The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA.[1] It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams in the finals, which took place between 11 and 22 June 1980. West Germany won the final 2–1 against Belgium for their second title. This was the last European Championship with a third place play-off.

1980 UEFA European Football Championship
Italia 1980
Campionato Europeo di Calcio 1980 (in Italian)
Tournament details
Host countryItaly
Dates11–22 June 1980
Teams8
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions West Germany (2nd title)
Runners-up Belgium
Third place Czechoslovakia
Fourth place Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played14
Goals scored27 (1.93 per match)
Attendance345,463 (24,676 per match)
Top scorer(s)West Germany Klaus Allofs (3 goals)
1976
1984
Alternative tournament logo

Bid process

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This was the first European Championship in which eight teams, rather than four, contested the finals tournament.[2][3] On 17 October 1977 UEFA announced that England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany had expressed interest in hosting this event.[4] On 19 October UEFA's Organising Committee decided to assign the hosting to England or Italy (expressing its favour to the latter, the former having already hosted the FIFA World Cup just 14 years earlier), and on 12 November the Organising Committee and the Executive Committee announced that Italy had been chosen unanimously. Seven countries had to qualify for the finals, and the draw for the qualifying round took place in Rome on 30 November 1977. Also for the first time, the hosts, in this case Italy, qualified automatically for the finals.

Overview

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Because of the expanded format, the finals tournament went through some changes as well. Two groups of four teams each were created; each team would play all others within their group. The winners of the groups would qualify directly for the final (there were no semi-finals), while the runners-up contested the third place play-off.

The tournament failed to draw much enthusiasm from spectators and TV viewers. Attendance was generally poor except for matches involving the Italian team. The tournament format, which required a team to win their group in order to progress to the final, led to a succession of dull matches. Hooliganism, already a rising problem in the 1970s, made headlines again at the first-round match between England and Belgium where riot police had to use tear gas, causing the match to be held up for five minutes in the first half.[5][6] The only bright spots were the emergence of a new generation of talented German stars such as Bernd Schuster, Hans-Peter Briegel, Horst Hrubesch, Hansi Müller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and the inspirational performance of Belgium (around rising stars such as Jan Ceulemans, Eric Gerets, Jean-Marie Pfaff, and Erwin Vandenbergh) who reached the final, only losing to West Germany (2–1) by a Hrubesch goal two minutes before time.[7]

Qualification

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Greece made their major tournament debut. Spain and Italy made their first appearances since their wins in 1964 and 1968, respectively. England also qualified for the first time since 1968. Belgium qualified after missing the 1976 tournament. Yugoslavia did not qualify after hosting the previous tournament. Other notable absentees were the USSR, France, and Hungary. This was the last time until 2008 that Denmark failed to qualify.

Qualified teams

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Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
  Italy Host 12 November 1977 1 (1968)
  Greece Group 6 winner 31 October 1979 0 (debut)
  England Group 1 winner 21 November 1979 1 (1968)
  Netherlands Group 4 winner 21 November 1979 1 (1976)
  Czechoslovakia Group 5 winner 24 November 1979 2 (1960, 1976)
  Spain Group 3 winner 9 December 1979 1 (1964)
  Belgium Group 2 winner 19 December 1979 1 (1972)
  West Germany Group 7 winner 22 December 1979 2 (1972, 1976)
  1. ^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
Group 1
  West Germany
  Netherlands
  Czechoslovakia
  Greece
Group 2
  Italy
  England
  Spain
  Belgium

Venues

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Rome Milan
Stadio Olimpico San Siro
Capacity: 66,341 Capacity: 83,141
   
Naples Turin
Stadio San Paolo Stadio Comunale
Capacity: 81,101 Capacity: 71,180
   

Squads

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Each national team had to submit a squad of 22 players.

