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1968: European Nation's Cup in Italy

In 1968, the tournament changed its name from European Nation's Cup to European Championship. The European Championship 1968 in Italy was the third official UEFA competition for national teams.

The competition was divided in two phases: the first one was a qualifying phase involving 31 teams and the second phase was a final tournament with the four qualified teams. Following the growing participation, UEFA changed the format of the qualifying phase. For the first time, a group's phase was introduced. The participant were divided into 8 groups with the winning teams competing for a spot in the final phase through knock-out matches with home-and-away games.

For the first time, West Germany participates at the qualifying phase, although they weren't able to reach the final tournament.

Soviet Union, Italy,, England and Yugoslavia qualified and Italy was selected as the hosting country for the final event.

Qualifying Groups - Final standings
Group A
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Spain Spain
6
8
3
2
1
6
2
+4
2 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
6
7
3
1
2
8
4
+4
3 Ireland Republic of Ireland
6
5
2
1
3
5
8
-3
4 Turkey Turkey
6
4
1
2
3
3
8
-5
Group B
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Bulgaria Bulgaria
6
10
4
2
0
10
2
+8
2 Portugal Portugal
6
6
2
2
2
6
6
-
3 Sweden Sweden
6
5
2
1
3
9
12
-3
4 Norway Norway
6
3
1
1
4
9
14
-5
Group C
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Soviet Union Soviet Union
6
10
5
0
1
16
6
+10
2 Greece Greece
6
5
2
1
3
7
8
-1
3 Austria Austria
6
5
2
1
3
7
9
-2
4 Finland Finland
6
2
0
2
4
5
12
-7
Group D
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
4
6
3
0
1
8
3
+5
2 West Germany West Germany
4
5
2
1
1
9
2
+7
3 Albania Albania
4
1
0
1
3
0
12
-12
Group E
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Hungary Hungary
6
9
4
1
1
15
5
+10
2 East Germany East Germany
6
7
3
1
2
10
10
-
3 Netherlands Netherlands
6
5
2
1
3
11
11
-
4 Denmark Denmark
6
3
1
1
4
6
16
-10
Group F
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Italy Italy
6
11
5
1
0
17
3
+14
2 Romania Romania
6
6
3
0
3
18
14
+4
3 Switzerland Switzerland
6
5
2
1
3
17
13
+4
4 Cyprus Cyprus
6
2
1
0
5
3
25
-22
Group G
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 France France
6
9
4
1
1
14
6
+8
2 Belgium Belgium
6
7
4
1
2
14
9
+5
3 Poland Poland
6
7
3
1
2
13
9
+4
4 Luxembourg Luxembourg
6
1
0
1
5
1
18
-17
Group H
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 England England
6
9
4
1
1
15
5
+10
2 Scotland Scotland
6
8
3
2
1
10
8
+2
3 Wales Wales
6
4
1
2
3
6
12
-6
4 Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
6
3
1
1
4
2
8
-6
Knock-out Round
Date
Match
Result
 
06.04.1968 Bulgaria Bulgaria Italy Italy
3
2
20.04.1968 Italy Italy Bulgaria Bulgaria
2
0
04.05.1968 Hungary Hungary Soviet Union Soviet Union
2
0
11.05.1968 Soviet Union Soviet Union Hungary Hungary
3
0
03.04.1968 England England Spain Spain
1
0
08.05.1968 Spain Spain England England
1
2
06.04.1968 France France Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
1
1
24.04.1968 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia France France
5
1
 

 

Past editions index
Notable players of eliminated teams

West Germany Gerd Müller

West Germany Uwe Seeler

West Germany Franz Beckenbauer

West Germany Wolfgang Overath

Hungary János Farkas

playersHungary Ferenc Bene

playersHungary Flórián Albert

playersScotland Denis Law

playersScotland Bobby Lennox

Netherlands Johan Cruyff

Spain Francisco Gento

Portugal Eusebio

playersPoland Włodek Lubański

playersBelgium Paul Van Himst

Bulgaria Petar Zhekov

playersSwitzerland Karl Odermatt

Norway Odd Iversen

Finland Juhani Peltonen

Notable facts

In Group D, West Germany literally throwed away the qualification, with an unexpected draw in the last match against a very beatable Albania.

Group H was officially calculated using the results of the British Home Championship 1966-67 and 1967-68.

In the knock-out rounds, Sovier Union eliminated Hungary in one of the most fascinating battle of the year. After losing 0-2 in Hungary, the soviets were able to conquer a wonderful 3-0 win in Moscow.
Italy did something similar against Bulgaria. After losing 2-3 in Sofia, the italians were able to get a decisive 2-0 win in Neaples.

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