When did the European Football Championships take place? All European football champions by year

03.02.202227.05.2017

The European Football Championship, also known as EURO, is the main tournament of the Union of European Football Associations, which determines the best national team in Europe. The European Championship is held every four years in even-numbered years, between the FIFA World Cups.

All national teams that are members of UEFA (at at the moment there are 55 of them, except the EURO host country, qualify, and best teams groups compete among themselves in the final part. Currently, 24 teams are participating in the final stage. The winner of the European Championship is given the right to participate in the next Confederations Cup.

Table of European Football Championship winners by year

Year	Venue (country)	Winner	2nd place	Check
1960	France	USSR	Yugoslavia	2:1 add. time
1964	Spain	Spain	USSR	2:1
1968	Italy	Italy	Yugoslavia	1:1 2:0 replay
1972	Belgium	Germany	USSR	3:0
1976	Yugoslavia	Czechoslovakia	Germany	2:2 (5:3) on penalties
1980	Italy	Germany	Belgium	2:1
1984	France	France	Spain	2:0
1988	Germany	Netherlands	USSR	2:0
1992	Sweden	Denmark	Germany	2:0
1996	England	Germany	Czech Republic	2:1 golden goal
2000	Belgium and the Netherlands	France	Italy	2:1 golden goal
2004	Portugal	Greece	Portugal	1:0
2008	Austria and Switzerland	Spain	Germany	1:0
2012	Ukraine and Poland	Spain	Italy	4:0
2016	France	Portugal	France	1:0 to. time
2020		?	?

The first ever European Football Championship was held in 1960. The winner of that EURO was the national team Soviet Union, which beat Yugoslavia in the final. In total, 15 European Championships were held in 2016.

Spain and Germany are the most titled teams of the tournament (3 wins each). Note that Germany won two EUROs, like Germany. The Spanish national team is the only team that managed to win the competition 2 times in a row (in 2008 and 2012). In addition to the Spaniards and Germans, the previously mentioned USSR team, Italy, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Denmark and Portugal also won once each at the European Championship. France has 2 victories.

It is worth noting that the USSR national team, in addition to winning in 1960, played in the European Championship finals three more times (1964, 1972, 1988), but lost all of them.

The last European Championship took place in France in 2016. The hosts of the tournament, the French and the Portuguese national team, met in the final at the Stade de France. The winner of the match was " European Brazilians“, who only managed to put the squeeze on the French in extra time. The score of that final was 1:0.

3 of the 15 finals of the European Championship took place in two countries at once. So in 2000, the hosts of the EURO were Belgium and the Netherlands, in 2008 – Austria and Switzerland, in 2012 – Ukraine and Poland.

In 2020, the European Championship will be held in 12 countries at 12 stadiums. This is described in detail.

Russian national team at the European Football Championships

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian national team has been unable to overcome the group stage of the finals of the European Football Championship for almost 20 years. Only in 2008 did the Russians finally manage to get out of the group, and moreover, they withdrew only at the semi-final stage, losing to the future champions the Spaniards. So Russia and Türkiye automatically received bronze medals Euro 2008.

World Cup, World Cup. European Football Championship. Football on Olympic Games. Best Footballer of the Year

