mascot in the European Championship

Top scorer: Klaus Allofs (3 goals)

1984   France

Qualifying competition

England beat Luxembourg 9-0, with Luther Blissett scoring a hat-trick

Denmark qualified after beating England 1-0 at Wembley, with Allan Simonsen scoring the winning goal

Northern Ireland failed to qualify, despite beating West Germany both home and away

Spain went into the very last match needing to beat Malta by eleven goals in order to qualify ahead of the Netherlands. Spain won the match 12-1

Group stage

Group A was won by France, with Michel Platini scoring hat-tricks against Belgium and Yugoslavia

Spain won Group B, after beating West Germany in their final match

Semi-finals

France 3 Portugal 2

This match is often considered one of the best matches in the history of the European Championship. Michel Platini scored the winning goal after 119 minutes

Spain 1 Denmark 1

Spain won 5-4 on penalties

Final

France 2 Spain 0. Played at Parc des Princes, Paris

Winning captain – Michel Platini

Winning manager – Michel Hidalgo

Referee: Vojtech Christov (Czechoslovakia)

Top scorer: Michel Platini (9 goals)

1988 West Germany

Qualifying competition

England were unbeaten in Group 4. They beat Northern Ireland both home and away, and beat Turkey 8-0 with Gary Lineker scoring a hat-trick

Group stage

In Group A, West Germany and Italy were both unbeaten

In Group B, England lost their opening match to Republic of Ireland, with Ray Houghton scoring the only goal. England then lost 3-1 to Netherlands, with Bryan Robson scoring for England, and Marco van Basten scoring a hat-trick. England lost their final match 3-1 to Soviet Union, with Tony Adams scoring the England goal. Republic of Ireland failed to qualify after losing their final match 1-0 to Netherlands

Semi-finals

West Germany 1 Netherlands 2

First time Netherlands had beaten West Germany in a competitive match

Soviet Union 2 Italy 0

Final

Netherlands 2 (Gullit, Van Basten) Russia 0. Played at Olympic Stadium, Munich

Van Basten's goal would later be described as one of the greatest goals in the history of the European Championships

Winning captain – Ruud Gullit

Winning manager – Rinus Michels

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

Top scorer: Marco van Basten (5 goals)

Euro 88 was a rare instance of a major football tournament ending without a single sending-off or goalless draw, nor any knockout matches going to extra time or penalties

1992 Sweden

Qualifying competition

Sweden were chosen over Spain to host the event

England qualified ahead of Republic of Ireland, with both teams being unbeaten

Scotland qualified for the finals for the first time

Germany qualified, despite losing to Wales 1-0 in Cardiff, with Ian Rush scoring the only goal

The Soviet Union qualified for the finals shortly before the break-up of the country, and took part in the tournament under the banner of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Originally, Yugoslavia qualified for the final stage, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group's runner-up, Denmark, took part in the championship

Group stage

In Group 1, England drew 0-0 with Denmark and France, and lost 2-1 to Sweden with David Platt scoring for England and Tomas Brolin scoring the late winner for Sweden

In Group 2, Scotland lost 1-0 to Netherlands and 2-0 to Germany, then beat CIS 3-0 with goals from McStay, McClair and McAllister

Semi-finals

Sweden 2 Germany 3

Karl-Heinz Riedle scored twice for Germany

Netherlands 2 Denmark 2

Denmark won 5-4 on penalies. Van Basten was the only player to miss in the penalty shoot-out, his penalty being saved by Peter Schmeichel

Final

Denmark 2 (Jensen, Vilfort) Germany 0. Played at Ullevi, Gothenburg

Winning captain – Lars Olsen

Winning manager – Richard Moller Nielsen

Referee: Bruno Galler (Switzerland)

Top scorers: Dennis Bergkamp, Tomas Brolin, Henrik Larsen, Karl-Heinz Riedle (3 goals each)

This was the last tournament with only eight participants, the last to award the winner of a match with only two points, and the last tournament before the introduction of the back-pass rule

1996 England

Qualifying competition

This was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists

Scotland finished second to Russia in Group 8, but qualified as one of the best runners-up

The bottom two runners-up took part in a play-off on a neutral ground to determine the final team to qualify. Netherlands defeated Republic of Ireland 2-0 at Anfield, with Patrick Kluivert scoring both goals

Group stage

The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the four groups progressed to the quarter-finals

England 1 (Shearer) Switzerland 1

England 2 (Shearer, Gascoigne) Scotland 0

Gascoigne received the ball from Darren Anderton outside the Scotland penalty area, flicked the ball over Colin Hendry with his left foot and changed direction; Hendry was completely wrong-footed and, as the ball dropped, Gascoigne volleyed it with his right foot past Andy Goram. The goal was followed by the "dentist's chair" celebration

England 4 (Shearer (2), Sheringham (2)) Netherlands 1

Patrick Kluivert's late goal for the Netherlands secured second place in the group and ensured that Scotland would exit another major competition on goal difference

