1996 European Football Championship

The 1996 European Football Championship (or simply Euro 96) was hosted by England. It was the 10th edition of the European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between June 8 and June 30, 1996.

This was the very first edition to introduce the current format of 16 countries disputing the final tournament. 15 had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.

The qualifying round was played throughout 1994 and 1995. There were eight qualifying groups of six teams each, with the exception of group 3, which only had 5. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis.
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.

Venues

• Wembley Stadium, London - Capacity: 80,000
• Villa Park, Birmingham - Capacity: 40,000
• Elland Road, Leeds - Capacity: 43,000
• St. James' Park, Newcastle - Capacity 32,000
• Old Trafford, Manchester - Capacity: 43,000
• Anfield, Liverpool - Capacity: 40,000
• Hillsborough, Sheffield - Capacity: 41,000
• City Ground, Nottingham - Capacity: 28,000

First Round

All times local (GMT)
Half-time scores are in brackets

Group A

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA England 7 3 2 1 0 7 2 Netherlands 4 3 1 1 1 3 4 Scotland 4 3 1 1 1 1 2 Switzerland 1 3 0 1 2 1 4

England 1 - 1 Switzerland Netherlands 0 - 0 Scotland Switzerland 0 - 2 Netherlands Scotland 0 - 2 England Scotland 1 - 0 Switzerland Netherlands 1 - 4 England

June 8, 1996

England	1 - 1 (1-0)	Switzerland	15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Manuel Diaz Vega (Spain)
Shearer 23'		Türkyilmaz (p) 84'

June 10, 1996

Netherlands

0 - 0 (0-0)

Scotland

16:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Leif Sundell (Sweden)

June 13, 1996

Switzerland	0 - 2 (0-0)	Netherlands	19:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Atanas Uzunov (Bulgaria)
		Bergkamp 79'

June 15, 1996

Scotland	0 - 2 (0-0)	England	15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy)
		Shearer 53'
		Gascoigne 79'

June 18, 1996

Scotland	1 - 0 (1-0)	Switzerland	19:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Vaclav Krondl (Czech Republic)
McCoist 36'
Netherlands	1 - 4 (0-1)	England	19:30 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Gerd Grabher (Austria)
Kluivert 78'		Shearer (p) 23'
		Sheringham 51'
		Shearer 57' <tr style=font-size:85%>			Sheringham 62'

---

Group B

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA France 7 3 2 1 0 5 2 Spain 5 3 1 2 0 4 3 Bulgaria 4 3 1 1 1 3 4 Romania 1 3 0 1 2 1 4

Spain 1 - 1 Bulgaria Romania 0 - 1 France Bulgaria 1 - 0 Romania France 1 - 1 Spain France 3 - 1 Bulgaria Romania 1 - 2 Spain

June 9, 1996

Spain	1 - 1 (0-0)	Bulgaria	14:30 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Piero Ceccarini (Italy)
Alfonso 74'		Stoitchkov (p) 65'

June 10, 1996

Romania	0 - 1 (0-1)	France	19:30 - St. James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Hellmut Krug (Germany)
		Dugarry 25'

June 13, 1996

Bulgaria	1 - 0 (1-0)	Romania	16:30 - St. James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)
Stoitchkov 3'

June 15, 1996

France	1 - 1 (0-0)	Spain	18:00 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus)
Djorkaeff 49'		Caminero 86'

June 18, 1996

France	3 - 1 (1-0)	Bulgaria	16:30 - St. James' Park, Newcastle Ref: Dermot Gallagher (England)
Blanc 21'		Stoitchkov 69'
Penev (og) 63'
Loko 90'
Romania	1 - 2 (1-1)	Spain	16:30 - Elland Road, Leeds Ref: Ahmet Çakar (Turkey)
Raducioiu 29'		Amor 84'

---

Group C

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Germany 7 3 2 1 0 5 0 Czech Republic 4 3 1 1 1 5 6 Italy 4 3 1 1 1 3 3 Russia 1 3 0 1 2 4 8

Germany 2 - 0 Czech Republic Italy 2 - 1 Russia Czech Republic 2 - 1 Italy Russia 0 - 3 Germany Russia 3 - 3 Czech Republic Italy 0 - 0 Germany

June 9, 1996

Germany	2 - 0 (2-0)	Czech Republic	17:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: David Elleray (England)
Möller 32'

June 11, 1996

Italy	2 - 1 (1-1)	Russia	16:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Leslie Mottram (Scotland)
Casiraghi 5'		Casiraghi 52'

June 14, 1996

Czech Republic	2 - 1 (2-1)	Italy	19:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Antonio López Nieto (Spain)
Nedvěd 4'		Bejbl 35'

June 16, 1996

Russia	0 - 3 (0-0)	Germany	15:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)
		Sammer 56'
		Klinsmann 77'
		Klinsmann 90'

June 19, 1996

Russia	3 - 3 (0-2)	Czech Republic	19:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Anders Frisk (Sweden)
Mostovoi 49'		Tetradze 54'			Beschastnykh 85'		?micer 88'
Italy	0 - 0 (0-0)	Germany	19:30 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Guy Goethals (Belgium)

---

Group D

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Portugal 7 3 2 1 0 5 1 Croatia 6 3 2 0 1 4 3 Denmark 4 3 1 1 1 4 4 Turkey 0 3 0 0 3 0 5

Denmark 1 - 1 Portugal Turkey 0 - 1 Croatia Portugal 1 - 0 Turkey Croatia 3 - 0 Denmark Croatia 0 - 3 Portugal Turkey 0 - 3 Denmark

June 9, 1996

Denmark	1 - 1 (1-0)	Portugal	19:30 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands)
B. Laudrup 22'		Sá Pinto 53'