World Cup, World Cup

Modern football originated in the mid-19th century in England.
The winners of the FIFA World Cup (FIFA World Cup) were:
World Cup 1930 - Uruguay(The Golden Ball, the prize for the best player of the first World Cup, went to the defender of the Uruguay national team Jose Nasassi). Organizing country - Uruguay;
World Cup 1934 - Italy(The Golden Ball was awarded to the scorer of the Italian team Giuseppe Meazza). Organizing country - Italy;
World Cup 1938 - Italy(The Brazilian national team striker won the Golden Ball Leonidas da Silva, “Black Diamond”);
World Cup 1950 - Uruguay(The best player of the 1950 World Cup is a striker for the Brazilian national team Zizinho);
World Cup 1954 - Germany(The Hungarian football player, forward, won the Golden Ball Ferenc Puskás, nickname "Galloping Major");
World Cup 1958 - Brazil(The Golden Ball went to the holding midfielder of the Brazilian national team Didi);
World Cup 1962 - Brazil(The best football player of the 1962 World Cup is the right winger of the Brazilian national team Garrincha, “Bow-legged Angel”);
World Cup 1966 - England(The Golden Ball went to the England attacking midfielder Bobby Charlton);
World Cup 1970 - Brazil. In the final, defeating the Italian national team with a score of 4:1, Brazil won the championship title for the third time for the first time in football history and received the gold cup - “ Golden goddess Niku" in eternal storage (Golden Ball from the striker of the Brazilian national team, the legendary Pele);
World Cup 1974 - Germany(The best football player of the 1974 World Cup is a Dutch striker Johan Cruyff, "The Flying Dutchman");
World Cup 1978 - Argentina(The best football player of the 1978 World Cup is an Argentine striker Mario Alberto Kempes);
World Cup 1982 - Italy(Italian forward wins FIFA Ballon d'Or Paolo Rossi);
World Cup 1986 - Argentina(The best player of the 1986 World Cup is Argentinean Diego Armando Maradona, nickname “Ten”, “Fluff”);
World Cup 1990 - Germany(The FIFA Golden Ball went to the Italian national team striker Salvatore Squillac and, "Toto");
World Cup 1994 - Brazil(Best Footballer of the 1994 World Cup - Romario, “Shorty”, Brazil);
World Cup 1998 - France(Best footballer of the 1998 World Cup - Ronaldo, “Nibbler”, Brazil);
World Cup 2002 - Brazil(The FIFA Golden Ball went to the goalkeeper of the German national team Oliver Kanu, nickname "King Kahn");
World Cup 2006 - Italy(Frenchman wins Ballon d'Or Zinedine Zidane, "Zizou");
World Cup 2010 - Spain(The FIFA Ballon d'Or went to the Uruguayan national team striker Diego Martin Forlan, nickname "Cachavacha");
World Cup 2014 - Germany. The 20th anniversary FIFA World Cup was held from June 12 to July 13, 2014 in Brazil. The opening match (Brazil-Croatia) took place in Sao Paulo at the Itakeran Arena. The Germany-Argentina final took place in Rio de Janeiro at the Maracanã stadium - 1:0 (in extra time) - for the first time in the history of football, a European team took the World Cup in South America. Still got the Golden Ball Lionel MESSI Argentina (nickname "Baby")
This championship saw the introduction of automatic goal detection (GLT) for the first time and the introduction of breaks in matches when playing in the heat, and referees began using cans of disappearing white spray to mark the field when taking free kicks and penalty kicks.
The biggest sensation of the tournament: Brazil's loss to Germany in the semi-finals with a phenomenal score of 1:7.
World Cup 2018 - The 21st FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia. The World Cup will be held at stadiums in thirteen Russian cities, which are divided into 4 clusters (separately, Yekaterinburg): Moscow, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Yekaterinburg. 3 stadiums are being prepared in Moscow. The Luzhniki Stadium is subject to reconstruction; construction of two other stadiums is underway: Spartak (a project of the American construction company AECOM) and VTB Arena Central Dynamo Stadium.
The KROST company is one of the largest diversified construction companies. The company has several areas of business - construction and industrial complexes, development of commercial and residential real estate, rental of commercial real estate in Moscow, the fitness and wellness industry "ELSE-club", a chain of folk restaurants.
The 2022 World Cup will be held in the Arabian emirate of Qatar. 12 stadiums from seven cities in Qatar will host matches of the 22nd World Cup.
In January 2017, the Council of the International Football Federation approved an increase in the number of participants in the final part of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams. The changes come into force in 2026.

1982 FIFA World Cup. Final. Italy - Germany

Women's World Cup

The first FIFA Women's World Cup was held in 1991 in China.
Women's World Cup winners:
1991 World Cup in China - USA(final USA - Norway 2:1). Golden Ball - Karin Jennings Carin JENNINGS, USA.
World Cup 1995 in Sweden - Norway(final Norway - Germany 2:0). Golden Ball - Hege Riise Hege RIISE, Norway.
1999 World Cup in USA - USA(USA final - China 0:0 pen. 5:4). Golden Ball - Song Wen SUN Wen, China.
World Cup 2003 in USA - Germany(final Germany - Sweden 1:0). Golden Ball - Birgit Prinz Birgit PRINZ, Germany.
World Cup 2007 in China - Germany(final Germany - Brazil 2:0). Golden Ball - Martha MARTA, Brazil.
World Cup 2011 in Germany- Japan(final Japan - USA 2:2 pen. 3:1). Golden Ball - Homare Sawa Homare SAWA, Japan.
World Cup 2015 in Canada from June 6 to July 5 - USA(final USA - Japan 5:2). The USA became 3-time world champions in women's football. American's Golden Ball Carli Lloyd Carli Lloyd.

