The FIFA championship of Europe is organized by UEFA. It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team, France, in the final played at the Stade de France. Spain were the two-time defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 editions, but was eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy. This year was the 15th UEFA European Championship!
A year of changes when for the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams. Previously, they followed a 16 team format which has been successfully followed since 1996. Under the new format, the finalists contested a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout phase including three rounds and the final. Nineteen teams – the top two from each of the nine qualifying groups and the best third-placed team – joined France in the final tournament, who qualified automatically as hosts; a series of two-legged play-off ties between the remaining third-placed teams in November 2015 decided the last four finalist spots.
France was chosen as the host nation on 28 May 2010. They got the opportunity to host after a bidding process in which they beat Italy and Turkey. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille Métropole, Lyon, Marseille, wereNice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne, and Toulouse. It was the third time that France hosted the tournament. The first two times that they hosted it was after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals. Meanwhile, The French team themselves have won the European Championship twice which was in 1984 and 2000.
The winners, Portugal, earned the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
Now to take a look at the finale which was played between Portugal and France. Eder’s strike at the 109th minute was enough for Fernando Santos’ men to keep the Henri Delaunay trophy away from the hosts and secure their first-ever major international title.
Team France was not good enough in Saint-Denis was not worthy of winning the game. The encounter was not a classic but the Portuguese overcame the early loss of captain and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo due to an injury to stick to their plan and it ultimately worked out. Ronaldo’s tears as the team received the trophy had the entire stadium in tears.
Last Updated on by Anjali Nair
