Today, June 14, begins the Euro Cup and with it a dream for 24 teams that will seek to lift the trophy in Berlin exactly one month later. Within the equality that exists in this type of championships, the host always starts with some advantage. In this edition, the one who will enjoy the status of host will be Germanywho will play the opening match in Munich today against Scotland.
To date, 16 European Championships have been played, 13 of them in a single venue and the remaining three in two countries. Of all the editions, 11 have been in the 20th century and five in the 21st century, so this one from Germany will be the seventeenth edition and the sixth of this century.
Editions of the Euro Cup, venue and opening match
France 1960 (France 4 – Yugoslavia 5)
Spain 1964 (Spain 2 – Hungary 1)
Italy 1968 (Italy 0 – Soviet Union 0)
Belgium 1972 (Belgium 1 – Federal Republic of Germany 2)
Yugoslavia 1976 (Czechoslovakia 3 – Netherlands 1)
Italy 1980 (Czechoslovakia 0 – Federal Republic of Germany 1)
France 1984 (France 1 – Denmark 0)
West Germany 1988 (Federal Republic of Germany 1 – Italy 1)
Sweden 1992 (Sweden 1 – France 1)
England 1996 (England 1 – Switzerland 1)
Belgium and Netherlands 2000 (Belgium 2 – Sweden 1)
Portugal 2004 (Portugal 1 – Greece 2)
Austria and Switzerland 2008 (Switzerland 0 – Czech Republic 1)
Poland and Ukraine 2012 (Poland 1 – Greece 1)
France 2016 (France 2 – Romania 1)
Europe 2020 (Türkiye 0 – Italy 3)
Although the general feeling is that the host teams take the three points in the opening matches, Looking back is synonymous with disproving this theory. Historically, the record of the host teams in the opening match is as follows: five wins, five draws and four losses. The reason why there are only 14 matches and 16 European Championships have been played is that in the 1980 edition, the first in which eight teams participated, the Italian team went directly to the final phase. Furthermore, the last edition was played in 11 different countries and no team was the host.
The five host teams that achieved victory in the opening match are: Spain in 1964 (Spain 2 – Hungary 1), Czechoslovakia in 1976 (Czechoslovakia 3 – Netherlands 1), France in 1984 (France 1 – Denmark 0), Belgium in 2000 (Belgium 2 – Sweden 1) and France in 2016 (France 2 – Romania 1). Of these five, Spain, Czechoslovakia and France (1984) won the title; In the other edition held in France (2016), the host reached the final and lost to Portugal. Belgium was less lucky in 2000which could not pass the group stage.
Four teams did not suffer the same fate, because in the premiere in front of their own people they could not win. These are the cases of France in 1960 (France 4 – Yugoslavia 5), Belgium in 1972 (Belgium 1 – Federal Republic of Germany 2), Portugal in 2004 (Portugal 1 – Greece 2) and Suiza in 2008 (Switzerland 0 – Czech Republic 1). None of them managed to lift the trophy, but Portugal came close, as they reached the final and lost precisely against Greece, their rival in the opening match.
The other five opening matches were tied. Italy in 1968 (Italy 0 – Soviet Union 0), West Germany in 1988 (Federal Republic of Germany 1 – Italy 1), Sweden in 1992 (Sweden 1 – France 1), England in 1996 (England 1 – Switzerland 1) and Poland in 2012 (Poland 1 – Greece 1). The most curious thing is that Italy ended up winning the match by tossing a coin, since being a eliminatory one, one of the two teams had to advance to the final.
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