England's European
Championship History
This competition, second in
prestige only to the World Cup, began as the
European Nations Cup in 1960 and became known as the European Championship in 1968.
It has been staged every four years since its inception.
England did not enter the
first competition in 1960, but have taken part in all 11 tournaments
since the first, beginning with the 1964 edition. With their
recent qualification for the 2004 final tournament, which will be held
in June, they have now reached the final tournament seven times in 11
efforts. They
have qualified through play in the preliminary competition
on six occasions (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004) and as the host
country once (1996). They have failed to qualify for the final
tournament on four occasions (1964, 1972, 1976 and 1984).
England
have never won the European
Championship or even reached the final match. They have had some
success in only two of the 10 tournaments they entered before the 2004
edition. Twice they have finished
third. At the 1968 final tournament in Italy,
they lost to Yugoslavia, 2-1, in the semi-finals and beat the U.S.S.R.,
2-0, in the third-place match. At the 1996 final tournament on
home soil, they
fell to Germany on penalty kicks after a 1-1 extra-time draw and,
since the consolation match had been shelved, shared third place with
France as beaten semi-finalists.
England's performance in the
eight other European Championship tournaments they entered before the
2004 tournament has been dismal. Not only have they failed to reach the final tournament
altogether on four occasions, but they have failed to advance from the
first round group stage another four times (1980, 1988, 1992 and 2000). They have advanced
past the initial group stage of the final tournament only once in the
last eight competitions stretching over 32 years, and the single
exception came in 1996, when they qualified automatically as host
nation and enjoyed the considerable advantage of playing all their
matches at their home ground, Wembley Stadium.
This appalling record, more than anything
else, establishes that England long ago lost their place among the first-rank football powers. The overall quality of the teams
at the European Championship final tournament is considerably higher than
at the World Cup
final tournament, and performance in the European Championship is thus
a much better indicator of international standing.
European
Championship Format History
Qualification for the first two tournaments (1960 and 1964) was
conducted on a home
and away knockout basis. Beginning with the 1968 tournaments,
qualification was achieved through group play.
Through the 1976 competition, only four teams qualified for the final
tournament, which consisted of the semi-finals, the final and the
third-place match. The quarterfinals were conducted on a home and away knockout basis and were not part
of the final tournament.
From 1980 through 1992, eight teams reached the final
tournament and were divided into two groups for round-robin play
followed by semi-finals and the final.
Since 1996, the final tournament has consisted of 16
teams with round-robin play in four groups followed by quarterfinals,
semi-finals and the final.
A third-place match was held from the
initial tournament in 1960 through the 1980 tournament, but later
tournaments have dispensed with it, and third-place has instead been
shared by the beaten semi-finalists.
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