June 11, 1996

Turkey	0 - 1 (0-0)	Croatia	19:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland)
		Vlaovic 86'

June 14, 1996

Portugal	1 - 0 (0-0)	Turkey	16:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary)
Couto 66'

June 16, 1996

Croatia	3 - 0 (0-0)	Denmark	18:00 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Marc Batta (France)
?uker (p) 53'
Boban 81'
?uker 90'

June 19, 1996

Croatia	0 - 3 (0-2)	Portugal	16:30 - City Ground, Nottingham Ref: Bernd Heynemann (Germany)
		Figo 4'
		Domingos 82'
Turkey	0 - 3 (0-0)	Denmark	16:30 - Hillsborough, Sheffield Ref: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)
		B. Laudrup 50'
		B. Laudrup 84'

Quarter-finals

June 22, 1996

England	0 - 0 (0-0)	Spain	15:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Marc Batta (France)
after extra-time:	0 - 0 (0-0)
Penalty shootout
England		4 - 2	Spain
Shearer: goal		1-0	Hierro: crossbar
Platt: goal		2-1	Pearce: goal		3-2	Gascoigne: goal		4-2	Seaman saved
Netherlands	0 - 0 (0-0)	France	18:30 - Anfield, Liverpool Ref: Antonio López Nieto (Spain)
after extra-time:	0 - 0 (0-0)
Penalty shootout
Netherlands		4 - 5	France
Zidane: goal
Kluivert: goal		3-3	Lizarazu: goal
Seedorf: Lama saved		3-4	Blind: goal		4-5	June 23, 1996 Germany 2 - 1 (1-0) Croatia 15:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Leif Sundell (Sweden) Klinsmann (p) 20' ?uker 51' Sammer 59' 　 Czech Republic 1 - 0 (0-0) Portugal 18:30 - Villa Park, Birmingham Ref: Hellmut Krug (Germany) Poborský 53' [Top] Semi-finals June 26, 1996 France 0 - 0 (0-0) Czech Republic 16:00 - Old Trafford, Manchester Ref: Leslie Mottram (Scotland) after extra-time: 0 - 0 (0-0) 　 Penalty shootout France 5 - 6 Czech Republic Zidane: goal 1-1 Nedvěd: goal Lizarazu: goal 3-3 Berger: goal Poborský: goal Kouba saved 5-6 England 1 - 1 (1-1) Germany 19:30 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary) after extra-time: 1 - 1 (1-1) Shearer 3' Kuntz 16' 　 Penalty shootout England 5 - 6 Germany Shearer: goal 1-1 Platt: goal 2-2 Pearce: goal 3-3 Gascoigne: goal 4-4 Sheringham: goal 5-5 Southgate: Köpke saved 5-6 June 30, 1996 Germany 1 - 1 (0-0) Czech Republic 19:00 - Wembley Stadium, London Ref: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy) after extra-time: 2 - 1 Bierhoff 73' Berger (p) 59' Bierhoff (GG) 95' European Champions: GERMANY (Third title) [Top] Goal Scorers 5 Goals Alan Shearer 3 Goals Jürgen Klinsmann Davor ?uker Brian Laudrup Hristo Stoitchkov 2 Goals Oliver Bierhoff - Matthias Sammer Teddy Sheringham Pierluigi Casiraghi 1 goal Zvonimir Boban - Goran Vlaovic Radek Bejbl - Patrik Berger - Pavel Kuka - Pavel Nedvěd - Karel Poborský - Vladimír ?micer - Jan Suchopárek Allan Nielsen Paul Gascoigne Laurent Blanc - Youri Djorkaeff - Christophe Dugarry - Patrice Loko Stefan Kuntz - Andreas Möller - Christian Ziege Enrico Chiesa Dennis Bergkamp - Jordi Cruyff - Patrick Kluivert Domingos - Fernando Couto - João Pinto - Luis Figo - Ricardo Sá Pinto Florin Raducioiu Vladimir Beschastnykh - Alexander Mostovoi - Omar Tetradze - Ilya Tsymbalar Ally McCoist Alfonso Perez - Guillermo Amor - José Luis Caminero - Javier Manjarín Kubilay Türkyilmaz Own goals Luboslav Penev [Top] The Winning Squad Germany Player Club in 1996 Goalkeepers Andreas Köpke Eintracht Frankfurt Oliver Kahn Bayern Munich Oliver Reck Werder Bremen Defenders Stefan Reuter Borussia Dortmund Thomas Helmer Bayern Munich Matthias Sammer Borussia Dortmund Markus Babbel Bayern Munich Jürgen Kohler Borussia Dortmund René Schneider FC Hansa Rostock Midfielders Marco Bode Werder Bremen Steffen Freund Borussia Dortmund Andreas Möller Borussia Dortmund Mehmet Scholl Bayern Munich Thomas Hässler Karlsruhe Mario Basler Werder Bremen Christian Ziege Bayern Munich Thomas Strunz Bayern Munich Dieter Eilts Werder Bremen Forwards Jürgen Klinsmann Bayern Munich Oliver Bierhoff Udinese Stefan Kuntz Besiktas Fredi Bobic Stuttgart Coach: Berti Vogts European Football Championship France 1960 | Spain 1964 | Italy 1968 | Belgium 1972 Yugoslavia 1976 | Italy 1980 | France 1984 West Germany 1988 | Sweden 1992 | England 1996 Belgium/Netherlands 2000 | Portugal 2004 | Austria/Switzerland 2008 International Football FIFA (International) : FIFA World Cup (Women's) : FIFA World Rankings : FIFA World Player of the Year AFC (Asia) : Asian Cup | CAF (Africa) : African Nations Cup CONMEBOL (South America) : Copa América | CONCACAF (North America) - Gold Cup OFC (Oceania) : Oceania Cup | UEFA (Europe) : European Championships