There was no change in the format, but the competition had a genuine first: at last a clear favourite.

In only his second international, Gerd Müller had scored four times in one of the qualifying matches for the previous Championships - and now his awesome goalscoring talents were in full flow: he scored six in the qualifying group and another in the 3-1 win in the quarter-finals, the Federal Republic of Germany´s first success at Wembley. They were probably helped by Alf Ramsey´s decision to use two ball winners in the return leg in Berlin - but looked a class apart.

Franz Beckenbauer had dropped back to become the first of the great attacking sweepers, Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeness were two superb twenty-year-olds, and Günter Netzer had been recalled to add flair, arrogance and flowing blond locks to the midfield. The other semi-finalists seemed to be no more than a supporting cast. The hosts, Belgium, had surprised the champions, Italy, in the quarter-finals, but in the process had lost their midfield general Wilfried Van Moer with a broken leg. The USSR were there for the fourth time in a row but had even less flair than usual, and Hungary came with one of the most anonymous squads in their history. Everything looked set for the Gerd, Franz and Günter show.

Team of '72