The Eurocup is the tournament that brings the most pleasant memories to Spanish football at the national team level. La Roja is the most successful champion in this competition along with Germany, both with three final victories. The European Championship has seen possibly the best matches in the history of our team, but also resounding falls in the first phase. There were those from Spain, but also from the rest of the continent’s greats, revelation teams and even from being the champion to the worst possible title defender. These are the most striking failures in the group stage since UEFA introduced it in 1980. A review of the history of several of the worst falls in the tournament.
Euro 1980: Kubala’s goodbye to Spain
The expansion of the tournament to eight teams and the arrival of the group stage benefited the champion in the 1960s. Spain secured a place in the Eurocup by risking its life against Cyprus on the Mediterranean island so that Yugoslavia would be left out in the classification. A legend like Ladislao Kubala led our team to a final phase, but this was a disappointment.
The draw paired Spain with Belgium, Italy and England. A difficult challenge that Spain did not overcome. The team had a level with Juanito, Santillana, Arconada and Quini as stars, but left without winning a single match. The National Team drew 0-0 in its debut at San Siro against the host, but declined with defeats against Belgium (2-1) and against England (1-2). The last match, in Naples, forced Kubala to put an end to a long career as a coach. Quini and Dani, from a penalty, scored the only two goals for La Roja that Euro Cup.
Euro 1984: black summer in Germany
The top winner of this tournament tied with Spain, Germany, has also had its failures. 1984 is one of its most resounding falls until the early 2000s. His executioner, curiously, was Spain. Germany was drawn against the Reds, Portugal, which was making its debut in the tournament, and Romania. The German team drew 0-0 with Portugal in their debut and missed their first points. On the second day, Völler saved Germany from losing with a double. In the third match, the group arrived tight and with everything to decide, but Spain got them the return ticket from France to Germany.
La Roja missed a penalty, but got the pass thanks to a cross from Señor that Maceda put with an unstoppable header into Schumacher’s goal. A golden generation with the meta, Stielike, Meier, Matthäus, Brehme, Rummenigge and Völler left with this stain on their resume.
Euro 1988: Germany takes revenge on Spain, England goes to zero
On the verge of 90, Spain suffered another setback in the group stage. The generation of the Quinta del Buitre already suffered an unfair World Cup elimination in Mexico against Brazil and fell again in the 1988 Euro Cup.
After a debut with a comeback against Denmark (2-3, goals from Míchel, Butragueño and Gordillo), Spain fell to Italy in the second game in which Vialli stopped the defense by scoring the winning goal. Muñoz lamented having to be forced to beat West Germany again, like in ’84. But the success was not repeated and he fell on the side of those coached by Beckenbauer.
After 20 intense minutes of Spain’s start, Germany dominated and Völler sentenced with passes from Matthäus and Klinsmann.
Euro 92: France and England promote Denmark’s miracle
Denmark was on vacation and ended up playing and winning the Euro 92 Championship. A surprising and indisputable victory, but one that required the failure of two giants like England and France in their group. Both, together with Sweden, formed group A.
Neither Cantona nor Lineker were able to lead their team to success. France drew with Sweden (1-1), with England (0-0) and lost to Denmark ensuring the classification of those from the Jutland peninsula on the last day. In addition to the draw against the Blues, England drew 0-0 against Denmark on the first day and lost 2-1 to Sweden. In the 4th minute of this match, Platt scored the only goal for the ‘Three Lions’ in this tournament.
Euro 96: Bulgaria punctures and bad return of the champion
Hristo Stoichkov was the great protagonist of group B of the Euro 96, but after fourth place in the previous World Cup, Bulgaria failed to advance from the group stage in England.
Hristo scored against Spain (1-1), He scored the winning goal against Romania (1-0) and the winning goal against France (3-1), but the four points were not enough compared to France’s 7 and Spain’s 5.
Denmark, like Bulgaria, also paid for the format to be still short and not the current one, which includes the best third parties for the round of 16. After winning the last Euro Cup, the Danes fell with four points in the group stage against Portugal and Croatia. They tied against the Portuguese, were devastated by the checkers (3-0) and achieved their only victory against Turkey, although it was insufficient (0-3).
Euro 2000: Hard fall for Germany, England and an iconic Czech Republic
Dortmund’s legendary forward, Koller-Rosciky, a future Ballon d’Or winner, Pavel Nedved plus Smicer and Poborsky could not prevent an express departure from a historic generation from the Czech Republic. The Czechs got just 3 points with their victory against Denmark on the last day with a double from Smicer. They lost their duels by the minimum against the Netherlands (1-0) and France (1-2) and left the tournament on the fast track.
