EURO 1976

The recent award by UEFA to Slovakia as joint winners with Czech Republic following the Czechoslovakia triumph in 1976 had me reminiscing about a much forgotten football tournament particularly in the UK, where only the Final was shown on Live TV.

Euro 1976 was the last of the old style format with 32 countries divided into 8 groups of four with the 8 group winners playing two legged Quarter Finals before the final tournament only involved 4 countries and was played over 4 days in June 1976 in Yugoslavia.

In 1976 football used 2pts for a win

GROUP 1

The group opened with England playing three home fixtures at Wembley , three goals in the last 20 minutes saw England beat Czechoslovakia 3-0

A damaging 0-0 home draw with Portugal followed.

Malcolm McDonald scored all 5 goals as Cyprus were defeated 5-0. The Czechs opened with a 4-0 win over Cyprus before a 5-0 win over Portugal meant a win over England would be enough to win the Group. The game was featured on an episode of The Likely Lads TV comedy with the game abandoned after 17 mins due to fog and replayed the following evening where despite Channon giving England the lead , Czechoslovakia would win 2-1 a result which effectively won them the Group.

WINNERS – CZECHOSLOVAKIA

GROUP 2

Austria beat Wales 2-1 in Vienna , but their 0-0 home draw with Hungary gave the Welsh the boost they needed and having beaten Hungary and Luxembourg home and away, it came down to the final game in Cardiff.

Wales beat Austria 1-0 with a 69th min goal by Arfon Griffiths in front of 27,578 in Wrexham , on one of the most famous nights in Welsh international football history as Wales won the Group.

WINNERS – WALES

GROUP 3

N Ireland opened the scoring early in Oslo but Norway came back to win 2-1 before Yugoslavia beat Norway 3-1 at home. N Ireland however started to make an impression in the group with a 2-0 away win in Sweden before beating Yugoslavia 1-0 in Belfast. Yugoslavia then beat Sweden 2-1 and Norway 3-1 both away.

N Ireland chances of qualifying were given a hammer blow when they lost 2-1 at home to Sweden despite opening the scoring.

Yugoslavia comfortably won the Group beating Sweden 3-0 and N Ireland 1-0.

WINNERS – YUGOSLAVIA

GROUP 4

Spain opened with a 2-1 win in Denmark before they travelled to Hampden Park in Glasgow to face Scotland on 20th November 1974.

Scotland on the back of an impressive World Cup campaign in the summer were backed by a massive 94,331 crowd and took the lead through Billy Bremner. Spain however came back with two goals and a missed penalty by Scotland’s Tommy Hutchison was the decisive moment in the whole Group.

Scotland went to Valencia to play Spain and Joe Jordan’s first minute goal was eventually cancelled out as the Spanish secured a 1-1 draw.

Spain gave Scotland hope as they drew at home to Romania and in June 1975 a last minute equaliser by Gordon McQueen in Bucharest gave Scotland a further boost.

Scotland then closed to within two points of the Spanish when Joe Harper scored in a 1-0 win in Copenhagen against Denmark. The trip however was marred by a nightclub incident which saw 5 Scotland players banned for life by the SFA. Billy Bremner the Scotland captain had his international career ended on 54 caps , one short of Denis Law’s then record 55 caps, u-23 player Pat McCluskey , and the Aberdeen trio of Arthur Graham , Joe Harper and Willie Young. Arthur Graham and Joe Harper were later reprieved with Graham winning more caps and Harper going to World Cup 78 in Argentina winning one more cap.

Spain beat Denmark 2-0 to increase their lead to four points with a game to play in Romania , while Scotland had two games left both at Hampden.

On 29th October 1975 , my first Scotland game saw John Greig come out of International retirement to captain the team , with Billy Bremner banned and Scotland having suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat in the summer by England at Wembley. The crowd of 48,021 saw Stuart Houston made his only Scotland appearance and his mistake led to part time Denmark take a shock lead at half time before an improved Scotland display saw three early second half goals , saw Scotland win 3-1 and put pressure on Spain in their final game.

