The1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was hosted and won byItaly. This was the thirdUEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised byUEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968.
It was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the "European Nations' Cup" to the "European Championship".[1] There were also some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase.
Four countries played in the final tournament, which consisted of the semi-finals, athird place play-off, and the final. The host nation for the finals was selected from the four qualified nations.[2]
The qualification competition was played in two stages: a group stage (taking place from 1966 until 1968) and the quarter-finals (played in 1968). There were seven groups of four teams and one of three, with matches played in a home-and-away basis. The eight group winners qualified for the quarter-finals, which were played in two legs, home and away. The winners of the quarter-finals went through to the final tournament.
This remains to this day the only World Cup or European Championship where a West or reunified German team was eliminated in the qualifying stages (they didn’t enter the1930 FIFA World Cup, were banned from1950 and didn’t enter the qualifying stages ofUEFA Euro 1960 or1964 for unknown reasons)
1968 UEFA European Football Championship finalists
In all matches but the final,extra time and acoin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, areplay would be used to determine the winner. Coin toss was as a matter of fact used in the semi final between Italy and Soviet Union.
