UEFA Euro
The UEFA European Championship is the main football competition of the continent. It is held every four years starting with 1960. It takes place in the even-numbered year in between World Cup tournaments. The fans and media often refer to the event as “Euro {followed by the year of organization}”.
We owe the European Championship to France’s Henri Delaunay, who came up with the idea in 1927. Unfortunately he never got to see his idea fulfilled. The notion was carried on by his son, who designed the trophy, and it carries his name to this day. At first, 17 teams entered the qualifying rounds. The top 4 competed in the finals. The first winners in the history of the competition were the USSR .
In 1980, UEFA decided to increase the number of the teams in the final round to 8. An even further extension took place in 1996, allowing for 16 teams to participate in the final stage. 20 years later, in Euro 2016 in France, there were 24 nations competing for the title. The format of the competition makes for a scene of good profit for those who decide to register for an account at the best betting platform.
Qualifying Rounds
Two years before the final stage, there is a draw from all the participating teams. They are separated into 9 groups of 5 or 6 teams each. The format is a round robin between them with matches played both at home and away. 3 points are awarded for the win and 1 for the draw. At the end of the qualification round, the first 2 teams of each group advance to the final stage.
Since there are 9 groups, this system determines the first 18 participants. The remaining 6 come out of the teams that finished third in their group and have accumulated the most points. If that is not enough, then the selection includes other parameters like the goal difference, or the most goals scored.
Final Stage
During the tournament, there are six groups comprised four teams each. They play a single-game round robin, at the end of which the first two advance further.
The winning team receives the Henri Delaunay trophy, a silver cup that weighs approximately 10 kg and is around 80 cm tall after the latest redesign. The reigning champions get to display it for a period of four years, until the next tournament. So far there have been 9 winners: Germany and Spain have won 3 tournaments each, France have won 2 and the USSR, Italy, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece hold 1 title each. Spain is the only national team that has won the trophy twice in a row.
Especially the titles that Denmark and Greece won, have a prominent place in the history of the competition. The first had already started their summer vacations,when they were called upon to take the place of Yugoslavia. The success was probably the result of the lack of stress.
If anyone placed a bet supporting the title of the Greeks, they would have gotten odds in the vicinity of @500. Which proves of the point that online betting via the top betting establishments, is the way to do things. Even before the final, the Greeks had the role of the underdog, in comparison with the hosts Portugal.
Facts
For what it’s worth, the European Championship provided its share of newsworthy facts, some of which might be known to the general public, while others are not:
The fastest goal so far was scored by Russia’s Dmitry Kirichenko in 2004 during his country’s match against Greece after 67 seconds.
The largest attendance number was recorded for a qualifier between England and Scotland in 1968, where a record number of 130,711 people came to support their favorite teams.
The most number of matches in a European Championship has been played by Germany. They have played 38 matches; Netherlands come second with 32 matches and Spain stand 3rd with 30 matches.
Spain won in 2012 by a margin of 4 goals. It is the largest edge in World cups and Euro cups.
The record for most clean sheets belongs to Edwin van der Saar from the Netherlands and Iker Casillas from Spain with 9 clean sheets.
Germany had the most individual goal scorers in one team during one tournament. In 2012 they scored with goals from Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski, Marco Reus, Lars Bender, Philipp Lahm, Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Mesut Özil.
The fastest hat trick record belongs to France’s Michel Platini, in the France vs. Yugoslavia game in 1984 where he scored three times in the time span of just 18 minutes.
France and Germany hold the streak for most consecutive successful attempts with 6 from 1992 till 2012.
Germany is the team with most finishes in the top four with 8 presences, followed by Russia with 6.
Alan Mullery of England was the first player in the history of the European Championship to receive a red card; he was sent out of the game in the 86th minute in the game between England and Yugoslavia during the semi-finals in 1968.