71-540: The FSV Erlangen-Bruck is a German association football club from the suburb of Bruck in the city of Erlangen , Bavaria. The club was formed on 15 May 1916, during the First World War, under the name of 1. FC Markt Bruck . For most of its existence, the football department played on local level in the Bavarian region of Middle Franconia . The club came close to Landesliga (IV) promotion when it finished second in
142-544: A "former West German team" are considered by many as false - according to the DFB, this team still exists, called Germany. Germany's greatest triumphs since 1990 have been winning the 2014 World Championship in Brazil, and the 1996 European Championship secured in England with players from both the former West, including ( Jürgen Klinsmann as captain) and East ( Matthias Sammer ) as anchor of
213-564: A driving factor behind the expansion. Forty-seven teams ultimately entered to compete for the fifteen remaining places in the finals, alongside hosts England. The draw for the qualifying competition took place in Manchester on 22 January 1994. The teams were divided into eight groups, each containing either six or five teams. The qualifying process began in April 1994 and concluded in December 1995. At
284-679: A gold medal in the Summer Olympics in 2016 . Germany was the first nation to win both the men's and women's World Cup. No country has more combined men's and women's World Cup championships, and only the United States has won more combined men's and women's regional/continental championships (United States 17 in CONCACAF, Germany 11 in UEFA). Germany was the host of the FIFA World Cup in 1974 and 2006 ,
355-401: A golden goal, but fractionally missed a cross from Shearer in front of the empty goal, Darren Anderton hit the post, and Kuntz had a goal disallowed for pushing. Neither team was able to find a second goal. In penalties, both sides scored their first five kicks, but in the sixth round, Gareth Southgate had his penalty saved, allowing Andreas Möller to score the winning goal. The final saw
426-579: A penalty denied. The English progressed 4–2 on spot kicks. France and Netherlands also played out a 0–0 draw, with France winning the penalty shootout 5–4. Jürgen Klinsmann opened the scoring for Germany in their match against Croatia. A goal from Davor Šuker evened the score after 51 minutes, before Matthias Sammer of Germany scored eight minutes later, and the game ended 2–1 to Germany. Czech Republic progressed after beating Portugal 1–0. The first semi-final, featuring France and Czech Republic, resulted in another 0–0 draw and penalties. Reynald Pedros
497-674: A rematch of a first-round game, which Hungary had won 8–3. In response to his team's earlier thrashing at the hands of the Hungarians, legendary West German coach Sepp Herberger made key tactical adjustments in his team's lineup prior to the Final. Shortly before the match, it had started raining - in Germany this was dubbed "Fritz-Walter-Wetter" (Fritz Walter Weather) because the German team captain Fritz Walter
568-532: A third place play-off. A custom version of the Adidas Questra , the Questra Europa , was the official match ball of the championships. The design of the ball included a reworking of the England badge, and was the first coloured ball in a major football tournament. Match officials are listed in the two collapsed tables below. The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the four groups progress to
639-464: A tournament which included a memorable clash with rival the Netherlands, Germany defeated Argentina , 1–0, on an Andreas Brehme penalty kick, to win its third World Cup title. With its third title (and three second-place finishes), West Germany became the most successful World Cup nation for four years, until Brazil won their fourth championship in 1994. West German team manager Franz Beckenbauer became
710-476: A video featuring the England squad. The song was prominently sung by England fans during all their games, and was also chanted by the German team upon parading the trophy in Berlin after the tournament. It was even referenced by future Prime Minister Tony Blair in an address at the 1996 Labour Party Conference with the line: "Seventeen years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming, Labour's coming home". "Three Lions"
781-643: Is a league system , with the Bundesliga , 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga on top. The winner of the Bundesliga is crowned the German football champion . Additionally, there are national cup competitions, most notably the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) and DFL-Supercup (German Supercup). The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups ( 1954 , 1974 , 1990 , 2014 ), being the joint-second most successful nation in
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#1732858198881852-508: Is identical to the team representing what was informally called West Germany from 1949 to 1990, as the German Football Association was again recognized by FIFA after WW2. Nothing changed in 1990 except enlarged membership due to the access of East German states and players, thus the continuity in the German logo and uniform style as well as references to Germany's four World Cup and three European Cup titles. Thus, all references to
923-464: Is the only nation to have won both the men's and women's World Cup and European Championship. The Germany women's team are also the first to have won a World Cup at senior level, either for men or women, without conceding a single goal, having done so in 2007. Nadine Angerer was the goalkeeper who managed this feat. The national teams play in various stadiums throughout Germany . The cities of Düsseldorf , Munich , Dortmund and Berlin are some of
