1996 European Championship

But Euro '96's huge success owed a lot to the performances of the hosts England and the inventive play of surprise finalists the Czech Republic.

For England the competition re-established their position on the footballing map after their failure to qualify for the World Cup in the USA in 1994.

Having automatically qualified for the tournament, England's build-up to the Championship was good but, despite beating them at Wembley only months earlier, the Three Lions started with a rather disappointing 1-1 draw against Switzerland.

Alan Shearer, who hadn't scored for his country since September 1994, buried a fierce drive midway through the first half but after Stuart Pearce gave away a penalty, Terry Venables' side had to settle for a point.

England only took control of their own destiny with a 2-0 win over Scotland.

Alan Shearer converted Gary Neville's right-wing cross but the game's pivotal moment came when David Seaman saved Gary McAllister's penalty.

From their own penalty area, England broke away and Tottenham midfielder Darren Anderton fed Paul Gascoigne, who chipped the ball over Colin Hendry before driving a right-footed volley past his rangers teammate Andy Goram.

Gascoigne's inspired form continued into the next game against Holland, who had followed up on their opening 0-0 draw against Scotland with a two goal win over the Swiss.

On an unforgettable night, England swept the Dutch aside with a display rarely matched in their footballing history. Shearer and Teddy Sheringham both scored twice though Patrick Kluivert's second-half consolation was key as it kept Holland in the competition at the expense of the Scots.

France and Spain came through Group B thanks to crucial wins against Bulgaria and Romania respectively. Both the sides went through their three matches unbeaten but neither looked like a team capable of going all the way.

In the 'Group of Death', Italy and Germany faced stiff opposition from Eastern European giants the Czech Republic and Russia. 

Both the Italians and Germans opened with wins but in their second game, Cesare Maldini's azzurri came unstuck against the Czechs and lost 2-1, meaning they had to get a result against the Germans - who on the same day defeated Russia 3-0 - in their final game to qualify.

After the Russians held the Czechs to a 3-3 draw at Anfield, Italy had to beat Germany to go through. They could only manage a goalless draw so one of the early favourites departed the scene.

Group D was the hardest to predict but those who felt that the defending champions Denmark would go through were wrong as Portugal and, more surprisingly, Croatia made it through to the last eight.

England's bright start to their quarter-final saw Andoni Zubizarreta save Alan Shearer's powerful drive but soon the well-drilled Spanish started to cause some trouble and twice they were unlucky with offside calls.

Both Kiko and Julio Salinas had goals dubiously disallowed before Javier Manjarín inexplicably hesitated when clean through, gifting David Seaman enough time to come out and block.

There was more bad luck for Spain in the second half when they were denied two strong penalty claims, first when Tony Adams didn't quite time a tackle on José Luis Caminero and then when Paul Gascoigne caught Alfonso Pérez.

Terry Venables' side had their moments though, and Shearer missed the best chance of the match when he volleyed Darren Anderton's cross over the bar from only two yards out.

After a rather dull period of extra-time, the match went to a penalty shoot-out in which England gained the upper-hand immediately when Fernando Hierro struck the crossbar with the very first kick.

England kept their noses infront - Stuart Pearce avenging his miss in Turin six years earlier - until Seaman saved from Miguel Nadal to send the English through.

Up in Liverpool, in a match which pitted superb attack against frugal defence, Holland and France's quarter-final was something of a disappointment.

Few chances were created and in the end the match was decided on a penalty shoot-out in which Clarence Seedorf's penalty smacked against the crossbar to give the French their first European Championship semi-final appearance in 12 years.

The Germans came up against an impressive Croatian side in the quarter-finals and were rather fortunate to come through the game as 2-1 winners, though the display of the inspirational Matthias Sammer was a joy to behold.

Germany took the lead with virtually their first attack. Sammer chested down a chipped pass from Scholl.

Mario Stanic gave away a needless penalty when he handballed and Jurgen Klinsmann cooly dispatched the resulting penalty.

The Croatians equalised when Nikola Jurcevic passed the ball to Davor Šuker. The tall striker memorably rolled the ball under his foot, beat Andreas Kopke and steered the ball into the unguarded net.

However soon after that, Stimac was sent off and Germany won the match through Sammer when he got in behind the Croatian defence.

The Portugal-Czech Republic game was decided by a single goal which came when João Pinto lost the ball in midfield.

Karel Poborský picked up possession and ran forward down the inside-left channel.

After the midfielder momentarily lost control of the ball - he was fortunate that a rebound went his way - before pulling off an audacious lob to beat Baia.

A poor semi-final at Old Trafford saw the Czechs beat Aime Jacquet's France in a penalty shoot-out after a quiet 0-0 draw.

The decisive moment came in sudden death at the end of the shoot-out. With the scores tied a five apiece, Petr Kouba saved Reynald Pedros' penalty and Miroslav Kadlec sent the Czechs through.

The match of the tournament pitted hosts England against their old rivals Germany in a game which had everything.

On a hot Wednesday evening in north west London, England took the lead after only three minutes, courtesy of an Alan Shearer header from a Gascoigne corner.

But on 16 minutes Germany were level again when Stefan Kuntz managed to rid his marker to score from a Thomas Helmer cross from the left wing. The game went into extra time and Kuntz put the ball in the back of the net to seemingly send Germany through to the final.

However, with Germany starting to celebrate, the goal was disallowed by Hungarian referee Sandor Puhl for pushing on Tony Adams. It was a good call but nevertheless a rather lucky escape for Venables' side.

In an unforgettable period of extra-time both Darren Anderton, who struck a post, and Paul Gascoigne, who couldn't quite reach a Shearer centre, so nearly scored for England.

The game inevitably went to a penalty shoot-out. Shearer, David Platt, Pearce, Gascoigne and Sheringham were all successful from the spot, and it fell to Gareth Southgate to keep England's on track for the final, but the goalkeeper saved the penalty.

Andy Moller scored for Germany, England were out and Germany went on to the final to face the Czech Republic.

Whilst the Germans were controlled and passed the ball around well, they couldn't break down a stubborn Czech side that clearly went into the match with a counter-attacking game-plan.

Twice Stefan Kuntz, scorer of the equaliser against England, missed decent chances to open the scoring but as the Germans pressed, so the Czechs launched quick breaks and with their one good chance of the half, Pavel Kuka shot wide.

It took a penalty to break the deadlock when Sammer was adjudged to have brought down Poborský, even though it looked as though the defender had challenged Poborský outside the area.

Berger scored and all of a sudden the Czechs were half-an-hour from victory.

Berti Vogts sent on Oliver Bierhoff to try and add some more presence to the German attack and he made an impact immediately. Christian Ziege swung a free-kick from deep on the right and when Petr Kouba was slow to come out, Bierhoff headed in.

Five minutes into extra-time, Bierhoff scored the first ever golden goal to decide the destination of the Henri Delaunay trophy. The Udinese forward turned his marker and a left-foot shot which deceived Kouba who saw the ball to slip through his fingers and drop agonisingly inside the far post.

Top Scorers

Tournament Statistics

1996 European Championship - Finals statistics
1996 European Championship - Qualifying statistics