European Football Championship

In 1960, at the proposal of the President of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay (1883-1955), the first European Cup was held among national teams, subsequently the European Championship (UEFA European Championship).
Winners of the European Football Championships:
EURO 1960 - USSR(best player of the first European Championship – legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin);
EURO 1964 - Spain(best player of Euro 1964 - Spanish midfielder Luis Suarez);
EURO 1968 - Italy(best player of Euro 1968 - goalkeeper of the "Squadra Azzurra" Dino Zoff);
EURO 1972 - Germany(best player of Euro 1972 - German striker Gerd Müller);
EURO 1976 - Czechoslovakia(best player of Euro 1976 - German striker Dieter Müller);
EURO 1980 - Germany(best player of Euro 1980 - German striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, "Calle"); At this European Championship, for the first time, 8 national teams took part in the final part (previously 4), and the host country received a place in the final part automatically.
EURO 1984 - France(best player of Euro 1984 - French midfielder Michelle Platini);
EURO 1988 - Netherlands(Euro 1988 best player - Dutch striker Marco van Basten, "Utrecht Swan");
EURO 1992 - Denmark(best player of Euro 1992 – Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, "The Great Dane");
EURO 1996 - Germany(best player of Euro 1996 - German midfielder Matthias Sammer, "Red-haired meteor"); At the 1996 European Championships, for the first time, 16 teams participated in the finals, which were divided into 4 groups.
EC 2000 - France(Euro 2000 best player - French attacking midfielder Zinedine Zidane);
EURO 2004 - Greece(Euro 2004 best player - Greek defensive midfielder Theodoros Zagorakis);
EURO 2008 - Spain(best player of Euro 2008 - Spanish midfielder Javi);
EURO 2012 - Spain. For the first time in the history of modern football, this is the third victory in a row for one team in the top finals of the World Cup and European Championship (the Red Fury midfielder was recognized as the best player in the final match and Euro 2012 championship) Andres Iniesta).
European Football Championship 2012. Final. Spain - Italy. All goals
EURO 2016 - Portugal. The 15th European Championship was held in France (for the 3rd time) in a month - from June 10 to July 10, 2016. By decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, for the first time 24 teams took part in the final round of the championship instead of 16 (the same 24 at the World Cup).
The opening match of Euro 2016 France - Romania 2:1. Author of the winning goal for the French Dimitri Payet- "closest to God."
The final is on July 10 at the Stade de France in the suburbs of Paris, France - Portugal. Dimitri Gebek Payet vs Cristiano Ronaldo. But the confrontation did not work out. At the beginning of the first half, the injured Ronaldo was taken off the field (by the way, an injury from a collision with Payet). And at the beginning of the 2nd half, Payet was also replaced. Regular time ended in a 0:0 draw.
In extra time, the goal was scored by Portuguese striker Eder (he moved from Guinea-Bissau to Portugal as a child). France - Portugal 0:1
French striker Antoine Griezmann was named the best player of Euro 2016. Team of the tournament: Rui Patricio (Portugal), Pepe (Portugal), Jerome Boateng (Germany), Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal), Joshua Kimmich (Germany), Toni Kroos (Germany), Joe Allen (Wales), Aaron Ramsey (Wales) , Antoine Griezmann (France), Dimitri Payet (France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).
European Football Championship 2016. Final. Eder's goal

European Women's Football Championship

The European Women's Football Championship under the auspices of UEFA has been held since 1980 (from 1987 to 1997 it was held every 2 years, then the cycle was increased to four years).
Winners women's championship European Football:
EURO 1984 - Sweden(UEFA Golden Player - Pia Sundhage, Sweden)
EURO 1987 - Norway(UEFA Golden Player - Heidi Stere, Norway)
EURO 1989 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Doris Fitschen, Germany)
EURO 1991 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Sylvia Naid, Germany)
EURO 1993 - Norway(UEFA Golden Player - Hege Riise, Norway)
EURO 1995 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Birgit Prinz, Germany)
EURO 1997 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Carolina Morace, Italy)
EURO 2001 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Hannah Ljungberg, Sweden)
EURO 2005 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Anne Mäkinen, Finland)
EURO 2009 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Inka Grings, Germany)
EURO 2013 - Germany(UEFA Golden Player - Lotta Shelin, Sweden)
Beautiful women's football