994-692: The Bezirksoberliga Mittelfranken in 1996 on the strength of a second place in the league. The club spent eight seasons in the Bezirksoberliga before winning the league in 2004 and gaining promotion to the Landesliga Bayern-Mitte for the first time. In the Landesliga , the club performed well, too, archiving a fifth place in its first season. The following two seasons saw the club finishing third both times. Bayernliga promotion
1065-718: The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup in the US and the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. The national association is the German Football Association (or Deutscher Fußball-Bund) headquartered in Frankfurt . The DFB was founded in 1900 in Leipzig , by the representatives of 86 clubs. Today, the association has some 31,000 member clubs which field 170,000 teams with over 2 million players: these numbers include 870,000 female members and 8,600 women's teams. With over six million active and passive members,
1136-579: The Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord in 1971, after having been promoted to this league the year before. The club remained in the Bezirksliga for a number of seasons without being able to archive quite so well again and eventually was relegated again. In 1992, the FSV regained its Bezirksliga status once more. It finished in the upper half of the table in the following seasons, gaining promotion to
1207-732: The Czech Republic , and Russia competed for the first time in their own right since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union (though the Russian team is considered by FIFA to be the direct descendant of the Soviet Union and CIS teams that had appeared in six past tournaments and the Czech team is the descendant of the Czechoslovakia team). Seven of the eight participants at
1278-740: The DFC Prag , was elected first president of the DFB. Already some years before 1900, associations like the Bund Deutscher Fussballspieler or Deutscher Fussball und Cricket-Bund were founded, but they were limited to smaller areas of the German Empire, in those cases to areas around Berlin . The first championship beyond municipal areas was held in 1898 from the Verband Sueddeutscher Fussball-Vereine (Association of South German football clubs) , later affiliated with
1349-624: The World Cup finalists could only manage a 0–0 draw and were eliminated. In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey (1–0) and Denmark (3–0). The loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992 , home. Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a group stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal. The other three quarter-finalists were Portugal (whose " Golden Generation "
1420-521: The 16 competing teams. Further special coins were only issued in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. The official mascot, 'Goaliath', was designed in a similar fashion to the original World Cup mascot from the 1966 World Cup . Goaliath comprised a lion, the image on the English team crest, dressed in an England football strip and football boots whilst holding a football under his right arm. A video game tie-in
1491-574: The Bayernliga in 2011 the two clubs began to hold merger talks in November 2011. The club made negative headlines when it encountered financial trouble in 2011. Bruck averted insolvency in December 2011, caused by outstanding social security payments and wages, when it had to take up a €220,000 credit. The club announced that it would have to cut the budget of the football department. After initially proceeding with their Regionalliga Bayern licence application
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#17328581988811562-559: The Czech Republic hoping to repeat Euro 1976 when Czechoslovakia defeated West Germany; the Germans were aiming to win their third European Championship. Patrik Berger scored from a penalty in 59th minute to put the Czechs ahead. German substitute Oliver Bierhoff scored in the 73rd minute to make it 1–1. Five minutes into extra time, Bierhoff's shot was mishandled by Czech goalkeeper Kouba and
1633-424: The DFB is the world's largest sports federation. The Germany national football team has represented Germany in international football competitions since 1908. It is controlled by the German Football Association (DFB), the governing body of football in Germany. They have won four FIFA World Cups and have been runners up on four occasions. Since the 1954 World Cup , the Germany national team has been outfitted by
1704-488: The DFB, are two-time world champions, having won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 under past coach Tina Theune-Meyer and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup under current coach Silvia Neid . They are the first women's team to have successfully defended a World Cup. They have also won eight UEFA Women's Championships ( 1989 , 1991 , 1995 , 1997 , 2001 , 2005 , 2009 , 2013 ), which includes six consecutive titles. Germany
1775-501: The DFB. The Germany national football team has represented Germany in international football competitions since 1908. It is controlled by the German Football Association (DFB), the domestic governing body of Germany's football in Germany. Germany national football team played its first post-WWI match on 27 June 1920 in Zürich against Switzerland, which the Swiss team won 1:4. Club football
1846-459: The German firm adidas . For home games, the German team wears white jerseys, black shorts and white socks in honour of the Prussian colours. Along with black both red and gold, the other two colours of the German flag, have been included in the strip over the years. Traditionally, the Germans have worn green jerseys, white shorts and green socks as their alternate uniform. In recent years, however,
