UEFA Euro 1980
The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first edition to feature eight teams, taking place between 11 and 22 June 1980. West Germany won the final 2–1 for their second title. This was the last European Championship with a third place play-off.
Bid process
This was the first European Championship in which eight teams, rather than four, contested the final tournament. On 17 October 1977 UEFA announced that England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany had expressed interest in hosting this event. On 19 October UEFA's Organizing Committee decided to assign the hosting to England or Italy, and on 12 November the Organizing Committee and the Executive Committee announced that Italy had been chosen unanimously. Seven countries had to qualify for the final tournament, and the draw for the qualifying round took place in Rome on 30 November 1977. Also for the first time, the hosts, in this case Italy, qualified automatically for the finals.Overview
Because of the expanded format, the final tournament went through some changes as well. Two groups of four teams each were created; each team would play all others within their group. The winners of the groups would go straight to the final, while the runners-up disputed the third place play-off.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. Hooliganism, already a rising problem in the 1970s, made headlines again at the first-round match between England and Belgium where riot police had to use tear gas, causing the match to be held up for five minutes in the first half. The only bright spots were the emergence of a new generation of talented German stars such as Bernd Schuster, Hans-Peter Briegel, Horst Hrubesch, Hansi Müller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and the inspirational performance of Belgium who reached the final, only losing to West Germany by a Hrubesch goal two minutes before time.
Qualification
Qualified teams
Venues
Squads
Each national team had to submit a squad of 22 players.Match officials
Group stage
The teams finishing in the top position in each of the two groups progress to the finals, while the second placed teams advanced to the third place play-off, and bottom two teams were eliminated from the tournament.All times are local, CEST.
Tiebreakers
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:- Greater number of points in all group matches
- Goal difference in all group matches
- Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
- Drawing of lots
Group 1
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Group 2
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Knockout stage
In the final, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. However, the third place play-off would go straight to a penalty shoot-out if the scores were level after 90 minutes.All times are local, CEST.
Bracket
Third place play-off
Final
Statistics
Goalscorers
Awards
;UEFA Team of the Tournament| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Dino Zoff | Claudio Gentile Gaetano Scirea Hans-Peter Briegel Karlheinz Förster | Jan Ceulemans Marco Tardelli Hansi Müller Bernd Schuster | Horst Hrubesch Karl-Heinz Rummenigge |