European Championship First and Lasts

1960 FRANCE
First ever recognised international European football tournament is inaugurated, initially named the Euro Nations Cup

First ever European Championship match, on 5th April 1958, was between Eire and Czechoslovakia, with the first goal scored by Eire's Liam Tuomy

First ever European Championship winners, the Soviet Union

1964 SPAIN
Spain become the first host nation to win the European Nation s Cup

1968 ITALY
First time "European Championships" moniker used instead of "Euro Nations Cup"

First and last time a major tournament match was settled by the toss of a coin, after Italy and Russia had drawn a close game 0-0

First and last time a European Championship final would go to a replay

1972 BELGIUM
First time ever that a German team had won on English ground. West Germany won 3-1 in qualifying with Bobby Moore having an uncharacteristically poor game (clearly at fault for the first two German goals) and Der Bomber, AKA Gerd Muller, scoring the hammer-blow third.

1976 YUGOSLAVIA
First hat-trick in Euro Championships. It was scored by West Germany's Dieter Muller against Yugoslavia on 17 June 1976. He was brought on as a 79th-minute substitute.

First and only time that all four matches in the final tournament were decided after extra time, either on penalties or by goals scored.

Last tournament in which the hosts had to qualify for the final stage.

1980 ITALY
First time 8 teams were allowed in the final tournament.

Italy were the first nation to host the European Championship for a second time

Germany were the first team to win the European Championship twice

Last time a third-place play-off was contested. The match between Italy and Czechoslovakia in 1980 was so boring that UEFA cancelled third-place games indefinitely.

1984 FRANCE
France's first appearance since 1960, the longest hiatus of any country at the Championships.

Michel Platini becomes the first player to score in every game in a European Championship finals. He played 5 games and scored 9 goals.

First time Portugal reached a semi-final since Eusebio led them to the World Cup semis in 1966

1988 WEST GERMANY
First and last time not one single player was sent off during the whole tournament

First and last time Holland have been European Champions

1992 SWEDEN
First time that a unified Germany competed in the European Championship.

It was the last tournament to use the UEFA plus flag logo, and the last before the tournament came to be known as "Euro" (it is known as "Euro 1992" only retrospectively)

1996 ENGLAND
First time the abbreviation "Euro" was used before the year.

First time 16 teams entered the final.

First time 3 points were awarded in the group stage for a win.

First time UEFA Team of the tournament announced.

First UEFA Player of the Tournament announced: Matthias Sammer.

First time a "Golden Goal" decided a European Championship Final.

2000 HOLLAND & BELGIUM
First time a European Championship is hosted jointly by two nations.

First major UEFA competition contested in the King Baudouin Stadium (formerly the Heysel Stadium) since events of the 1985 European Cup Final and Heysel Stadium disaster.

Last time a "Golden Goal" decided a European Championship Final.

2004 PORTUGAL
European Championship hosted in Portugal for the first time

The first time the final featured the same teams as the opening match: Portugal and Greece.

Greece's victory over Portugal in their opening match was their first in a major tournament.

Greece were also the first team to defeat both the holders and the hosts in the same tournament.

The Dutch beat Sweden 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals, their first ever victory on penalties.

2008 AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND
Last hat-trick in European Football Championship by Spain's David Villa on June 10, 2008, against Russia in the group stage.

Spain were the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated

First European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in the knockout stage

Spain's first appearance in a major final for 24 years

For the first time in a European Championship, only two venues (St. Jakob-Park, Basel and Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna) were used for the seven matches in the knockout stage of the tournament

2012 POLAND AND UKRAINE
The first time that either Poland or Ukraine nation has hosted the tournament

The last European Championship to feature 16 teams (from Euro 2016 onward, there will be 24 finalists)

The finals draw used the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings

Two additional assistant referees will be used on the goal line for the first time in the history of the UEFA European Championship