1960 European Nations' Cup

1960 UEFA European Nations' Cup

UEFA Championnat Européen du Football France 1960
UEFA Euro 1960 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	France
Dates	6 July – 10 July
Teams	4
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (1st title)
Runners-up	Yugoslavia
Third place	Czechoslovakia
Fourth place	France
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
Goals scored	17 (4.25 per match)
Attendance	78,958 (19,740 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Viktor Ponedelnik Milan Galić Dražan Jerković Valentin Ivanov François Heutte (2 goals each)

The 1960 UEFA European Nations' Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time.

The tournament was a knockout competition; just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy and England among them. The teams would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.

Spain, still under Francisco Franco's far-right dictatorship, refused to travel to the Soviet Union, the main supporter of the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War, and withdrew from the tournament, so the final four had three communist countries: USSR, Czechoslovakia, and SFR Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France. In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, beating them 3–0. The other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4, coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the demoralized French 2–0 for third place.

In the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalized in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in extra time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship.^[1]

Venues

Paris Marseille
	Paris
	Parc des Princes
	Capacity: 40,000
	Marseille
	Stade Vélodrome
	Capacity: 40,000

Qualifying

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as1	Date of qualification	Previous appearances
Czechoslovakia	Quarter-finals winner	01960-05-29-000029 May 1960	0 (debut)
France (hosts)	Quarter-finals winner	01960-03-27-000027 March 1960	0 (debut)
Soviet Union	Bye		0 (debut)
Yugoslavia	Quarter-finals winner	01960-05-22-000022 May 1960	0 (debut)

¹Soviet Union qualified as a result, after Spain refused to travel to the country.

Final tournament

1960 European Nations' Cup finalists.

	Semi-finals				Final
	6 July – Marseille
	Czechoslovakia	0
	Soviet Union	3
					10 July – Paris
					Soviet Union (a.e.t.)	2
					Yugoslavia	1
					Third place
	6 July – Paris			9 July – Marseille
	France	4		Czechoslovakia	2
	Yugoslavia	5			France	0

Semi-finals

6 July 1960 20:00

France	4–5	Yugoslavia
Vincent  12' Heutte  43', 62' Wisnieski  53'	Report	Galić  11' Žanetić  55' Knez  75' Jerković  78', 79'

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 26,370 Referee: Gaston Grandain (Belgium)

6 July 1960 21:30

Czechoslovakia	0–3	Soviet Union
	Report	Ivanov  34', 56' Ponedelnik  66'

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 25,184 Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)

Third place play-off

9 July 1960 18:00

Czechoslovakia	2–0	France
Bubník  58' Pavlovič  88'	Report

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 9,438 Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)

Final

10 July 1960 21:30

Soviet Union	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia
Metreveli  49' Ponedelnik  113'	Report	Galić  43'

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 17,966 Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

Statistics

Goalscorers

With two goals, Valentin Ivanov, Viktor Ponedelnik, Milan Galić, Dražan Jerković, François Heutte are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, there were 17 goals scored by 12 different players in 4 games, for an average of 4.25 goals per game. None of the goals is credited as own goal.

2 goals

• Valentin Ivanov
• Viktor Ponedelnik
• Milan Galić
• Dražan Jerković
• François Heutte

1 goal

• Tomislav Knez
• Ante Žanetić
• Vlastimil Bubník
• Ladislav Pavlovič
• Jean Vincent
• Maryan Wisnieski
• Slava Metreveli

Fastest goal

• 11 minutes: Milan Galić (Yugoslavia vs France)

Awards

UEFA Team of the Tournament^[2]

References

External links

• 1960 Nations Cup Review with images and video from the tournament

International association football FIFA World Cup Confederations Cup U-20 World Cup U-17 World Cup Olympics Universiade World Rankings Player of the Year FIFA Ballon d'Or Geography Teams Debuts Competitions Federations Codes Asia AFC – Asian Cup U-23 U-19 U-16 U-14 Africa CAF – Africa Cup of Nations U-23 U-20 U-17 North America, Central America and the Caribbean CONCACAF – Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15 South America CONMEBOL – Copa América U-20 U-17 U-15 Oceania OFC – Nations Cup President's Cup U-20 U-17 Europe UEFA – European Championship U-21 U-19 U-17 Non-FIFA NF-Board – Viva World Cup CONIFA - ConIFA World Football Cup IGA - Island Games Games All-Africa Games Asian Games Central America Central America and Caribbean East Asian Games Francophonie Games Mediterranean Games Pan American Games Pan Arab Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games See also