Spain secured qualification with a 2-2 draw in Romania, before Scotland ended the campaign drawing 1-1 at home to Romania.

WINNERS – SPAIN

GROUP 5

Holland and Poland came into a tough group alongside Italy after impressive second and third place finishes behind host West Germany in the 1974 World Cup.

Poland began with wins in Finland and at home to the Finns. The Dutch also won in Finland before beating Italy 3-1 at home.

Poland then drew 0-0 in Rome against Italy, and after the Dutch completed their double over Finland they travelled to Poland.

Poland won 4-1 but the Dutch took revenge the following month winning 3-0 in Amsterdam in the pivotal match.

The Dutch claimed the group on goal difference from the Poles despite a 1-0 defeat in Rome against Italy.

WINNERS – HOLLAND

GROUP 6

Republic of Ireland had a sensational start to the group with a Don Givens hat trick in a 3-0 win over Soviet Union. The game marked the debut of a young Liam Brady.

The Irish however suffered a 1-1 draw in Turkey, which gave them three pts from their opening two matches but was seen as a dropped point.

Soviet Union beat Turkey 3-0 at home before Republic of Ireland beat Switzerland 2-1 at home and set up a massive match in Kiev.

Soviet Union would beat Republic 2-1 and deflate the Irish.

The Irish were the first to travel to Switzerland and a 1-0 defeat handed the Soviet Union a massive chance to qualify at the Irish expense. The Soviets won 1-0 in Switzerland and then clinched qualification with a 4-1 home win over the Swiss.

WINNERS – SOVIET UNION

GROUP 7

Belgium began with 2-0 away win in Iceland before Iceland took a shock point off East Germany with a 1-1 draw in Magdeburg. Belgium took control of the group beating France 2-1 at home before East Germany again drew this time 2-2 in France.

Belgium maintained their group lead with a 0-0 draw away to East Germany as the Germans drew their third game in a row.

Iceland drew 0-0 at home to France before beating the Germans 2-1.

Belgium virtually clinched the group beating Iceland 1-0 and could afford a 2-1 home defeat to East Germany before a final day 0-0 draw in Paris won the Group

WINNERS – BELGIUM

GROUP 8

West Germany on the back of their World Cup win surprisingly struggled despite their group rivals Bulgaria and Greece drawing 3-3 in the first match.

West Germany had to rely on equalising twice in Greece to get a 2-2 draw before winning 1-0 in Malta.

Greece having beaten Bulgaria 2-1 then lost 2-0 in Malta.

West Germany’s 1-1 draw in Bulgaria saw both teams convert from the penalty spot.

Greece 4-0 and Bulgaria 5-0 beat Malta at home.

West Germany took control of the group as they drew 1-1 at home to Greece and then beat Bulgaria 1-0, to end all doubt before hammering Malta 8-0 at home in the final match.

WINNERS – WEST GERMANY

QUARTER FINALS

Yugoslavia v Wales

Yugoslavia took the lead in the first minute through Vugotic in Zagreb and when Popivoda added a second after 55mins it gave them a 2-0 lead to take to Cardiff.

The second leg at Ninian Park Cardiff is infamous in Welsh football history as 30,346 packed the ground.

Yugoslavia took the lead through a controversial Katalinski penalty awarded by the East German referee, before Wales equalised on the day through Ian Evans. Terry Yorath missed a penalty and John Toshack had two goals controversially disallowed. the match ended with the referee pelted by bottles and coins , and a policeman speared by a corner flag. The match was dubbed the Battle of Ninian Park and resulted in Wales being banned for two years from playing within 100 miles of Cardiff. This led Wales to play their 1978 World Cup qualifier against Scotland at Anfiled , Liverpool.

YUGOSLAVIA 3 WALES 1

Czechoslovakia v Soviet Union

The first leg in Bratislava was played in wet conditions with the Czechs scoring a goal in each half to secure a 2-0 lead going to Kiev. Moder’s first half goal was added to by a Paneka free kick.

