Few days before the opening of the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland and just looking at the Euro Cup history it is easy to understand why it has become so popular. The European Championships were first held in 1960 and were originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup. Initially it was hard to get many teams to compete, but by 1968 the tournament when it changed its name to the European Football Championship becomes very popular.
Since its creation the team winners have been: 1960 USSR, 1964 Spain, 1968 Italy, 1972 Germany, 1976 Czechoslovakia, 1980 Germany, 1984 France, 1988 Holland, 1992 Denmark, 1996 Germany, 2000 France and 2004 Greece.Let’s go now through some remarkable facts along the 12 championships played until now. 1960: Spain was eliminated from the tournament when General Francisco Franco’s government refused to let the Spanish team travel to Moscow. 1964: Largest crowd in championship history — 125,000 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the final match (Spain-USSR). 1968: Name was changed from the Nations Cup to the European Championship. 1976: Czechoslovakia won on penalties. 1980: The final field was increased to eight teams from four. 1984: Spanish ‘keeper Luis Arconada knocked the first goal over his own line. 1988:Only three of the eight finalists from ‘84 qualified, including France. 1992: U.N. sanctions forced out war-torn Yugoslavia. 1996: First Golden Goal in a major international championship. 2000: Sylvain Wiltord shocked Italy by scoring the game 3 minutes into injury time when the Italians were leading the whole match with David Trezeguet scoring the Golden Goal winner 13 minutes to win.
