Euro-1980: results and interesting facts

Euro-1980 became the 6th in history and the 2nd time was held in Italy. I went through a modified formula. Participated in the final tournament, 8 teams, divided into 2 groups. In general, the European Championship was not very productive and interesting. Low attendance and riots in the stands characterized Euro-1980.

Qualifying tournament

To get into the final stage of the European Football Championship, it was necessary to leave the qualifying group. In the qualifying rounds, 31 teams took part. The draw was held on November 30, 1977. Teams were divided into seven groups - three in five teams, four in four. National teams that took the first places in the groups received a ticket to the Euro-1980. The Italian team became the hostess of the tournament and got on it automatically.

Failure in the qualifying round was shown by the USSR team. The players were not able to leave the group, although they were opposed by the Greeks, Hungarians and Finns. The Soviet team, despite being the favorite, took the last place in the group. The national team managed to win a single match against the Greeks, after which draw a series of draws. In key matches, the players lost to the Greeks and could not beat the Finns, who were considered outsiders in the qualification for Euro-1980.

The qualifying round, except for the failure of the USSR, ended quite expectably. The favorites confidently took the first places in their groups and went to Italy.

Euro-1980

The final part of the tournament began on June 11, 1980 and lasted until June 22nd. Italy prepared in advance for the adoption of the championship, but the incidents could not be avoided.

Cities and stadiums

Four games took the games. The first of them is located in Rome - "Olympic", the capacity of which was eighty six and a half thousand. The second stadium was "Giuseppe Meazza", located in Milan and capable of hosting more than eighty-five thousand spectators. "Sao Paolo" in Naples was the third arena with a capacity of more than seventy-two thousand. The last stadium was "Comunale" in Turin, capable of hosting up to fifty thousand fans.

Group A

The group included teams from Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and Greece.

The place of favorites was given to the FRG, which immediately began to confirm its rank. Outsiders were the Greeks, who did not allow the Soviet Union to get to Euro-1980 in football. The Germans, not having suffered a single defeat, went to the finals.

An interesting match was issued between the team of Germany and the Netherlands, held on June 14. The Germans confidently led the game and managed to score three goals. Klaus Allofs managed to draw a hat-trick to the 67th minute. After that, German mentor Jupp Derval, who debuted at a major tournament, made two substitutions. On the field appeared rookie Lothar Matthaus, who after a few minutes fouled in his own penalty. A fair penalty was successfully implemented, and the Dutch have all the forces thrown into the attack. At the end, Rene Van de Kerkhof scored another goal in the German goal, but despite this, the Netherlands could not achieve a draw. In the end of the match, the team of Germany seriously threw off the pace and miraculously did not lose points.

Germany beat and Czechoslovakia - 1: 0 at eleven thousand spectators, but Greece in Turin was able to keep a draw.

Who won the Euro-1980? A question that interests many young fans. Before the finals there were still a few games in the group. Czechoslovakia, who came to the tournament in the status of the current champion, lost one match, one won and played a draw. This team was enough to take the second place in the group and get out of it.

The Netherlands had the same results as Czechoslovakia, but lost the last in the number of goals and went home. Worst of all in the group was the Greek national team, played once in a draw, which was expected.

Group B

This is a more interesting group, which included Belgium, Italy, Spain and England.

Here everything was unpredictable, although the fans gave preference to the hostess, and in the rank of outsider Belgium acted.

Most of all, of course, attended the matches of the Italian team. In the first duel, the host country met the eternal enemy - Spain. I accepted the match half full of "Giuseppe Meazza" in Milan. However, the match did not meet the expectations of the public, ending with a zero score.

The second opponent was England. Fifty thousand fans from the stands watched the match. Italy was stronger here, scoring in the end of the match. The author of the winning goal was midfielder Tardelli.

The final match of the national team took place at the stadium in Rome. Belgium and Italy played well, but could not distinguish themselves by goals. The teams scored the same number of points, but Belgium got to the finals thanks to scored goals. Italy had to play for third place.

The third line in the group managed to take England, which scored three points. It is worth noting that the British fans first noted riots at the international level. On the opening day of the tournament, they were to play with Belgium. Teams broke up with a draw, scoring one goal. In the composition of the English, Wilkins distinguished himself.

Against Italy, they could not stand it. In the match with Spain, the British showed character and won 2: 1. However, they did not have enough points to leave the group.

Worst of all in the group was Spain. The national team played a draw with Italy and lost the remaining matches.

Match for third place

At Euro-1980 match for 3 place ended with a duel. Czechoslovakia and Italy could not determine the winner in the main and additional time. Everything was decided in a series of penalty shoot-outs. The audience saw eighteen beats. Italian Fulvio Kollatovi could not beat the goalkeeper of Czechoslovakia. Czechs again could win, thanks to a penalty - four years ago (Euro-1976) they managed to win the championship. The Italian national team did not win even this "comforting" final of the home European Championship. The fans expected the team to win.

Euro-1980 Final

In the final of the tournament, unexpectedly for many made their way through Belgium, which before his start along with Greece was considered an outsider. Germany quite confidently outplayed the "upstart", thanks to the double Horst Hrubes. The Belgians still managed to score - Vanderycken scored a penalty. The final match the Germans held confidently, creating many dangerous moments. In those years, the team did not have problems with high-quality players. He was brilliant Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who in the same season won the "Golden Ball", the goal was defended by Harald Schumacher, who did not know the fatigue of Hans-Peter Brigel, could scoff the whole match over his opponents.

Belgium also included players who later became football stars, for example, goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff.

Interesting Facts

Euro-1980 was not without curious facts and innovations that may be of interest to football fans.

• The Wales team was not supposed to take part in qualifying matches against the European Championship. The reason - the riots in the match against Yugoslavia, which took place in 1976 at home Euro.
• The USSR team showed the worst result in its history, taking the last line in the qualifying group.
• Italy was the first country to double the final tournament of the European Championships. The first time was in 1968.
• The competition for the mascot of the tournament was held for the first time. The winner was the hero of the fairy tales of Carlo Collodi - Pinocchio.
• Greece took part in the tournament for the first time.
• The second time, the Czechoslovak national team climbed the pedestal, winning bronze medals.
• For the first time the national team of Belgium managed to reach the final of a major tournament.
• The best scorer was the German Klaus Allofs. All three goals scored in one game. On this Euro, the Germans won the third consecutive race of scorers.