1976: European Championship in Yugoslavia

In the 1976's European Championship, for the first time Soviet Union didn't qualify for the final event. With the crisis of hungarian tradition, the eastern football found in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia their best representatives.
West Germany qualified again for the final tournament which was completed by the first appearance of Netherlands.

The competition was divided in two phases: the first one was a qualifying phase involving 32 teams and the second phase was a final tournament with the four qualified teams. The participants were divided into 8 groups with the winning teams competing for a spot in the final phase through knock-out matches with home-and-away games.

Netherlands, West Germany, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia qualified and Yugoslavia was selected as the hosting country for the final event.
It was the first and only time that an eastern country was selected as host.

Qualifying Groups - Final standings
Group A
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
6
9
4
1
1
15
5
+10
2 England England
6
8
3
2
1
11
3
+8
3 Portugal Portugal
6
7
2
3
1
5
7
-2
4 Cyprus Cyprus
6
0
0
0
6
0
16
-16
Group B
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Wales Wales
6
10
5
0
1
14
4
+10
2 Hungary Hungary
6
7
3
1
2
15
8
+7
3 Austria Austria
6
7
3
1
2
11
7
+4
4 Luxembourg Luxembourg
6
0
0
0
6
7
28
-21
Group C
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
6
10
5
0
1
12
4
+8
2 Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
6
6
3
0
3
8
5
+3
3 Sweden Sweden
6
6
3
0
3
8
9
-1
4 Norway Norway
6
2
1
0
5
5
15
-10
Group D
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Spain Spain
6
9
3
3
0
10
6
+4
2 Romania Romania
6
7
1
5
0
11
6
+5
3 Scotland Scotland
6
7
2
3
1
8
6
+2
4 Denmark Denmark
6
1
0
1
5
3
14
-11
Group E
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Netherlands Netherlands
6
8
4
0
2
14
8
+6
2 Poland Poland
6
8
3
2
1
9
5
+4
3 Italy Italy
6
7
2
3
1
3
3
-
4 Finland Finland
6
1
0
1
5
3
13
-10
Group F
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Soviet Union Soviet Union
6
8
4
0
2
10
6
+4
2 Ireland Republic of Ireland
6
7
3
1
2
11
5
+6
3 Turkey Turkey
6
6
2
2
2
5
10
-5
4 Switzerland Switzerland
6
3
1
1
4
5
10
-5
Group G
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Belgium Belgium
6
8
3
2
1
6
3
+3
2 East Germany East Germany
6
7
2
3
1
8
7
+1
3 France France
6
5
1
3
2
7
6
+1
4 Iceland Iceland
6
4
1
2
3
3
8
-5
Group H
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 West Germany West Germany
6
9
3
3
0
14
4
+10
2 Greece Greece
6
7
2
3
1
12
9
+3
3 Bulgaria Bulgaria
6
6
2
2
2
12
7
+5
4 Malta Malta
6
2
1
0
5
2
20
-18
Knock-out Round
Date
Match
Result
 
24.04.1976 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Soviet Union Soviet Union
2
0
22.05.1976 Soviet Union Soviet Union Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
2
2
24.04.1976 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Wales Wales
2
0
22.05.1976 Wales Wales Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
1
1
24.04.1976 Spain Spain West Germany West Germany
1
1
22.05.1976 West Germany West Germany Spain Spain
2
0
25.04.1976 Netherlands Netherlands Belgium Belgium
5
0
22.05.1976 Belgium Belgium Netherlands Netherlands
1
2
 

 

Notable players of eliminated teams

Italy R. Boninsegna

Italy Franco Causio

Italy Dino Zoff

Italy Claudio Gentile

Italy Fabio Capello

England Colin Bell

England Kevin Keegan

playersEngland Mick Channon

playersPoland Grzegorz Lato

playersPoland Jan Tomaszewski

playersPoland Robert Gadocha

playersScotland Joseph Jordan

playersScotland Kenny Dalglish

playersSpain Santillana

playersSpain Antonio Camacho

playersAustria Hans Krankl

Austria Herbert Prohaska

Greece Antonis Antoniadis

Greece Thomas Mavros

playersPortugal Nené

playersIreland Don Givens

playersSoviet Union Oleg Blokhin

Wales John Toshack

playersEast Germany Joachim Streich

playersNorway Tom Lund

playersBulgaria Hristo Bonev

playersIceland Ásgeir Sigurvinsson

playersRomania A. Iordanescu