UEFA Euro 1968

The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was hosted and won by Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968.

1968 UEFA European Football Championship

Campionato europeo di calcio Italia 1968
Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	5–10 June
Teams	4
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Italy (1st title)
Runners-up	Yugoslavia
Third place	England
Fourth place	Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played	5
Goals scored	7 (1.4 per match)
Attendance	260,916 (52,183 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Dragan Džajić (2 goals)
← 1964 1972 →

It was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the "European Nations' Cup" to the "European Championship".^[1] There were also some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase.

Four countries played in the final tournament, which consisted of the semi-finals, a third place play-off, and the final. The host nation for the finals was selected from the four qualified nations.^[2]

Qualification

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying

The qualification competition was played in two stages: a group stage (taking place from 1966 until 1968) and the quarter-finals (played in 1968). There were seven groups of four teams and one of three, with matches played in a home-and-away basis. The eight group winners qualified for the quarter-finals, which were played in two legs, home and away. The winners of the quarter-finals went through to the final tournament.

This remains to this day the only World Cup or European Championship where a West or reunified German team was eliminated in the qualifying stages (they didn’t enter the 1930 FIFA World Cup, were banned from 1950 and didn’t enter the qualifying stages of UEFA Euro 1960 or 1964 for unknown reasons)

Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament[A]
Italy (host)	Quarter-final winner	20 April 1968	0 (debut)
Yugoslavia	Quarter-final winner	24 April 1968	1 (1960)
England	Quarter-final winner	8 May 1968	0 (debut)
Soviet Union	Quarter-final winner	11 May 1968	2 (1960, 1964)

1. Bold indicates champion for that year.

Venues

Rome Naples Florence	Rome	Naples	Florence
	Stadio Olimpico	Stadio San Paolo	Stadio Comunale
	Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 82,000	Capacity: 52,000

Squads

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 squads

Match officials

Country	Referee
Switzerland	Gottfried Dienst
Spain	José María Ortiz de Mendíbil
West Germany	Kurt Tschenscher
Hungary	István Zsolt

Final tournament

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 final tournament

1968 UEFA European Football Championship finalists

In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner. Coin toss was as a matter of fact used in the semi final between Italy and Soviet Union.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

Bracket

	Semi-finals					Final
	5 June – Naples
	Italy (coin toss)		0
						8 and 10 June – Rome
	Soviet Union		0
						Italy (replay)	1	2
	5 June – Florence
						Yugoslavia	1	0
	Yugoslavia		1
	England		0
						Third place play-off
						8 June – Rome
						England		2
						Soviet Union		0

Semi-finals

5 June 1968 (1968-06-05)

18:00

Italy	0–0 (a.e.t.) Italy won on coin toss	Soviet Union
	Report

Stadio San Paolo, Naples

Attendance: 68,582

Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

---

5 June 1968 (1968-06-05)

21:15

Yugoslavia	1–0	England
Džajić 86'	Report

Stadio Comunale, Florence

Attendance: 21,834

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Third place play-off

8 June 1968 (1968-06-08)

18:45

England	2–0	Soviet Union
B. Charlton 39' Hurst 63'	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 68,817

Referee: István Zsolt (Hungary)

Final

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 final

8 June 1968 (1968-06-08)

21:15

Italy	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia
Domenghini 80'	Report	Džajić 39'

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 68,817^[3]

Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)

---

10 June 1968 (1968-06-10)

21:15

Italy	2–0	Yugoslavia
Riva 12' Anastasi 31'	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 32,886^[4]

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 7 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 1.4 goals per match.

2 goals

• Dragan Džajić

1 goal

• Bobby Charlton
• Geoff Hurst
• Pietro Anastasi
• Angelo Domenghini
• Gigi Riva

Awards

UEFA Team of the Tournament^[5]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Dino Zoff	Bobby Moore Giacinto Facchetti Albert Shesternyov Mirsad Fazlagić	Angelo Domenghini Sandro Mazzola Ivica Osim	Geoff Hurst Gigi Riva Dragan Džajić