To Rome by draw

In 1968 the tournament changed its name from European Nations Cup to European Championship. Otherwise it was business as usual.

Just like in 1960 and 1964, the final round started with the semi-finals. Before that, the 31 nations contended for the four much-sought-after semi-final places – for the first time in groups and not any longer according to the knock-out system. Because England, Germany and Italy refused to participate in the 1960 tournament due to its low prestige and not all UEFA members participated in the 1964 tournament either, the 1968 European Championship can be seen as the first real EURO, with all major football nations participating.

The draw decided the constellation of seven groups of four teams and one group of three teams, while first and second legs decided the winner of each group. England, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Yugoslavia, Hungary and the Soviet Union were the nations destined to contend for the final round in the quarter final, which then was still a qualifying round.

Balanced Finals
As was already the case in earlier tournaments, the host nation was chosen from the four most successful nations. In 1968 it hit Italy to welcome the other quarter-final winners Yugoslavia, England and the Soviet Union. In Florence, Yugoslavia scored a surprising 1-0 semi-final victory over the incumbent World Cup Champion England thanks to a late goal. In the second duel Italy won by flipping the coin (unthinkable today!), because there was a 0-0 tie in Naples against the Soviet Union even after extra time.

The European Champion, however, should not be decided by a simple lucky stroke of fortune. In the final game in Rome, however, Italy and Yugoslavia were in a 1-1 tie again after 120 minutes. And the referee Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland), who also had to take responsibility for the Wembley goal in 1966, was once again charged with having favoured the host. June 10 marked the repetition of the final game. Then, however, the Italian goals scored by Luigi Riva and Pietro Anastasi decided a clear 2-0 victory over Yugoslavia. It was the only European Championship the Squadra Azzurra ever won to this day.

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