Czechs took the lead just before half time with a Moder free kick before a Soviet equaliser from Buryak early in the second half brought the game level. The Czech response was a breakaway which saw Moder effectively end the tie before Blockin’s late chipped goal levelled the second leg at 2-2.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA 4 SOVIET UNION 2

Spain v West Germany

Spain opened the scoring in Madrid through Santillana midway through the first half, but Beer’s equaliser for the Germans on the hour mark mean the game was level going into the second leg in Munich.

Uli Hoeness gave the Germans after 17 mins and when Toppmoller added second before half time , this assured the German victory.

West Germany 3 Spain 1

HOLLAND V BELGIUM

In a very one sided contest in Rotterdam an early goal Rijsbergen was added to by Rensenbrink before half-time gave the Dutch a comfortable lead. Rensenbrink would go on to complete his hat trick with Cruyff scoring a penalty as Holland won the first leg 5-0 and virtually book their passage to the finals.

The second leg in Brussels saw Van Gool open the scoring for the Belgians before Rep and Cruyff gave Holland a 2-1 win.

Holland 7 Belgium 1

THE FINALS 16-20 JUNE 1976

SEMI FINALS

CZECHOSLOVAKIA V HOLLAND – 16th June 1976 – Zagreb

The match was played in a downpour and the Czech’s took a 19th min lead through Ondrus header from a Paneka free kick. Pollak was booked for encroachment at Dutch free kicks and a foul on Neeskens saw him sent off. Ondrus then sliced into his own net to level the scores before a red card for Neeskens saw both sides down to ten men going into extra time. Nehoda put the Czechs ahead in extra time. The Dutch were reduced to nine men with Van Hanegem sent off for dissent by Welsh referee Clive Thomas. Czechoslovakia secured their place in the final when Vesely scored late on.

Czechoslovakia 3 Holland 1 – after extra time

WEST GERMANY V YUGOSLAVIA – 17th June 1976 – Belgrade

The hosts Yugoslavia opened strongly against the World Champions and took a deserved lead through Popivoda after 19mins, before Dzajic doubled their lead before half time when Maier failed to hold a cross.

Flohe’s shot was deflected into the Yugoslav net by Wimmer halfway through the second half before in 79th min , West Germany equalised through Dieter Muller on his debut. He came on as substitute and scored with his first touch, heading home Bonhof’s cross. Muller would go on to score a hat trick on the night with two goals in extra time.

West Germany 4 Yugoslavia 2 – after extra time

EURO 1976 FINAL – 20th June 1976 – Belgrade

CZECHOSLOVAKIA V WEST GERMANY

Svehik opened the scoring after 8mins for the Czech’s after Hehoda’s cross was missed by Ondrus. Masny’s free kick was cleared by Beckenbauer to Dobias who half volleyed past Maier to give the Czech’s a 2-0 lead after 25 mins.

Dieter Muller pulled a goal back a few minutes later to reduce the lead to 2-1.

Czechoslovakia held on during the second half but suffered heartbreak when Holzenbein headed a equaliser in 89th minute.

The match ended in a penalty shoot out for the first time to settle a major football tournament and after both teams scored each kick up to 4-3 , the German Uli Hoeness would miss setting up Paneka to chip the ball into the net as Sepp Maier dived and create his own piece of football history.

West Germany 2 Czechoslovakia 2 – after extra time

Czechoslovakia won 5-3 on penalties

The team of the Tournament was –

GK: Ivo Viktor (Czechoslovakia)
DF: Anton Ondruš (Czechoslovakia)
DF: Ján Pivarník (Czechoslovakia)
DF: Ruud Krol (Netherlands)
DF: Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany)
MF: Antonín Panenka (Czechoslovakia)
MF: Jaroslav Pollák (Czechoslovakia)
MF: Rainer Bonhof (West Germany)
MF: Dragan Džajić (Yugoslavia)
FW: Zdeněk Nehoda (Czechoslovakia)
FW: Dieter Müller (West Germany)