What can previous Finalists tell us about the European Championships?

With the 2016 European Championship just around the corner, TSZ are going to look at the record of the previous winners and runners-up of the tournament to see if anything stands out.

For the purpose of this piece, we will only go back as far as the 1980 Championships with the format of the tournament drastically changing at this point to a group stage rather than a two-legged home and away quarter-final as had been the case since the competition’s inception in 1960.

• Spain’s impressive back-to-back success culminated in them defeating Italy 4-0 in the 2012 final. However, the four goals scored weren’t as notable as the zero conceded as this meant they had only conceded a single goal in the entire tournament, the lowest amount of any winning side.
• Over the 12 games Spain played in 2008 and 2012, they only conceded a total of four goals. Even more impressively, Spain’s defence wasn’t breached at any point during the knockout stages of both tournaments. The only goals they did concede came from penalty shootouts.
• France hold the record for most goals scored in a tournament, with their 14 goals in 1984 the highest.
• On the flip side to this, France conceded seven goals on their route to winning the tournament in 2000, the highest amount conceded by any side to win the competition.
• Greece’s remarkable run to win the 2004 tournament saw them only score seven goals. Denmark in 1992 and France in 1984 are the only sides who to score fewer and come away as winners but Denmark played a game less, with France playing just four games as opposed to Greece’s six.
• No side has won the competition by winning every game in 90 minutes. Spain (5 wins and 1 draw) and France (4 wins and 1 draw) came closest in 2008 and 1984 respectively but both had to take a game beyond normal time to gain a victory.
• Denmark in 1992 are the only side to ever have won the tournament having failed to win either of their first two games. Italy (2012) and Spain (1984) reached the final having both drawn their first two group games.
• Denmark’s fate was out of their hands heading into the final group games with them needing to beat France as well as hoping England didn’t get anything out of their game with Sweden.

The pie charts below shows the results of the first two matches for the finalists, winners and runners-up:

• Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most common combination of results from the opening group games of teams who have won the tournament is win/win with this happening on five occasions out of nine (56%).
• Italy won their first two games in 2000 but couldn’t clinch the trophy. This means they are the only side to reach a final having won their opening games but didn’t win the tournament.
• No side has ever lost their first game and drawn the second and gone on to make the final. This will be interesting to keep an eye on during the upcoming tournament as the expanded format may mean this could be achieved for the first time.
• Since 1988, every other tournament has seen the eventual finalists face each other in the opening round of group games. Netherlands & USSR (1988), Germany & Czech Republic (1996), Greece & Portugal (2004) and Spain & Italy (2012). The expansion of the tournament may see this trend curtail in 2016 but who knows?
• Netherlands’ win in 1988, having beaten USSR 2-0 in the final, was unique. No other team has won the competition having lost to their opponents in the opening group game, with the USSR winning that game 1-0.