Italy meets UEFA European Football Championship 1980 (Euro 80)

The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 80) final tournament was held in Italy. Between June 11 and June 22, 1980 the final tournament took place. This was the sixth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. Italy staged Euro a second time in 1980, marking the modern era of the tournament.

There was a slight change to the 1980 European Championship Finals - UEFA decided that eight rather than four teams would qualify. Seven of these countries had to qualify for the final stage. Also for the first time, the hosts, in this case Italy, qualified automatically for the finals. 350,000 passionate supporters viewed matches in Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin. The tournament also had two firsts. The first mascot called „Pinocchio was unveiled dressed in the colours of the Italian flag. The 1980 finals were also the first to include eight teams in two groups of four.

From the two groups of four there would not be semi-finals but rather the group runners-up would meet in a play-off for third place, whilst the group winners competed for the trophy.
After 1976 when England was defeated, this time they qualified from their group to take their place in the tournament.
West Germany won Group A and took their place in the Final easily, winning a repeat of the 1976 Final against Czechoslovakia (1-0) before beating Holland 3-2.
The Germans' 0-0 draw with Greece meant that the winners of the Czechoslovakia v Holland match would go through into the third place play-off. In the event a 1-1 draw sent defending champions Czechoslovakia through.

In Group B, England had been placed with Belgium, Italy and Spain in what looked to be a tough group. England had qualified in style for the Finals, and was therefore rightly considered one of the favourites for the trophy.
However, a stuttering start saw England only draw 1-1 with Belgium after a brilliantly taken Ray Wilkins goal had been cancelled out by Jan Ceulemans.
The crucial game, therefore, was the match against Italy. Poor defending and sloppy passing meant that Italy outclassed England and took the match with Tardelli's goal ten minutes from time. Belgium and Italy's 1-1 draw meant that England couldn't qualify.

Germany became European Champions for the second time after their previous win in 1972. Under the leadership of the superb Bernd Schuster, the Germans won through their strength of nerve, spirit, and cleverness. Players like Klaus Allofs, Hansi Müller, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Felix Magath, aand captain Bernard Dietz showed their class and outplayed their opponents.

It was a fully deserved victory for the German national team, who only conceded three goals in the entire tournament. Five German players made it into the all-star team- Stielike, Förster, Schuster, Rummenigge, Allofs.

In the Final, Germany took the initiative early on by taking the lead through Horst Hrubesch. Bernd Pfaff in the Belgian goal could only parry Muller's shot away for a corner but the Germans only had to wait another six minutes before they opened the scoring.
Bernd Schuster exchanged passes with Klaus Allofs before knocking the ball on to Hrubesch who took the ball on his chest and hit a sweet shot past Pfaff for a nicely taken goal.

At this stage Belgium were struggling to get into the match.Truth be told they could have been one or two goals further behind when the half-time whistle went.
Briegel went off injured early in the second half and with his departure. Germany started to look a little less confident in their midfield play.
The only bright spots were the emergence of a new generation of talented German stars such as Hans-Peter Briegel, Horst Hrubesch, Hansi Müller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and the inspired performance of offensively-minded Belgium (around rising stars such as Jan Ceulemans, Eric Gerets, Jean-Marie Pfaff, and Erwin Vandenbergh) who unexpectedly reached the final, only losing to West Germany (1-2) by a Hrubesch goal two minutes before time.

Germany : Schumacher - Kaltz, Stielike, Förster, Dietz – Schuster, Briegel, Rummenigge, Hrubesch – Müller, Allofs – Trainer: Jupp Derwall

Belgium : Pfaff – Gerets, Millecamps, Meeuws, Renquin – Cools, Vandereycken, van Moer, van der Elst – Mommens, Ceulemans – Trainer: Guy Thys

The tournament generally failed to draw much enthusiasm from spectators and TV viewers. Attendance was generally poor except for matches involving the Italian team. The defensive style of play of many teams led to a succession of dull matches.

Qualification
1980 UEFA European Football Championship finalists:

• Belgium
• Czechoslovakia
• England
• Greece
• Italy (automatically qualified as hosts)
• Netherlands
• Spain
• West Germany

Areas:
Stadio Olimpico, Rome - Capacity: 86,500
Giuseppe Meazza, Milan - Capacity: 85,700
Stadio San Paolo, Naples - Capacity: 72,800
Stadio Comunale, Turin - Capacity: 50,000

Group stage of EURO 1980

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
West Germany	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	5
Czechoslovakia	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	3
Netherlands	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	3
Greece	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1

1980-06-11 Czechoslovakia - West Germany 0 – 1, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance: 11,059
Referee: Alberto Michelotti (Italy)

Rummenigge 57'

1980-06-11 Netherlands - Greece 1 – 0, Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Attendance: 14,990
Referee: Adolf Prokop (East Germany)

Kist 65' (pen.)

1980-06-14 West Germany - Netherlands 3 – 2, Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Attendance: 26,546
Referee: Robert Wurtz (France)

Allofs 20' 60' 65' / Rep 79' (pen.) van de Kerkhof 85'

1980-06-14 Greece - Czechoslovakia 1 – 3, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance: 4,726
Referee: Patrick Partridge (England)

Anastopoulos 14' / Panenka 6' Vizek 26' Nehoda 63'

1980-06-17 Netherlands - Czechoslovakia1 – 1, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Attendance: 11,889
Referee: Hilmi Ok (Turkey)

Kist 59' / Nehoda 16'

1980-06-17 Greece - West Germany 0 – 0, Stadio Comunale, Turin
Attendance: 13,901
Referee: Brian McGinlay (Scotland)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Belgium	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	4
Italy	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	4
England	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	3
Spain	3	0	1	2	2	4	-2	1

1980-06-12 Belgium - England 1 – 1, Stadio Comunale, Turin
Attendance: 15,186
Referee: Heinz Aldinger (West Germany)

Ceulemans 29' / Wilkins 26'

1980-06-12 Spain - Italy 0 – 0, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Attendance: 46,816
Referee: Karoly Palotai (Hungary)

1980-06-15 Belgium - Spain 2 – 1, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Attendance: 11,430
Referee: Charles Corver (Netherlands)

Gerets 17' Cools 65' / Quini 36'

1980-06-15 England - Italy 0 – 1, Stadio Comunale, Turin
Attendance: 59,646
Referee: Nicolae Rainea (Romania)

- / Tardelli 79'

1980-06-18 Spain - England 1 – 2, Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Attendance: 14,440
Referee: Erich Linemayr (Austria)

Dani 48' (pen.) / Brooking 19' Woodcock 61'

1980-06-18 Italy - Belgium 0 – 0, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance: 42,318
Referee: Antonio Garrido (Portugal)

Third place play-off

1980-06-21 Czechoslovakia - Italy 1 – 1, San Paolo, Naples
Referee: Erich Linemayr (Austria)

Jurkemik 54' / Graziani 73'

Penalties

	9 - 8
Barmos		Tardelli
Kozak		Scirea
Gajdusek		Graziani
Gogh		Benetti
Panenka		Cabrini
Jurkemik		Baresi
Ondrus		Altobelli
Nehoda		Causio
Masny		x Collovati

Final

1980-06-22 Belgium - West Germany 1 – 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance: 47,864
Referee: Nicolae Rainea (Romania)

Vandereycken 75' (pen.) / Hrubesch 10' 88'

Euro 1980 Champions - West Germany

Statistics of the 1980 UEFA European Football Championship.

Goal scorers

3 goals - Klaus Allofs
2 goals - Horst Hrubesch, Zdenek Nehoda, Kees Kist
1 goal -

• Jan Ceulemans
• Julien Cools
• Eric Gerets
• Rene Vandereycken
• Ladislav Jurkemik
• Antonin Panenka
• Ladislav Vizek
• Trevor Brooking
• Ray Wilkins
• Tony Woodcock
• Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
• Nikos Anastopoulos
• Francesco Graziani
• Marco Tardelli
• Johnny Rep
• Willy van de Kerkhof
• Dani Quini

Fastest goal
6 minutes : Antonin Panenka (Czechoslovakia vs Greece)