 TheSantiago Bernabéu(pictured in 2009) held the final. | |||||||
| Event | 1964 European Nations' Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 21 June 1964 (1964-06-21) | ||||||
| Venue | Santiago Bernabéu,Madrid | ||||||
| Referee | Arthur Holland (England) | ||||||
| Attendance | 79,115 | ||||||
←1960 1968 → | |||||||
The1964 European Nations' Cup final was afootball match played at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium inMadrid, Spain, on 21 June 1964, to determine the winners of the1964 European Nations' Cup. It was the second final of what has since been known as theEuropean Championship,UEFA's quadrennial football competition for national teams. The match was contested betweenSpain and theSoviet Union, theprevious tournament winners.
En route to the final, Spain defeatedRomania,Northern Ireland, and theRepublic of Ireland overtwo-legged ties, before beatingHungary in the semi-finals. The Soviet Union received abye in the qualifying round, before beatingItaly,Sweden, andDenmark en route to the final.
Thereferee for the final, played in front of an attendance of 79,115 spectators, wasArthur Holland from England. Spain won the match 2–1 to earn their first European Championship title.
The1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of what is now called theUEFA European Football Championship,UEFA's quadrennial football competition for national teams.[1] Qualifying rounds were played on a home-and-away basis between November 1962 and May 1964. The semi-finals and final took place in Spain between 17 and 21 June 1964. A third-place play-off match took place the day before the final, in whichHungary defeatedDenmark 3–1 afterextra time.[2][3]
The Soviet Union had won theinaugural final four years prior, defeatingYugoslavia 2–1 after extra time.[4] Spain had refused to play against the Soviet Union inthe quarter-final and withdrew from the 1960 tournament, allowing their opponents awalkover.[5] In the1962 FIFA World Cup, Spain had failed to progress beyond thegroup stage, losing to bothCzechoslovakia andBrazil.[6] The Soviet Union went out of the competition at thequarter-final stage after suffering a 2–1 defeat byChile.[7] The 1964 European Nations' Cup Final was the first match played between the Soviet Union and Spain.[8]
Spain'smanager wasJosé Villalonga Llorente, who had been in charge atReal Madrid andAtlético Madrid before taking the national position in 1962.[9] His opposite number for the Soviet Union wasKonstantin Beskov, who had played in the 1940s and 1950s forDynamo Moscow before moving into club management. He was appointed national manager in 1963.[10]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round | Romania | 6–0 (H), 1–3 (A) |
| Round of 16 | Northern Ireland | 1–1 (H), 1–0 (A) |
| Quarter-final | Republic of Ireland | 5–1 (H), 2–0 (A) |
| Semi-final | Hungary | 2–1 (a.e.t.) (N) |
Spain started their 1964 European Nations' Cup campaign in thepreliminary round in which they facedRomania in atwo-legged tie. The first match was held at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on 1 November 1962 and was the first competitive fixture between Spain and Romania. In front of 51,608 supporters, Spain were 4–0 ahead inside the first twenty minutes of the match, with two goals fromVicente Guillot and one each fromJosé Luis Veloso andEnrique Collar. Guillot completed hishat-trick with 20 minutes of the match remaining before anown goal fromIon Nunweiller sealed a 6–0 victory for Spain.[11] The second leg was played later that month at theStadionul 23 August in Bucharest, in front of 72,762 spectators. The home side took an early 2–0 with goals fromNicolae Tătaru andCicerone Manolache within the opening eight minutes.Gheorghe Constantin made it 3–0 midway through the second half before Veloso scored for Spain. Despite Romania winning the match 3–1, Spain progressed to theround of 16 with a 7–3aggregate victory.[12] They facedNorthern Ireland, the first leg taking place at theSan Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on 30 May 1963 in what author Daniel O'Brien describes as "one of the great forgotten performances in Northern Ireland's history".[13] The Northern Ireland goalkeeper,Bobby Irvine, twice deniedAmancio Amaro before Amaro opened the scoring on the hour-mark after an error fromAlex Elder.Willie Irvine levelled the score with less than a quarter of an hour remaining and then missed an open goal minutes later, shooting over the Spain crossbar.[13][14] The return leg was played atWindsor Park in front of 45,809 spectators on 30 October 1963.[15] The first half ended goalless and with twenty minutes of the second half remaining, Spain took the lead. A long-range strike fromPaco Gento gave them a 1–0 victory in the match and a 2–1 aggregate win.[13]