Match officials

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Referee
Erich Linemayr (AUT)
Adolf Prokop (GDR)
Pat Partridge (ENG)
Robert Wurtz (FRA)
Heinz Aldinger (FRG)
Károly Palotai (HUN)
Alberto Michelotti (ITA)
Charles Corver (NED)
António Garrido (POR)
Nicolae Rainea (ROU)
Brian McGinlay (SCO)
Hilmi Ok (TUR)

Group stage

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UEFA Euro 1980 Finalists and their result

The teams finishing in the top position in each of the two groups progress to the finals, while the second placed teams advanced to the third place play-off, and bottom two teams were eliminated from the tournament.

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

Tiebreakers

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If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

  1. Goal difference in all group matches
  2. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  3. Drawing of lots

Group 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   West Germany 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 5 Advance to final
2   Czechoslovakia 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 3 Advance to third place play-off
3   Netherlands 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 3
4   Greece 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
Source: UEFA
Czechoslovakia  0–1  West Germany
Report
  • Rummenigge   57'
Attendance: 10,500
Netherlands  1–0  Greece
Report
Attendance: 14,990

West Germany  3–2  Netherlands
Report
Attendance: 29,889
Referee: Robert Wurtz (France)
Greece  1–3  Czechoslovakia
Report
Attendance: 7,614

Netherlands  1–1  Czechoslovakia
Report
Attendance: 11,889
Referee: Hilmi Ok (Turkey)
Greece  0–0  West Germany
Report
Attendance: 13,901

Group 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Belgium 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 4 Advance to final
2   Italy (H) 3 1 2 0 1 0 +1 4 Advance to third place play-off
3   England 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 3
4   Spain 3 0 1 2 2 4 −2 1
Source: UEFA
(H) Hosts
Belgium  1–1  England
Report
Attendance: 15,186
Spain  0–0  Italy
Report
Attendance: 46,337

Belgium  2–1  Spain
Report
Attendance: 11,430
England  0–1  Italy
Report
Attendance: 59,649

Spain  1–2  England
Report
Attendance: 14,440
Italy  0–0  Belgium
Report
Attendance: 42,318

Knockout stage

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In the final, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. However, the third place play-off would go straight to a penalty shoot-out if the scores were level after 90 minutes.

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

Bracket

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Final
 
  
 
22 June – Rome
 
 
  Belgium1
 
 
  West Germany2
 
 
 
 
 
Third place play-off
 
 
21 June – Naples
 
 
  Czechoslovakia (p)1 (9)
 
 
  Italy1 (8)
 

Third place play-off

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Czechoslovakia  1–1  Italy
Report
Penalties
9–8
Attendance: 24,652

Final

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Belgium  1–2  West Germany
Report
Attendance: 47,860[8]

Statistics

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Goalscorers

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There were 27 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 1.93 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Awards

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UEFA Team of the Tournament[9]
Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
  Dino Zoff   Claudio Gentile
  Gaetano Scirea
  Hans-Peter Briegel
  Karlheinz Förster
  Jan Ceulemans
  Marco Tardelli
  Hansi Müller
  Bernd Schuster
  Horst Hrubesch
  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

References

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  1. ^ "Italy 1980". BBC Sport. 17 May 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  2. ^ "1980 at a glance". uefa.com. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  3. ^ Barreca, Vincenzo (December 1999). "La storia degli Europei - 1980 Germania Ovest" [The history of Euro Cup - 1980]. Calcio 2000 (in Italian). Action Group S.r.l. pp. 50–57.
  4. ^ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Die Geschichte der Fußball-Europameisterschaft, Verlag Die Werkstatt,ISBN 978-3-89533-553-2
  5. ^ Daniel Ruiz (14 June 2016). "Squad rotation, tear gas and a bucketload of medals: How England flopped at Euro 80". FourFourTwo.com. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  6. ^ Pye, Steven (9 October 2020). "When England fans ruined their match against Belgium 40 years ago" – via The Guardian.
  7. ^ Higginson, Marc (12 May 2012). "BBC Sport - Euro 1980: How Belgium defied the odds to reach final". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  8. ^ "European Football Championship 1980 FINAL". euro2000.org. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  9. ^ "1980 team of the tournament". Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
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