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)	Slava Metreveli Viktor Ponedelnik Milan Galić Dražan Jerković Valentin Ivanov François Heutte (2 goals)
1964 →

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.

Squads

See: 1960 European Nations' Cup squads

Qualifying rounds

All time are CET/UTC+1

Preliminary round

5 April 1959 15:30	Republic of Ireland	2–0	Czechoslovakia	Dalymount Park, Dublin Attendance: 37,500 Referee: Lucien Van Nuffel (Belgium)
	Tuohy  22' Cantwell  42' (pen.)

10 May 1959 16:00	Czechoslovakia	4–0	Republic of Ireland	Tehelné pole, Bratislava Attendance: 41,691 Referee: Joseph Barbéran (France)
	Stacho  3' (pen.) Buberník  57' Pavlovič  67' Dolinský  75'

Czechoslovakia won 4–2 on aggregate.

First round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Soviet Union	4–1	Hungary	3–1	1–0
France	8–2	Greece	7–1	1–1
Romania	3–2	Turkey	3–0	0–2
Norway	2–6	Austria	0–1	2–5
Yugoslavia	3–1	Bulgaria	2–0	1–1
East Germany	2–5	Portugal	0–2	2–3
Poland	2–7	Spain	2–4	0–3
Denmark	3–7	Czechoslovakia	2–2	1–5

First leg

28 September 1958 19:00	Soviet Union	3–1	Hungary	Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow Attendance: 100,572 Referee: Alfred Grill (Austria)
	Ilyin  4' Metreveli  20' Ivanov  32'		Göröcs  84'

1 October 1958 20:30	France	7–1	Greece	Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 37,590 Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)
	Kopa  23' Fontaine  25', 85' Cisowski  29', 68' Vincent  61', 87'		Yfantis  48'

2 November 1958	Romania	3–0	Turkey	Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest Attendance: 67,200 Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)
	Oaidă  62' Constantin  77' Dinulescu  81'

20 May 1959 19:00	Norway	0–1	Austria	Ullevål, Oslo Attendance: 27,566 Referee: Werner Bergmann (East Germany)
			Hof  32'

31 May 1959	Yugoslavia	2–0	Bulgaria	Stadion JNA, Belgrade Attendance: 23,418 Referee: Mihai Popa (Romania)
	Galić  1' Tasić  87'

21 June 1959	East Germany	0–2	Portugal	Walter-Ulbricht-Stadion, Berlin Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Alois Obtulovic (Czechoslovakia)
			Matateu  12' Coluna  67'

28 June 1959	Poland	2–4	Spain	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów Attendance: 71,469 Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)
	Pol  34' Brychczy  62'		Suárez  40', 52' Di Stéfano  41', 56'

23 September 1959 19:00	Denmark	2–2	Czechoslovakia	Idrætsparken, Copenhagen Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Johan Bronkhorst (Netherlands)
	Pedersen  17' Hansen  19'		Kačáni  29' Dolinský  42'

Second leg

3 December 1958 15:00	Greece	1–1	France	Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens Attendance: 18,833 Referee: Vincenzo Orlandini (Italy)
	Marche  85' (o.g.)		Bruey  71'

France won 8–2 on aggregate.

26 April 1959	Turkey	2–0	Romania	Beşiktaş İnönü Stadı, Istanbul Attendance: 23,567 Referee: Borge Nedelkovski (Yugoslavia)
	Küçükandonyadis  13' (pen.), 54'

Romania won 3–2 on aggregate.

28 June 1959	Portugal	3–2	East Germany	Estádio das Antas, Porto Attendance: 19,124 Referee: Juan Garay Gardeazábal (Spain)
	Coluna  45', 62' Cavém  68'		Vogt  47' Kohle  72'

Portugal won 5–2 on aggregate.