Football at the Olympic Games

Olympic event

The winners of the Olympic football tournaments (1908-2012) were:
In 1908 and 1912 - United Kingdom; 1920 - Belgium; 1924 and 1928 - Uruguay; 1936 - Italy I; 1948 - Sweden; 1952, 1964 and 1968 - Hungary; 1956 and 1988 - USSR; 1960 - Yugoslavia; 1972 - Poland; 1976 - GDR; 1980 - Czechoslovakia; 1984 - France; 1992 - Spain; 1996 - Nigeria; 2000 -Cameroon, 2004 and 2008 - Argentina, 2012 - Mexico.
The winners of the women's football competition at the Olympic Games (1996-2012) were:
In 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 - USA, in 2000 - Norway.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 16 teams competed in the men's soccer tournament (August 4-20). Portugal: Germany, Nigeria: Denmark, South Korea: Honduras, Brazil: Colombia.
Brazil: Honduras, Nigeria: Germany reached the semi-finals.
Finalists Brazil and Germany. Brazilians, led by their captain Neymar, still snatched victory from the Germans (regular time 1:1, penalties 5:4) and became Olympic champions for the first time.
In women's football tournament Rio 2016 (August 3-19) was attended by 12 teams. Brazil: Australia, USA: Sweden, China: Germany, France: Canada qualified for the Playoffs.
Brazil: Sweden and Canada: Germany reached the semi-finals.
The finalists are Sweden and Germany. Germany- champion of Olympic Games-16 (for the first time in women's football), Brazil is third.

Best Footballer of the Year. FIFA Ballon d'Or

UEFA European Footballer of the Year

Football award

2011 G. Lionel Messi forward, Argentina (Barcelona)
2012 G. Andres Iniesta midfielder, Spain (Barcelona)
2013 G. Frank Ribery midfielder, France (Bayern)
Nadine Angerer recognized as the best football player in Europe for the 2012/2013 season.
2014 G. Cristiano Ronaldo forward, Portugal (Real Madrid)
Nadine Kessler- best European football player of the 2013/2014 season
2015 G. The best football player Barcelona striker became European champion at the end of the 2014/15 season Lionel Messi, who beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Uruguayan teammate Luis Suarez in the voting.
Recognized as the best female footballer by UEFA Celia Sasic, German football player of Cameroonian origin. Forward. She beat France's Amandine Henry and Germany's Jennifer Marozan.
2016 d. The best football player in Europe for the 2015/2016 season, as expected, was Cristiano Ronaldo- European champion 2016 (as part of the Portuguese national team) and winner of the European Champions League 2016 (as part of Real Madrid). The Portuguese was ahead of Gareth Bale (Wales) and Antoine Griezmann (France).
Norwegian Ada Hegerberg from Lyon was recognized as the Best Female Footballer in Europe in 2015/16. She was ahead of Amandine Henry (France) and Jennifer Marozhan (Germany).

Player of the Century

best player

1. Diego Maradona. Argentina - 53.60%
2. Pele. Brazil - 18.53%
3. Eusebio. Portugal - 6.21%

Years

Coach: Joachim Loew.

One of the strongest teams in European football. The Germans (from 1945 to 1990 - the German national team) won the world championship four times (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014), became the strongest in Europe three times (1972, 1980, 1996) and won the same number of times silver medals European Championship - in 1976, 1992 and 2008. In the final tournaments they won 23 matches out of 43. The German national team only once failed to make it to the final stage European tournament, missing out on the 1968 European Championships.

The German national team took second place at the world championship four times (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002) and third on four occasions (1934, 1970, 2006, 2010). In the history of the World Cup, no other team has played more matches (106) than the German national team.

At the World Championships, the German national team never found itself left out of the playoffs, while the European Championship ended three times for it in the group stage - in 1984 and 2004, the Germans finished third, and in 2000 they took last place in their quartet.

Spain

European champion 1964, 2008, 2012.

Coach: Vicente del Bosque.

The European Championship was first won by the Spaniards in 1964. The USSR team was defeated with a score of 2:1 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. After that and until 2008, the best result of the Spaniards was reaching the final of the 1984 European Championship. In 2008, Germany was defeated in the final match with a score of 1:0. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Spanish team became the first European team to win the World Cup on a foreign continent.