More striking was the case of England and, if possible, that of Germany. In a group with Portugal and Romania plus the English, the German team, the highest historical winner along with Spain, got just one point. They drew against Romania and lost 1-0 against England and 3-0 against Portugal. Easily one of the worst championships in their history.
England also fell into this group. Despite winning with a goal from Shearer against Germany, they did not get more than those three points. Lost against Portugal (3-2) and against Romania (2-3) this being the first victory in the history of the Carpathian team in this tournament.
Euro 2004: Spain, Germany and Italy, brief Portuguese summer
That the European Championship was held on the peninsula itself does not bring back good memories for Spain. La Roja was playing in Portugal after a more than unfair exit from the 2002 World Cup, but everything was even worse. Spain would fall in the group stage against the champion, Greece, and the finalist, Portugal. Although they beat Russia in their debut with a goal from Valerón, Spain tied with the Hellenes (1-1) suffering from Charisteas in the summer of their life and fell to Portugal with a goal from Nuno Gomes, thus ending their European journey. Spain tied on 4 points with the champion, but the tiebreaker went in favor of the distant Mediterranean neighbors.
Germany improved, yes, getting just one more point. The German team was eliminated in a group with the Czech Republic, which won three out of three and triumphed as expected, the Netherlands and Latvia. The Germans went without winning and ended up 0-0 with Latvia.
Italy fell with less noise, but with a certain surprise. Sweden, Denmark and the Azzurra nailed their participation with five points, but the Nordics were favored in the tiebreaker criteria. A short summer for the generation that would reign in Germany in just two years.
Euro 2008: France is missing, Greece wakes up from sleep
2008 was an unforgettable summer in Spain with the second European title, Torres’ goal and Luis Aragonés’ La Roja playing the best football that many of us will ever see. But in France and Greece they do not have such pleasant memories of the meeting between Austria and Switzerland.
France, runners-up in the world in 2006, got just one point, tying against Romania in the debut (0-0). Both were devastated by the Netherlands (4-1) and Italy (0-2). A goal from Henry was the little they could celebrate in the Hexágon that summer.
Greece performed at a sublime level in 2004, but fell sharply in 2008. The Hellenes were drawn against Spain, champion, and Russia, semi-finalist and revelation of the tournament, in addition to a tough Sweden and lost all matches. Ibrahimovic vaccinated them in their debut, Zyrianov in the second game and Güiza and De la Red in the third game. Charisteas, yes, scored again for La Roja. The Greek team was the first to lose so resoundingly while defending the title.
Euro 2012: Poland falls at home to the Oranje and Russia
2012 was La Roja’s last dream summer. Euro Cup, World Cup and Euro Cup ended with a historic final against Italy (4-1). Like 2008, this one wasn’t as good for everyone as it was for ours.
Poland was playing at home against Ukraine and fell last in a not-so-complicated group with the Czech Republic, Greece and Russia. Just two points in their home game and two goals to celebrate (Lewandowski and Blaszczykowski). It was not alone, Russia, which had just been a semi-finalist led by Arshavin, left with four points.
The Netherlands, along with Ireland, was the red lantern, going to zero in the competition. The Oranje fell against Denmark (0-1), against Portugal, with a double from Cristiano Ronaldo, and against their great historical rival, Germany (1-2) that sealed the match in 38 minutes with a double from Mario Gómez.
Euro 2016: Portugal, failure, salvation and championship
The format of best third parties and the expansion of the championship prevented the group stage from being so dramatic, leaving only two teams eliminated. Thus, older players advance to the playoffs, which added the round of 16.
Portugal was the first to benefit from this measure… and what a benefit! In a group with Hungary, Iceland and Austria, Portugal qualified with just 3 points miraculously saved by Cristiano Ronaldo with a double that served to come back against Hungary (3-3) on the last day. The Portuguese entered with a ‘failure’ as the third best third behind Slovakia and Ireland and tying with Northern Ireland.
The ‘seleçao’ grew and left out Croatia, Poland and Wales, the revelation team. In the final, they defeated France at the Stade de France in a final characterized by the unexpected. Paris suffered a plague of moths that swarmed the grass and landed on the players, Cristiano was injured and ended up as player-coach and Eder, who was not destined to be the protagonist, scored an iconic goal that gave Portugal its first international title. What would once be a failure elevated the champion.
This format of best third parties is almost playing with a net for the majors since it managed to avoid for the first time a major failure by a major in the 2020 Euro Cup. In this tournament, Finland and Slovakia were eliminated, 61 and 48 in the current FIFA ranking.
Enjoy all the excitement of the Euro Cup in Biwenger, the official fantasy of Diario AS and number 1 on the market. Mbappé, Kane, Lamine Yamal… In Biwenger you can sign all the stars and make the decisions of a real coach. Play Euro fantasy for free and get great prizes by clicking here!
