1960 European Nations' Cup

The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the inaugural tournament of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time.

1960 European Nations' Cup
Coupe d'Europe des nations de football
France 1960
(in French)
Tournament details
Host countryFrance
Dates6–10 July
Teams4
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Soviet Union (1st title)
Runners-up Yugoslavia
Third place Czechoslovakia
Fourth place France
Tournament statistics
Matches played4
Goals scored17 (4.25 per match)
Attendance78,958 (19,740 per match)
Top scorer(s)France François Heutte
Soviet Union Valentin Ivanov
Soviet Union Viktor Ponedelnik
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milan Galić
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dražan Jerković
(2 goals each)
1964

The tournament was a knockout competition, with just 17 teams entering. There were some notable absences, including West Germany, Italy, Netherlands and England, each of whom had voted against the creation of the tournament in 1957.[1] The entrants would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would then move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.

In the quarter-finals, Spain, who were under Francoist rule, refused to travel to the Soviet Union for political reasons. After a proposal to play the tie over one leg at a neutral venue were rejected by the Soviets,[2][3] Spain were disqualified: accordingly, three of the final four teams were from communist countries: the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and SFR Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France.

In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, beating them 3–0. The other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4 after coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the French 2–0 for third place.

In the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalised in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in extra time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship.[4]

Qualified teams

edit
Team Qualified as Qualified on
  France (host) Quarter-finals winner 27 March 1960
  Yugoslavia Quarter-finals winner 22 May 1960
  Soviet Union Quarter-finals winner[A] 28 May 1960
  Czechoslovakia Quarter-finals winner 29 May 1960
  1. ^ Won by walkover after the withdrawal of Spain.

Venues

edit
Paris Marseille
Parc des Princes Stade Vélodrome
Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 40,000
   

Squads

edit

Match officials

edit
Country Referee
  England Arthur Ellis
  Belgium Gaston Grandain
  Italy Cesare Jonni

Final tournament

edit
 
1960 European Nations' Cup finalists

In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner.

All times are local, CET (UTC+1).

Bracket

edit
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 July – Marseille
 
 
  Czechoslovakia0
 
10 July – Paris
 
  Soviet Union3
 
  Soviet Union (a.e.t.)2
 
6 July – Paris
 
  Yugoslavia1
 
  France4
 
 
  Yugoslavia5
 
Third place play-off
 
 
9 July – Marseille
 
 
  Czechoslovakia2
 
 
  France0

Semi-finals

edit
France  4–5  Yugoslavia
Report
Attendance: 26,370

Czechoslovakia  0–3  Soviet Union
Report
Attendance: 25,184
Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)

Third place play-off

edit
Czechoslovakia  2–0  France
Report
Attendance: 9,438
Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)

Final

edit
Soviet Union  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Yugoslavia
Report
Attendance: 17,966

Statistics

edit

Goalscorers

edit

There were 17 goals scored in 4 matches, for an average of 4.25 goals per match.

2 goals

1 goal

Awards

edit
UEFA Team of the Tournament[5]
Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
  Lev Yashin   Ladislav Novák
  Vladimir Durković
  Josef Masopust
  Valentin Ivanov
  Igor Netto
  Slava Metreveli
  Viktor Ponedelnik
  Milan Galić
  Bora Kostić
  Dragoslav Šekularac

References

edit
  1. ^ Murray, Scott (2 September 2011). "The Joy of Six: European Championship qualifiers". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2023. At a Uefa congress in 1957, a motion to set up a European championship was finally put to the floor. Predictably, the British associations acted like a petulant child, just as it had done three decades earlier with the World Cup. Fearing such a tournament would interfere with the Home Internationals, it abstained, though this time it was by no means the only offender: seven other countries voted against, including West Germany, Italy and Holland.
  2. ^ Муртазин, Салават (10 July 2020). "Первая и последняя победа сборной СССР на Евро. Как это было". Championat.com (in Russian). Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  3. ^ Malone, Emmet (21 April 2016). "Euro Moments: General Franco pulls Spain from 1960 tournament". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  4. ^ Rostance, Tom (21 May 2012). "BBC Sport - Euro 1960: Lev Yashin leads Soviets to glory in France". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  5. ^ "1960 team of the tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
edit