In the Euro 2012 final, the Spaniards defeated Italy with a score of 4:0 in Kyiv (Ukraine) and also became the first to defend the title of European champions. They failed to defend the title of world champions in 2014.

France

European champions 1984, 2000

Coach: Didier Deschamps.

Coach: Danny Blind.

At their debut European Championship in 1976, the Dutch won bronze, losing to the Yugoslavs in the semi-finals in extra time.

The Orange's finest hour was the 1988 European Championship in Germany. Having defeated the USSR team in the final, the Dutch became European champions.

Since then, the Dutch team has been a regular participant in the European Championship finals, reaching the semi-finals in 1992, 2000 and 2004. In 2008, the Dutch team lost to Russia in the quarterfinals in extra time, and did not make it out of the group at Euro 2012. In 2016, the Dutch team did not make it to the finals of the European Championship.

Coach: Aage Hareide.

The Danish national team has extensive experience in participating in European championships. The Danes qualified from the group at their debut final tournament in 1964, when they took fourth place, and again reached the semi-finals in 1984. Since then, the Danish national team has not played in only one continental championship - in 2008. The team's finest hour was the 1992 tournament. The triumph in Sweden was notable for the fact that the Danes entered the championship at the very last moment instead of the canceled Yugoslavia. England and France were defeated in the group stage, and the defending champions, the Dutch, were defeated on penalties in the semi-finals. In the championship final, the Danes defeated the Germans with a score of 2:0.

In 2004, the Danish team reached the quarter finals, but conceded three goals early in the second half and recognized the superiority of the Czech Republic. The Danes did not qualify for the 2008 European Championship, and did not make it out of the group at Euro 2012, although they beat the Netherlands in the first round.

Since then, the Danes have competed at the World Cup three more times (1998, 2002, 2010), reaching the quarterfinals in France in 1998.

Coach: Michael Skibbe.

The Greek national team first played at the European Championships in 1980 and scored only one point in three matches. The next time the Greeks played in the final tournament was 24 years later. Under the leadership German coach Otto Rehhagel, the Greeks exceeded their wildest expectations and won gold at Euro 2004. As champions at Euro 2008, the Greeks lost all three matches group stage, and at Euro 2012 they lost to the Germans in the quarterfinals.

In 2016, the Greek national team did not make it into final part continental championship.

The Greeks made it to the FIFA World Cup three times - in 1994, 2010 and 2014.

Prepared based on open source materials

The FIFA World Cup is international sports tournament, held under the auspices of FIFA, in which the best national teams on the planet compete. , and since then the competition has been held every 4 years (in 1942 and 1946 the tournament was not held due to the events of World War II).

The winner of the first World Cup was Uruguay, who defeated final game at Estadio Centenario (Centenario) the Argentina national team with a score of 4:2. A total of 13 teams took part in the debut World Cup: 7 from South America, 4 from Europe and two from Northern and Central America. Since then, another 20 World Cups have taken place.

Table of all world football champions by year

Year	Tournament host	Winner	Check	Runners-up
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay	4-2	Argentina
1934	Italy	Italy	2-1 (extra time)	Czechoslovakia
1938	France	Italy	4-2	Hungary
1950	Brazil	Uruguay	2-1	Brazil
1954	Switzerland	West Germany	3-2	Hungary
1958	Sweden	Brazil	5-2	Sweden
1962	Chile	Brazil	3-1	Czechoslovakia
1966	England	England	4-2 (extra time)	West Germany
1970	Mexico	Brazil	4-1	Italy
1974	West Germany	West Germany	2-1	Netherlands
1978	Argentina	Argentina	3-1 (extra time)	Netherlands
1982	Spain	Italy	3-1	West Germany
1986	Mexico	Argentina	3-2	West Germany
1990	Italy	West Germany	1-0	Argentina
1994	USA	Brazil	0-0 (3-2 penalty shootout)	Italy
1998	France	France	3-0	Brazil
2002	Japan and South Korea	Brazil	2-0	Germany
2006	Germany	Italy	1-1 (5-3 penalty shootout)	France
2010	South Africa	Spain	1-0 (extra time)	Netherlands
2014	Brazil	Germany	1-0 (extra time)	Argentina
2018	Russia	France	4:2	Croatia

In the entire history, only 8 teams have won the World Cup. The most titled country in the World Cup is Brazil, which has won the world football championship 5 times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). The current world champion is the French team, which defeated the Croats with a score of 4:2 in the final match of the 2018 World Cup.

