1988: European Championship in West Germany

The 1988's European Championship was held in West Germany.

As usual, the whole 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 eight qualified teams.

The participants were divided into 7 groups with the winning teams qualified for the final phase.

The only real surprise of the qualification's stage was the inglorious elimination of the 1984' Champions of France. The French were in a group with Soviet Union, East Germany, Norway and Iceland, and were able to collect only six points, finishing tied with Iceland at the third position.

Denmark, England, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Soviet Union qualified for the final phase. West Germany entered as hosting country.

Qualifying Groups - Final standings
Group A
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Spain Spain
6
10
5
0
1
14
6
+8
2 Romania Romania
6
9
4
1
13
3
+10
3 Austria Austria
6
5
2
1
3
6
9
-3
4 Albania Albania
6
0
0
0
6
2
17
-15
Group B
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Italy Italy
8
13
6
1
1
16
4
+12
2 Sweden Sweden
8
10
4
2
2
12
5
+7
3 Portugal Portugal
8
8
2
4
2
6
8
-2
4 Switzerland Switzerland
8
7
1
5
2
9
9
-
5 Malta Malta
8
2
0
2
6
4
21
-17
Group C
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Soviet Union Soviet Union
8
13
5
3
0
14
3
+11
2 East Germany East Germany
8
11
4
3
1
13
4
+9
3 France France
8
6
1
4
3
4
7
-3
4 Iceland Iceland
8
6
2
2
4
4
14
-10
5 Norway Norway
8
4
1
2
5
5
12
-7
Group D
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 England England
6
11
5
1
0
19
1
+18
2 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
6
8
4
0
2
13
9
+4
3 Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
6
3
1
1
4
2
10
-8
4 Turkey Turkey
6
2
0
2
4
2
16
-14
Group E
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Netherlands Netherlands
8
14
6
2
0
15
1
+14
2 Greece Greece
8
9
4
1
3
12
13
-1
3 Hungary Hungary
8
8
4
0
4
13
11
+2
4 Poland Poland
8
8
3
2
3
9
11
-2
5 Cyprus Cyprus
8
1
0
1
7
3
16
-13
Group F
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Denmark Denmark
6
8
3
2
1
4
2
+2
2 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
6
7
2
3
1
7
5
+2
3 Wales Wales
6
6
2
2
2
7
5
+2
4 Finland Finland
6
3
1
1
4
4
10
-6
Group G
§ Team
M
P
W
D
L
GM/GT
+/-
1 Ireland Republic of Ireland
8
13
6
1
1
24
8
+16
2 Bulgaria Bulgaria
8
13
6
1
1
22
6
+16
3 Belgium Belgium
8
9
4
1
3
20
10
+10
4 Scotland Scotland
8
3
1
1
6
3
13
-10
5 Luxembourg Luxembourg
8
2
1
0
7
5
37
-32

 

Notable players of eliminated teams

playersRomania Gheorghe Hagi

playersRomania M. Belodelici

playersRomania Marius Lacatus

playersAustria Bruno Pezzey

playersAustria Toni Polster

playersSweden Glenn Stromberg

playersSweden Thomas Ravelli

playersSweden Jonas Thern

playersSwitzerland Georges Bregy

playersSwitzerland Heinz Hermann

playersEast Germany Thomas Doll

playersEast Germany Ulf Kirsten

playersFrance Michel Platini

Yugoslavia Dragan Stojković

playersYugoslavia Dejan Savićević

playersYugoslavia Srečko Katanec

playersNorthern Ireland Jimmy Quinn

playersGreece Nikos Anastopoulos

playersGreece Dimitris Saravakos

playersHungary Lajos Détári

playersHungary József Kiprich

playersWales Mark Hughes

playersWales Ian Rush

playersCzechoslovakia Michal Bílek

Belgium Enzo Scifo

StarBelgium F. Vercauteren

StarBelgium F. Van der Elst

StarBelgium Jan Ceulemans

StarBelgium Jean-Marie Pfaff

StarBelgium M. Preud'Homme

playersBulgaria Nasko Sirakov

playersBulgaria Hristo Stoichkov

playersScotland Paul McStay

playersScotland Ally McCoist