23 September 1959 19:00	Austria	5–2	Norway	Praterstadion, Vienna Attendance: 34,989 Referee: Dimosthemis Stathatos (Greece)
	Hof  2', 25' (pen.) Nemec  21', 73' Skerlan  60'		Ødegaard  19', 35'

Austria won 6–2 on aggregate.

27 September 1959 15:30	Hungary	0–1	Soviet Union	Népstadion, Budapest Attendance: 78,481 Referee: Jozef Kowal (Poland)
			Voinov 58'

Soviet Union won 4–1 on aggregate.

14 October 1959	Spain	3–0	Poland	Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid Attendance: 62,070 Referee: Karoly Balla (Hungary)
	Di Stéfano  30' Gensana  69' Gento  85'

Spain won 7–2 on aggregate.

18 October 1959 14:15	Czechoslovakia	5–1	Denmark	Stadion Za Lužánkami, Brno Attendance: 31,217 Referee: Helmut Köhler (West Germany)
	Buberník  39', 56' Scherer  47', 86' Dolinský  63'		Kramer  33'

Czechoslovakia won 7–3 on aggregate.

25 October 1959	Bulgaria	1–1	Yugoslavia	Vasil Levski Stadium, Sofia Attendance: 27,560 Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)
	Diev  55'		Mujić  57'

Yugoslavia won 3–1 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
France	9–4	Austria	5–2	4–2
Portugal	3–6	Yugoslavia	2–1	1–5
Romania	0–5	Czechoslovakia	0–2	0–3

Spain refused to travel to the Soviet Union for their quarter-final, so the USSR were awarded a walkover victory.

First leg

13 December 1959 14:30	France	5–2	Austria	Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes Attendance: 43,775 Referee: Manuel Martín Asensi (Spain)
	Fontaine  6', 18', 70' Vincent  38', 82'		Horak  40' Pichler  65'

8 May 1960	Portugal	2–1	Yugoslavia	Estádio Nacional, Lisbon Attendance: 39,978 Referee: Joseph Barbéran (France)
	Santana  30' Matateu  70'		Kostić  81'

22 May 1960 15:00	Romania	0–2	Czechoslovakia	Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest Attendance: 61,306 Referee: Andor Dorogi (Hungary)
			Masopust  8' Bubník  45'

Second leg

27 March 1960 15:00	Austria	2–4	France	Praterstadion, Vienna Attendance: 39,229 Referee: Leo Helge (Denmark)
	Nemec  26' Probst  64'		Marcel  46' Rahis  59' Heutte  77' Kopa  83' (pen.)

France won 9–4 on aggregate.

22 May 1960	Yugoslavia	5–1	Portugal	Stadion JNA, Belgrade Attendance: 43,000 Referee: Alfred Stoll (Austria)
	Šekularac  8' Čebinac  45' Kostić  50', 88' Galić  79'		Cavém  29'

Yugoslavia won 6–3 on aggregate.

29 May 1960 16:30	Czechoslovakia	3–0	Romania	Tehelné pole, Bratislava Attendance: 31,057 Referee: Leif Gulliksen (Norway)
	Buberník  1', 15' Bubník  18'

Czechoslovakia won 5–0 on aggregate.

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	Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 26,370 Referee: Gaston Grandain (Belgium)
	Vincent  12' Heutte  43', 62' Wisnieski  53'	Report	Galić  11' Žanetić  55' Knez  75' Jerković  78', 79'

6 July 1960 20:30	Czechoslovakia	0–3	Soviet Union	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 25,184 Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)
		Report	Ivanov  34', 56' Ponedelnik  66'

Third place play-off

9 July 1960 18:00	Czechoslovakia	2–0	France	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 9,438 Referee: Cesare Jonni (Italy)
	Bubník  58' Pavlovič  88'	Report

Final

10 July 1960 21:30	Soviet Union	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia	Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 17,966 Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)
	Metreveli  49' Ponedelnik  113'	Report	Galić  43'

Statistics

Goalscorers of the final tournament

There were 17 goals scored in 4 games, for an average of 4.25 goals per game.

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)

External links

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

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