UEFA Euro 2000 was hosted by Netherlands and Belgium

The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2000), was the 11th UEFA European Football Championship. The 2000 tournament was co-hosted by two countries for the first time in the history. The official mascot of this Euro Cup was Benelucky, a lion-devil with its hair color being a combination of the flag colors of both host nations. Euro 2000 consisted of 23 football (soccer) matches which took place during June 2000. The finals of Euro were held between 10 June and 2 July 2000 and organized by UEFA, football's governing body in Europe. It was considered by many to be the best major tournament of all time. UEFA Euro 2000 was contested by 16 nations. As the co-hosts Netherlands and Belgium qualified automatically. The quality of the 16 teams were very high, with the 1998 World Cup champions France being drawn in the same group along with the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Denmark. The following countries participated in the tournament:

The matches were played in the following stadiums:

Netherlands

Belgium

Euro 2000 was widely hailed as one of the best tournaments in recent times, largely due to many wonderful games, some great individual performances but also because of the generally excellent atmospheres in Holland and Belgium.

One of the co-hosts Belgium lost in the group phase, winning the tournament's first game against Sweden but losing to Turkey and Italy. The other hosts Netherlands managed to qualify as winners of a very tight group to advance to the quarter-finals along with runners-up France. Italy also eliminated co-host and favorites Netherlands in the semi-finals, despite going down to ten men and facing two penalty kicks. The Italians were quietly efficient in their route to the final. A 2-0 defeat of Romania in the quarter finals followed a comfortable group stage which had seen them defeat Turkey, Sweden and Belgium.
Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo made two saves in the penalty shootout to carry the Italians to the final. Not only powerhouses Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Yugoslavia, but also dark horses Turkey and Romania fought bravely and qualified. It is notable that two leading nations England and Germany were eliminated. Perennial under achievers Spain, meanwhile, lost 2-1 to France in the quarter finals, despite being awarded a last minute penalty which would have sent the game into extra time. Raul, however, missed from the spot and the Spanish were out. England and Germany both suffered disappointing campaigns. Despite being drawn in the same group, neither side even made it to the knock out stages. Germany finished bottom of their group with a solitary point picked up against Romania. Their bitter rivals England fared little better. A 1-0 win over Germany was the highlight of their campaign before they headed for home after losing 3-2 to Romania in their final group game.

In the quarter-finals, Netherlands played perfect match against Yugoslavia. The Dutch coached by Frank Rijkaard reached the semi-finals after a large margin 6-1 in-front of a 50,000 crowd at Feyenoord Stadion. But they could not score a goal against the impregnable defense of Italy, and lost the penalty shoot-out in the end. Portugal became the biggest surprises of the tournament. The team won their group with three wins, including a 3-0 win against Germany. They reached the semi-finals, when they lost in extra-time to France after Zinedine Zidane converted a penalty kick. Several Portuguese players challenged the awarding of the penalty for a handball and were given lengthy suspensions for shoving the referee. The world champions France showed their abilities. They beat Spain in the quarter-final and Portugal in the semi-final to advance to the final.

The 21st of June 2000, Feyenoord Stadium, Netherlands, France vs Italy. The final became a spectacular match that characterized this tournament. It was a scoreless 1st half of football. Italy's Marco Delvecchio scored the opening goal in the 55th minute. France's Sylvain Wiltord scored a late-minute equalizer to bring the match to extra time. France kept their momentum to overwhelm Italy, and at last David Trezeguet scored a golden goal. France emerged the winners after winning the World Cup, which was the first achievement in European football history and it gave them the distinction of being both the current World Cup and European Cup holders. At the same time, Zinedine Zidane of France became a superstar surpassing the great Michel Platini. The Euro 2000 winner was France, who defeated Italy 2-1 in the final after a golden goal by France's David Trézéguet .

Zinedine Zidane was undoubtedly the star of the side, his goals against Portugal in the semi finals and Spain in the quarter finals propelling his team towards the final. However the squad also included such luminaries as Marcel Desailly, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Youri Djorkaeff, Patrick Vieira and Didier Deschamps.

Teams:

France: Barthez, Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu (substitute Pires 85), Djorkaeff substitute Trezeguet 75), Vieira, Deschamps, Zidane, Dugarry (substitute Wiltord 57), Henry.

Italy: Toldo, Cannavaro, Nesta, Iuliano, Maldini, Pessotto, Di Biagio (substitute Ambrosini 65), Albertini, Fiore (substitute Del Piero 52), Delvecchio (substitute Montella 85), Totti.

Goals: 0-1 Delvecchio (55), 1-1 Wiltord (90), 2-1 Trezeguet (103)

TOP SCORERS

Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands): 5 goals

Holland's often wayward striker Kluivert finished joint top scorer of Euro 2000 with five goals, albeit three of which came in the 6-1 quarter final thrashing of Yugoslavia. The Dutchman enjoyed a chequered career playing for Ajax, AC Milan, Barcelona, Newcastle United, PSV and Valencia whilst making 79 appearances for the national side and scoring 40 goals.

Savo Milosevic (Yugoslavia): 5 goals

Aston Villa fans can be forgiven for being surprised to see Milosevic at the top of the goalscoring charts. Yet the striker enjoyed a great tournament and finished joint top scorer with Kluivert despite playing a game less than his rival. Milosevic earned 101 caps for his national side, scoring 35 goals, before retiring from international football after the 2006 World Cup.