Euro 1976 in Yugoslavia

The Euro 1976 was the last European Championship before we started having several changes being made to the competition. It still consisted of 4 teams, as previous tournaments, before being expanded to 8 teams in the following tournament. The competition was hosted by Yugoslavia and was played over 4 days between the 16^th June and the 20^th June. Two semi-finals, 3^rd place and final had to be played. The participants were holders West Germany, Yugoslavia (hosts), Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. Only two venues were used for the tournament, these were the Crvena Zvezda Stadium in Belgrade (54000) and the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb (45000).

This championship holds the record of having all matches decided after extra time, either in extra time or on penalties. The first semi-final between the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia was played in Zagreb on the 16^th June. The teams were level at 1-1 until the 90^th minute, which necessitated extra time. Czechoslovakia scored twice through Zdenek Nehoda (114^th) and Frantisek Vesely (118^th), winning the match and going through to the final. The second semi-final was played a day later on the 17^th June between Yugoslavia and West Germany. Until the 90^th minute, the game was level at 2-2. Extra time was played and Germany scored twice through hat trick hero Dieter Muller in the 115^th and 119^th minute. Thus, West Germany won 4-2 and qualified to the Final.

The losers of the semi-final encounters had to fight for the third place in Zagreb on the 19^th June. The game between Netherlands and Yugoslavia was left undecided until the 90 minute whistle, with the score 2-2. It was in the 107^th minute that Netherlands found the back of the net through Ruud Geels. Netherlands ranked in 3^rd place and shamed the holders who ranked last.

1976 UEFA European Championship Final

Video of Czechoslovakia vs West Germany, match starts 37 seconds in.

The final was played in the 54,000 Belgrade Stadium between Czechoslovakia and West Germany. After having been crowned 1972 champions, the Germans were tipped favourites to be champions of Europe again. Czechoslovakia opened the score early in the game (8^th) through Jan Svehlik, scoring again in the 25^th minute through Karol Dobias. It looked like game over for the Germans. However, the fighting spirit of Germany gave them the power to fight back. They scored through tournament top scorer (4 goals) Dieter Muller three minutes later in the 28^th minute. The Germans never lost hope and this paid off when they managed to find the net in the 89^th minute through Bernd Holzenbein to level the match. Extra time had to be played but it still couldn’t decide the winner. The only solution left was a penalty shootout. Until the third round, the game was still level, with both teams scoring all their penalties. In the fourth round, Zdenek Nehoda scored his penalty for Czechoslovakia and Uli Hoeness missed for West Germany. If the Czechs scored the next penalty, they were Champions. Marian Masny took the penalty with his heart in his mouth. Masny converted the penalty and Czechoslovakia won their first ever European Championship.