Scotland’s only goal in the tournament was scored by Ally McCoist, against Switzerland

Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a group stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal

Quarter-finals

England 0 Spain 0

England won 4-2 on penalties. Pearce scored, having missed a penalty against Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final. David Seaman saved two penalties

France 0 Netherlands 0

France won 5-4 on penalties

Clarence Seedorf was the only player to miss a penalty in the shoot-out

Germany 2 Croatia 1

Czech Republic 1 Portugal 0

Semi-finals

France 0 Czech Republic 0

Czech Republic won 6-5 on penalties

England 1 (Shearer) Germany 1 (Kuntz)

Germany won 6-5 on penalties

Shearer, Platt, Pearce, Gascoigne and Sheringham scored. Southgate missed

Andreas Moller scored the winning penalty

Final

Germany 2 (Bierhoff (2)) Czech Republic 1 (Berger). Played at Wembley Stadium

Germany won the tournament, with a golden goal during extra time; this was the first major competition to be decided using this method. This was Germany's first major title won as a unified nation

Winning captain – Jurgen Klinsmann

Winning manager – Berti Vogts

Golden Boot – Alan Shearer (5 goals)

Player of the tournament – Matthias Sammer (Germany)

The official mascot was Goaliath, who was designed in a similar fashion to World Cup Willie

2000 Belgium and Netherlands

Qualifying competition

England finished as runners-up to Sweden in Group 5, and faced Scotland in a play-off over two legs

Scotland 0 England 2 (Scholes (2)); England 0 Scotland 1 (Hutchison)

Group stage

Portugal 3 England 2 (Scholes, McManaman)

England were 2-0 up after18 minutes

England 1 (Shearer) Germany 0

Romania 3 England 2 (Shearer, Owen); Ganea scored the winning penalty for Romania in the 89th minute

Denmark's three losses with eight goals conceded and none scored set a new record for the worst team performance in the group stages of a European Championship

Quarter-finals

Portugal 2 Turkey 0

Italy 2 Romania 0

Netherlands 6 Yugoslavia 1; Kluivert scored a hat-trick

France 2 Spain 1

Semi-finals

France 2 Portugal 1

Winning goal scored by Zidane in extra time

Italy 0 Netherlands 0; Italy won 3-1 on penalties. Jap Stam missed a penalty which was described by the BBC as "one of the worst spot kicks ever"

Final

France 2 (Wiltord, Trezeguet) Italy 1 (Delvecchio). Played at Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam

France won the tournament, with a golden goal during extra time

Winning captain – Didier Deschamps

Winning manager – Roger Lemerre

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

Golden Boot – Patrick Kluivert and Savo Milosevic (5 goals)

Player of the tournament – Zinedene Zidane

2004 Portugal

Qualifying competition

England were unbeaten in their qualifying group, finishing one point ahead of Turkey

Latvia made its first appearance in a major football competition, while Greece returned to the European Championship finals after a 24-year absence

For the first time in an international football tournament, the silver goal system was applied, whereby the team that led the game at the half-time break during the extra time period would be declared the winner

Group stage

England 1 (Lampard) France 2; Zidane scored twice for France in stoppage time

England 3 (Rooney (2), Gerrard) Switzerland 0

England 4 (Rooney (2), Scholes, Lampard) Croatia 2

Germany failed to advance from the group stage for the second consecutive time

Czech Republic were the only team to win all three of their group matches

Quarter-finals

Portugal 2 England 2 (Owen, Lampard); Portugal won 6-5 on penalties

Beckham and Vassell missed in the penalty shoot-out. Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo scored the deciding penalty

Greece 1 France 0

Netherlands 0 Sweden 0

Netherlands won 5-4 on penalties

Czech Republic 3 Denmark 0

Semi-finals

Portugal 2 Netherlands 1

Greece 1 Czech Republic 0

Traianos Dellas scored the first and only silver goal in a European Championship

Final

Greece 1 (Charisteas) Portugal 0. Played at Stadium of Light, Lisbon

Winning captain – Theodoros Zagorakis

Winning manager – Otto Rehhagel

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

Golden Boot – Milan Baros (5 goals)

Player of the tournament – Theodoros Zagorakis

2008 Austria and Switzerland

Qualifying competition

Croatia and Russia qualified from Group E, after England lost their final game 3-2 at home to Croatia with Petric scoring the winning goal

Northern Ireland failed to qualify, despite David Healy being the leading scorer in qualifying with 13 goals

Poland qualified for the first time

Group stage

Greece lost all three matches

Austria and Switzerland both failed to qualify, making Euro 2008 the first European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in the knockout phase

Quarter-finals

Germany 3 Portugal 2

Turkey 1 Croatia 1; Turkey won 3-1 on penalties

Spain 0 Italy 0; Spain won 4-2 on penalties

Russia 3 Netherlands 1

Semi-finals

Germany 3 Turkey 2

Spain 3 Russia 0

Final

Spain 1 (Torres) Germany 0 Played at Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna

Winning captain – Iker Casillas

Winning manager – Luis Aragones

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Golden Boot – David Villa (Spain) (4 goals)

Golden Ball – Xavi (Spain)

The official mascots were Trix and Flix

The match ball, manufactured by Adidas, was named the Europass

2012 Poland and Ukraine

Qualifying competition

Ukraine made their debut as an independent nation

England were unbeaten in their qualifying group, and beat Wales twice

Republic of Ireland finished as runners-up to Russia, and beat Estonia in a play-off

Group stage

England 1 (Lescott) France 1 (Nasri)

England 3 (Carroll, Walcott, Welbeck) Sweden 2; Glen Johnson scored the only own goal of the tournament

England 1 (Rooney) Ukraine 0

Ukraine were denied a goal when Dević's shot was hooked clear from behind the England goal-line by John Terry

Ashley Cole set a new record of 21 appearances in tournaments for England

Ukraine vs France match suspended due to a thunderstorm

Germany were the only team to win all three matches

Netherlands and Republic of Ireland lost all three matches

As at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, both 2012 host nations were eliminated in the group stage

Quarter-finals

England 0 Italy 0; Italy won 4-2 on penalties; Gerrard and Rooney scored penalties. Young and Cole missed penalties

Germany 4 Greece 2

Spain 2 France 0

Portugal 1 Czech Republic 0

Semi-finals

Italy 2 (Balotelli (2)) Germany 1 (Ozil)

Spain 0 Portugal 0; Spain won 4-2 on penalties

Final

Spain 4 (Silva, Alba, Torres, Mata) Italy 0. Played at Olympic Stadium, Kiev

Winning captain – Iker Casillas

Winning manager – Vicente del Bosque

Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Golden Boot – Fernando Torres (Spain) (3 goals)

Golden Ball – Andres Iniesta (Spain)

Spain became the first team to win two consecutive European Championships, and also three straight major tournaments (Euro 2008, 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012)

The official mascots were Slavek and Slavko, twins that wore the national colours of the two host nations

The match ball, manufactured by Adidas, was named the Tango 12

2016 France

Qualifying competition

France was chosen as the host nation in 2010, after a bidding process in which they beat Italy and Turkey for the right to host the finals

For the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. Under this new format, the finalists contested a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage including three rounds and the final

Five teams secured their first-ever qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament: Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales

England won all 10 qualifying matches in Group E

Republic of Ireland beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in a play-off

Scotland were the only team from the British Isles not to qualify for the finals

Former winners Greece, Netherlands and Denmark all failed to qualify

Group stage

England 1 (Dier) Russia 1. Played in Marseilles

Russia given suspended qualification following crowd trouble during match against England

England 2 (Vardy, Sturridge) Wales 1 (Bale). Played in Lens

First time that England have won a game coming from behind in a major tournament

England 0 Slovakia 0. Played in St Etienne

Northern Ireland 2 Ukraine 0

Ireland 1 (Brady) Italy 0

Croatia 2 Spain 1. First defeat for Spain in the tournament since 2004

No teams won all their matches

Ukraine were the only team to gain no points and score no goals

Wales beat Slovakia and Russia. Gareth Bale scored in all three games

Granit Xhaka of Switzerland played against his brother Taulant Xhaka of Albania

Albania won their first ever match at a major championships, beating Romania

Iceland won their first ever match at a major championships, beating Austria

Round of 16

England 1 (Rooney) Iceland 2 (Sigurdsson, Sigthorsson). Played in Nice

Roy Hodgson resigned as England manager

Wales 1 (McAuley o.g.) Northern Ireland 0. Referee – Martin Atkinson

France 2 (Griezmann (2)) Ireland 1 (Brady)

Italy 2 Spain 0

Quarter-finals

Portugal 1 Poland 1; Portugal won 5-3 on penalties

Wales 3 (Williams, Robson-Kanu, Vokes) Belgium 1

Lukaku brothers (Jordan and Romelu) played for Belgium

Germany 1 Italy 1; Germany won 6-5 on penalties; Germany missed three penalties in shootout

France 5 Iceland 2

Semi-finals

Portugal 2 (Ronaldo, Nani) Wales 0

France 2 (Griezmann (2)) Germany 0

Final

Portugal 1 (Eder) France 0. Played at Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Winning captain – Ronaldo

Winning manager – Fernando Santos

Referee – Mark Clattenburg

Golden Boot – Antoine Griezmann (France) (6 goals)

Golden Ball – Dimitri Payet (France)

Young Player – Reanto Sanches (Portugal)

The official mascot was Super Victor, a child superhero in the kit of the France national football team, with a red cape at the back

The match ball, manufactured by Adidas, was named the Beau Jeu

2020 Pan-European

The tournament is being hosted in several nations is a one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the European Championship competition. Wembley Stadium will host the semi-finals and final of the tournament.

The tournament, to be held in 12 cities in 12 UEFA countries, was originally scheduled to take place from June to July 2020. In March 2020, UEFA announced that the tournament would be postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic