Euro 1980 in Italy
Euro 1980 was held in Italy between the 11th June and the 22nd June. A total of eight teams participated. These had to qualify through a qualifying stage, with the only exception being Italy who qualified automatically due to being the host country. The other participants were Belgium, Czechoslovakia, England, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and West Germany. The venues used were the Stadio Olimpico (Rome), Giuseppe Meazza (Milan), Stadio Comunale (Turin) and Stadio San Paolo (Naples).
The teams were divided into two groups of four teams. West Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia made up Group A, while Spain, England, Belgium and Italy made up Group B. In the group stage each team played three opponents once on a league basis. The team topping the group was to go through to the Final while the runners-up would battle in a third-place playoff.
In Group A, West Germany managed to win two games and drew against Greece. This meant that with the point system of the time, where a win was worth 2 points and a draw 1 point, Germany accumulated a total of 5 points. The runners-up were Czechoslovakia who won a game, drew a game and lost a game. The same applied for the Netherlands, but they missed out on a place in the 3rd place playoff due to conceding one more goal than the Czechs. Hence, Czechoslovakia earned a place in the 3rd place playoff, while the Dutch were sent packing.
In the other group, the Belgians and the Italians earned the same number of points, 4 points each (a win and two draws). However, the Belgians topped the group as they scored a higher number of goals (3 goals) than the Italians (1 goal). Consequently, Belgium qualified for the Final while the Italians had to content with the 3rd place play-off.
UEFA Euro 1980 3rd/4th
Czechoslovakia faced Italy in the third place play-off, played on the 21st June in the Stadio San Paolo. The score until the 90th minute was that of 1-1, the Czechs scoring through Ladislav Jurkemik and the Italians through Francesco Graziani. Extra time was not enough to decide this match, which had to go to the dreaded penalty shootout. An amazing total of nine penalty rounds were played. The Czechs managed to score all their penalties, while the Italian missed their last penalty by Fulvio Collovati. This meant that the Czechs ranked 3rd and the Italians 4th in the European Championship of 1980.
1980 UEFA European Championships Final
The Final match was played on the 22nd June between respective group winners Belgium and West Germany, in the Stadio Olimpico. West Germany opened the scoring early through Horst Hrubesch in the tenth minute. In the 75th minute, Belgium equalised through a penalty by Rene Vandereycken. It looked as if this game would require extra time, when a late goal shocked the Belgians. West Germany scored in the 88th minute, the goal coming from Hrubesch who scored a brace in this match. This meant that the West Germans were the Champions of Europe again, after triumphing in the 1972 event. This was the second European Championship title earned by West Germany.
