UEFA Euro 1980

1980 UEFA European Football Championship
Italia 1980 ; Campionato Europeo di Calcio 1980 (in Italian)
Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	11–22 June 1980
Teams	8
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 played	14
Goals scored	27 (1.93 per match)
Attendance	345,463 (24,676 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Klaus Allofs (3 goals)
	← 1976 1984 ⊟

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.

Bid process

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

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

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

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)

^ 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

Rome Milan Naples Turin	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

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

Match officials

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

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

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:

Goal difference in all group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Drawing of lots

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	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

11 June 1980

17:45

Czechoslovakia	0–1	West Germany
	Report	Rummenigge 57'

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 10,500

Referee: Alberto Michelotti (Italy)

11 June 1980