Spain's opponents for thequarter-final were theRepublic of Ireland with the first leg being held at theRamón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville on 11 March 1964.[16] The Republic of Ireland's team selection was compromised whenManchester United refused to allowNoel Cantwell andTony Dunne leave to play, and withCharlie Hurley playing his third game in five days. In rainy conditions, Amancio capitalised on a mistake from Hurley to give Spain a 12th-minute lead.Josep Maria Fusté doubled his side's lead two minutes later with a 25 yards (23 m) strike.Andy McEvoy reduced the deficit for the Republic of Ireland midway through the first half, but Amancio restored the two-goal lead on 30 minutes after he scored fromMarcelino'scross.[17] Three minutes later, Marcelino himself scored from close range, and after McEvoy was withdrawn through injury leaving the Republic of Ireland with ten players, Spain dominated the second half. With two minutes remaining, Marcelino scored his side's fifth goal after the ball took a deflection off Hurley, to give Spain a 5–1 first leg victory.[16][18] Although Cantwell and Dunne were included for the return leg atDalymount Park in Dublin, it made no difference. Spain dominated possession and thoughAlan Kelly made several saves, debutantPedro Zaballa scored in both halves: a header fromCarlos Lapetra's cross midway through the first half was followed by a strike from 10 yards (9 m) with three minutes of the match remaining. This secured a 2–0 win for Spain, a 7–1 aggregate victory, and qualification for the final tournament which they themselves would host.[18][19]
Spain's semi-final opposition were Hungary, whom they faced at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on 17 June 1964 in front of a crowd of 75,000.[20] For Spain,Luis del Sol, the prominentJuventus winger, was unavailable while Gento was excluded after a disagreement with manager Villalonga. Hungary were withoutGyula Rákosi,János Göröcs andKároly Sándor through injury. In the 35th minute,Luis Suárez crossed the ball forChus Pereda who headed it into the top corner with Hungary's goalkeeperAntal Szentmihályi static, to give the host nation the lead. With six minutes of the match remaining,István Nagy's shot was fumbled by Spain's goalkeeperJosé Ángel Iribar andFerenc Bene scored to level the match and send it into extra time. Szentmihályi saved a shot from Amancio before Marcelino headed Lapetra's corner goal-bound and Amancio diverted the ball into the Hungary goal in the 112th minute to give Spain a 2–1 victory and progression to the tournament final.[21]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round | Bye | — |
| Round of 16 | Italy | 2–0 (H), 1–1 (A) |
| Quarter-final | Sweden | 1–1 (A), 3–1 (H) |
| Semi-final | Denmark | 3–0 (N) |
The Soviet Union's European Nations' Cup campaign saw them receive abye in the preliminary round so their first match was their round-of-16 tie againstItaly. The match took place at theCentral Lenin Stadium in Moscow on 13 October 1963 in front of a crowd of more than 102,000 and was the first competitive between the sides. Midway through the first half,Viktor Ponedelnik gave the Soviet Union the lead, and three minutes before half-time,Igor Chislenko scored to make it 2–0.[22] The second leg was played at theStadio Olimpico in Rome a month later with an attendance of almost 70,000.[23]Gennadi Gusarov gave the Soviet Union a first-half lead beforeLev Yashin saved apenalty fromSandro Mazzola.[24]Gianni Rivera equalised for Italy in the 89th minute, but the match ended 1–1 with the Soviet Union winning 3–1 on aggregate to qualify for the quarter-finals.[23] They facedSweden with the first leg being played at theRåsunda Stadium in Stockholm on 13 May 1964. After a goalless first half, the dominance of the Soviet Union finally resulted in a goal whenValentin Ivanov scored in the 62nd minute. Failing to capitalise on other chances to score, the Soviet Union conceded the equalising goal with two minutes of the match remaining whenKurt Hamrin struck the ball past Yashin to secure a 1–1 draw.[25][26] The sides met two weeks later at the Central Lenin Stadium in front of almost 100,000 spectators and Yashin received the1963 Ballon d'Or award on the pitch before the match.[26] Ponedelnik opened the scoring for the Soviet Union when he ran with the ball before shooting betweenArne Arvidsson's legs to make it 1–0 after 32 minutes, before doubling his and his side's tally 11 minutes into the second half with a 25-yard (23 m) strike. Hamrin scored past Yashin in the 78th minute beforeValery Voronin shot the ball through Arvidsson's legs following a pass from Ponedelnik. The match ended 3–1 and 4–2 on aggregate to the Soviet Union who progressed to the semi-finals in Spain.[27][28]