Below is a table of winners by country:

Note: Germany has been world champion three times as West Germany (1954, 1974 and 1990).

Some interesting data about the World Cup

According to the current format, 32 national teams are participating in the final part of the World Cup. As mentioned above, 13 teams competed at the first World Cup. From 1934 to 1978 - 16. In 1982, the number of participants was increased to 24 teams.

The current format consists of 32 teams. It was first introduced at the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2026, 48 teams will take part in the World Cup finals.

The best scorer in the history of the World Cup is Germany striker Miroslav Klose. He has 16 goals scored. Brazilian Ronaldo is in second place with 15 goals. Full list You can watch the best goalscorers of the World Cup.

The record holder for the number of matches played at the World Cup is the German national team midfielder Lothar Matthäus (25 games). Behind Matthäus is his compatriot Miroslav Klose (24 games). The top three is completed by Italian national team legend Paulo Maldini (23 games).

(English: UEFA European Championship) is the main competition of national teams, held under the auspices of UEFA. The competition has been held every 4 years since 1960.

The idea of holding a tournament for European national teams was first put forward by the former Secretary General of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay, at one of the meetings of the International Football Federation (FIFA). But the idea did not find support due to problems in organizing the World Championships and the lack of a European regional federation.

The turning point in the history of the creation of the European Championship occurred on May 27, 1952. At a meeting in Zurich, the heads of the football federations of France, Italy and Belgium discussed the creation of the European Football Union. A year later in Paris, at a meeting of 20 representatives of football federations, a committee was formed to prepare the founding conference of the European Football Union, which took place on June 15, 1954 in Basel. It was attended by representatives of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, East Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Northern Ireland, USSR, Finland, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Sweden and Yugoslavia. This council decided to create the European Union of Football Associations (UEFA). The first president of UEFA was the chairman of the Danish Football Association, Ebbe Schwartz.

At a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee on March 27, 1957 in Cologne, a project called the “European Nations Cup” was put forward. On June 6, 1958, the draw for the first round of the Cup took place in the Travelers Club hall of the Forest Hotel in Stockholm.

In 2016, the European Championship, which will be played from June 10 to July 10, will be held in France for a record third time. Before this, only Belgium and Italy hosted the final stage of the European Championship more than once. The fifteenth European Championship will be the first tournament in which 24 teams will play in the final stage. 53 teams will play in the qualifying stage. The Euro 2016 final matches will be held at 10 stadiums: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne and Toulouse.

Tournament format

The qualifying round begins after the end of the World Championship and lasts two years until the final part of the European Championship. The groups are formed by a draw by the UEFA committee using the seeding of the teams. Sowing is carried out on the basis qualifying round for the World Championship and for the previous European Championship.

53 teams will play in the Euro 2016 qualification, which is a tournament record. They will be divided into groups of five or six teams, which will play each other a home and away match. The nine group winners, nine second place winners and the best third place winner will advance directly to the final stage. Eight other third place holders will decide the fate of the remaining four spots in the play-offs.

Participants final tournament will be divided into groups of four teams; The six winners, the six second-place teams, and the four best third-place teams will advance to the 1/8 finals.
Cup

The main symbol of the European Championship is the Henri Delaunay Cup. The original Cup was created in 1960 by Arthus Bertrand and named after the former president of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay, who served as UEFA's first general secretary since the creation of the union. The cup was a stylized silver amphora with a bas-relief depicting a young man playing ball.

For the 2008 European Championship a new cup was created. Pierre Delaunay, the son of Henri Delaunay, was responsible for the creation of the new prize. The cup weighs eight kilograms and its height is 60 centimeters. It is 18 centimeters taller and two kilograms heavier than the original.

The trophy is almost identical to the original Henri Delaunay Cup, but there are a number of differences. For example, the silver base has undergone changes, becoming larger to make the cup more stable. The names of the European Championship winners, which were previously inscribed on the plinth, are now on the back of the trophy. The original was made by Chobillon goldsmith and later bought by Yann Arthus-Bertrand in Paris, and the new cup was made by Asprey London.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources