What tournament is Euro? Football is considered the king sport because it attracts many players and viewers. Currently, there are many major football tournaments organized around the world, including the Euro. However, what is the Euro football tournament? How often is it held and how many teams participate are not known to everyone. If you have a special passion for football, let's with win tips bet find out more details about this tournament.
What is the Euro tournament?
EURO is the European football championship. This tournament is organized by the European football federation UEFA. Therefore, the commonly used name for this tournament is UEFA EURO. The EURO football tournament is the biggest tournament for national teams in Europe. This tournament is an important platform for the leading European football teams to compete and show their skills.
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The EURO tournament was first held in France in 1960 (as an idea of French Football Federation Secretary-General Henri Delaunay). The Soviet Union team was the first champion of this tournament.
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How often is the Euro tournament held?
Since its first tournament in 1960, the UEFA European Championship has been held every four years. This means that the Euro and the World Cup alternate every two years, taking place in the summer of even-numbered years.
Up to this point, the Euro has been held 15 times:
- Euro 1960, held in France. The Soviet Union team won the championship.
- Euro 1964, held in Spain. The Spanish team won the championship, while the Soviet Union team finished as the runner-up.
- Euro 1968, held in Italy. The Italian team emerged as the winner, with Yugoslavia finishing as the runner-up.
- Euro 1972, held in Belgium. The German team won their first-ever championship.
- Euro 1976, held in Yugoslavia. Germany and Yugoslavia tied in the final and Yugoslavia won in a penalty shootout, earning their first championship.
- Euro 1980, held in Italy. Germany won their second championship, defeating Yugoslavia once again.
- Euro 1984, held in France, and the host team also won the championship.
- Euro 1988, held in Germany. The Netherlands won the championship.
- Euro 1992, held in Sweden. The Danish team won the championship.
- Euro 1996, held in England. The German team won the championship.
- Euro 2000, co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium. The French team won the championship.
- Euro 2004, held in Portugal. The Greek team won the championship.
- Euro 2008, co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland. The Spanish team won the championship.
- Euro 2012, co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. The Spanish team won the championship again.
- Euro 2016, held in France. The Portuguese team won the championship.
If the schedule had been followed as usual, the 16th Euro football championship would have been held in 2020. However, due to the complex and widespread COVID-19 pandemic situation in Europe at the time, UEFA postponed the tournament for one year, until 2021.
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How many football teams participate in the Euro tournament?
The number of teams participating in the Euro tournament has changed over time. Here we will only analyze the format of the tournament starting from 1996.
The Euro qualifiers usually include most European countries, with teams divided into round-robin groups to select the best teams for the finals. Starting from the summer of 1996, the Euro finals were a competition for 16 countries. One or two host teams may be given priority and skip the qualifiers. The remaining teams have been carefully selected beforehand.
The 16 teams are seeded and drawn into 4 groups. The teams in each group will compete against each other to select the top 2 teams to advance to the quarter-finals.
Starting from the quarter-finals, through the semi-finals and the final, the teams will play a single game to determine the winner. If there is a tie after 90 minutes of official play, an additional 30-minute extra time will be played, followed by penalty shootouts.
Note that the ranking of teams in the group stage is important, as many people may not understand the criteria. Specifically, priority for ranking teams in the group must follow the following order:
- Points
- Direct head-to-head record
- Goal difference
- Goals scored
- Wins
- If only two teams are tied in points in the final game and they played against each other, penalty shootouts will be applied if all 5 criteria above are equal. However, this rarely happens.
- Fair play points
- Ranking in FIFA standings
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This format was in effect for a long time until Euro 2016, when UEFA decided to increase the number of teams to 24, thus changing the format slightly. The 24 teams will be divided into 6 groups, and the top 2 teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage.
In addition, the 4/6 teams with the best third-place finishes will also have the opportunity to continue to compete at the highest level of the continent. Thus, a total of 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage. Therefore, Euro 2016 added a round of 16 and then the quarter-finals, semi-finals, final, and third-place match continued as usual.
Conclusion
Above, we have shared intriguing details about the UEFA Euro, a highly cherished international football tournament. While some individuals may already be familiar with the aforementioned topics, there are still many who lack a comprehensive understanding of the UEFA Euro. Our aim with this article is to equip everyone with additional knowledge, enabling them to fully immerse themselves in the excitement of the matches. For those interested in further engagement, exploring reputable football betting sites can provide an added dimension of enjoyment and involvement with the UEFA Euro and other football events.