They faced Denmark at theCamp Nou in Barcelona on 17 June 1964 in front of 38,556 spectators.[29] Denmark had enforced an "amateur-only" policy to their side which meant thatErik Sørensen,Kai Johansen andHarald Nielsen were no longer available having signed professional contracts, whileJens Petersen andJohn Madsen were also otherwise engaged. The Soviet Union dominated the early stages, Voronin opening the scoring midway through the first half from a corner before Ponedelnik beatLeif Nielsen in the Denmark goal with a strike five minutes before half-time. Late in the second half, Ivanov beat three Denmark defenders before scoring his side's third, and the Soviet Union won 3–0 to progress to their second consecutive European Nations' Cup final.[30]
.jpg)
Thereferee for the match wasArthur Holland,[31] who became the second Englishman to officiate a European Nations' Cup Final afterArthur Ellis had fulfilled the role in the previous tournament.[32] Before the match,Francisco Franco led future king of SpainJuan Carlos I onto the pitch while Yashin met his childhood heroRicardo Zamora prior tokick-off. The Soviet Union had won the pre-matchcoin toss and as such were playing in their usual red-and-whitekit while Spain wore dark blue shirts.[33]
The final was played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on 21 June 1964 in front of 79,115 spectators.[31] Spain's Suárez struck an early free kick over the Spain crossbar before his pass to Marcelino was cut out by Yashin. In the sixth minute, Suárez dispossessed Ivanov, took the ball pastEduard Mudrik and, after making aone-two with Lapetra, crossed for Pereda who scored to give Spain a 1–0 lead. Two minutes later,Viktor Anichkin passed toGalimzyan Khusainov down the left side of the pitch, and his weak shot was mishandled by the Spain goalkeeper Iribar to allow the equaliser. Despite the two early goals, the remainder of the half saw both sides competing in the midfield with several misplaced passes andfouls, although Yashin saved shots from both Pereda and Fusté before Iribar kept Chislenko's attempt out.[33][34]
In the early stages of the second half, Spain began to dominate but missed several chances to score. Amancio struck the ball into theside netting before he then ran clear of the Soviet Union defence and passed to Marcelino, whose shot was tipped over the Soviet Union crossbar by Yashin.[34] Chislenko then beat three Spain defenders before being brought down byIgnacio Zoco, but the referee allowed play to continue. Voronin then clashed with Suárez who appeared to be injured in the exchange, before the Soviet Union player saw his low shot pushed behind by Iribar.[33] On the hour mark, Iribar saved a shot from Ponedelnik, and twelve minutes later Pereda was brought down by Anichkin. Despite Spain's strong appeals for a penalty, the referee awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Soviet Union penalty area, which came to nothing. With six minutes of the match remaining,Feliciano Rivilla passed to Pereda who first beat Anichkin and then sent in a cross, whichViktor Shustikov was unable to clear, allowing Marcelino a header for the winning goal inside the near post.[34] Spain won the match 2–1 to claim their first European Championship title.[33]
       Spain |   Soviet Union |
|  |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All but three of UEFA's team of the tournament had featured in the final, including six Spain and two Soviet Union players.[2] Beskov was dismissed upon his return to Moscow following a meeting withNikita Khrushchev who had been "incensed" that images of celebrating Franco had been broadcast live in the Soviet Union.[10] Spain's Iribar said "When we won, we were full of joy, we were so into it. Then a few days passed and we realised that if we'd lost, the situation would have been so different. It was a game we had to win at all costs, otherwise there would have been a hunt for culprits. Some players would never have been picked again. We would've gone from heroes to zeros."[35] After the match, Franco received the winning side at theRoyal Palace of El Pardo.[31]
The Soviet Union were knocked out in thesecond qualifying round of the1964 Summer Olympics byEast Germany: a tiebreaker was required after both legs of the match ended 1–1, and East Germany progressed with a 4–1 victory. Spain also failed to qualify for the final tournament in Tokyo, losing 5–1 on aggregate to Hungary.[36]
Villalonga was dismissed from his post two years later after suffering defeats againstWest Germany andArgentina during Spain's failure to progress past thegroup stage of the1966 FIFA World Cup.[31] The Soviet Union beatNorth Korea, Italy and Chile intheir group stage. After defeating Hungary, they lost to West Germany in thesemi-final and were defeated byPortugal in the third-place play-off.[37]
| Tournaments | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying | |
| Finals | |
| Squads | |
| Bids | |
| Statistics | |
| Broadcasting rights | |
| Other records | |
| Miscellaneous | |