1917-551: The Germans have changed their away uniform to grey in 2002–2003, black in 2004 and recently to red. The Germans wore red as their alternate colour in the 2006 World Cup . The Germany national team during the 2006 World Cup was coached by former captain Jürgen Klinsmann. Since 12 July 2006, former Assistant Coach Joachim Löw has coached the national team. Its current captain is Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer . The German women's national football team, also organised by
1988-632: The Hungarian reporter burst into tears. The game would become known as the "Das Wunder von Bern" (the "Miracle of Bern") in German lore and would be the basis for a successful movie released in 2003. The FIFA World Cup 1974 competition was held in West Germany. Led by legendary libero Franz Beckenbauer, keeper Sepp Maier , playmaker Paul Breitner , and strikers Uli Hoeneß and "Der Bomber" Gerd Müller (Germany's all-time leading scorer with 68 goals in 62 games), Germany won its second World Cup by defeating
2059-579: The Netherlands in the final, 2–1, behind goals by Breitner and Müller. The Final was famous for the battle between Kaiser Franz (Beckenbauer) and King Johann (Cruyff). The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup , was awarded. The previous trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy , was won for the third time by Brazil in 1970 and awarded permanently to the Brazilians. In
2130-860: The UEFA European Championship in 1988 and 2024 , and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 . They also hosted the 1989 , 1995 and 2001 editions of the UEFA European Women's Championship, as well as the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup . The women's league system has the Frauen-Bundesliga , 2. Frauen-Bundesliga , and Frauen-Regionalliga . The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national cup competition. The first football match arguably took place in Braunschweig in 1874. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch , initiated
2201-461: The ball ended up in the back of the net for the first golden goal in the history of the competition. Germany were European champions again, but for the first time as a unified country. On 30 November 1992, UEFA formally decided to expand the tournament to sixteen teams. UEFA cited the increased number of international teams following the recent break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia – rising from 33 UEFA members in 1988 to 48 by 1994 – as
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2272-401: The club opted not to apply for a place in this league in April 2012 and instead remain in the Bayernliga, with the club's chairman Manfred Hopfengärtner stepping down. After a sixteenth place in 2014–15 the club had to enter the relegation round where it lost to 1. FC Sand and was relegated. The club's honours: Recent managers of the club: The recent season-by-season performance of
2343-464: The club: Football in Germany Football is the most popular sport in Germany with 57% of the population declaring interest in watching it. The German Football Association (German: Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB ) is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members (roughly eight percent of the population) organized in over 31,000 football clubs. There
2414-588: The conclusion of the qualifying group stage in November 1995, the eight group winners qualified automatically, along with the six highest-ranked second-placed teams. The remaining two second-placed teams, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland , contested a one-off play-off match in England to decide the final qualifier. With the extended format, three teams were able to qualify for their first European Championship: Bulgaria , Switzerland , and Turkey . Croatia ,
2485-507: The defence. The greatest success for German team in the new millennium has been their winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup . They had also finished in second place to Brazil at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan and second place at the 2008 European Championship. There was also a third place at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and in addition another third place at World Cup 2010. Germany's women have achieved even greater success, winning both
2556-616: The event was contested by five bids: Austria, England, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal. The English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992. In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped plans to also bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were planning to bid for that event. The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in
2627-449: The first match after Hermann had obtained a round football from England. In 1875, Koch published the first German version of the rules of football , although Koch's version of the game still closely resembled Rugby football . The Dresden English Football Club is considered the first modern football club in Germany and probably the first in continental Europe. It was founded in 1874 by Englishmen living and working around Dresden . In
2698-501: The first team to score during the extra time would become the winner. If no goal was scored there would be a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. For the first time the final was won by a golden goal. As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984 , there was no third place play-off . All times are local, BST ( UTC+1 ). There were 64 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.06 goals per match. 5 goals 3 goals 2 goals 1 goal 1 own goal Alan Shearer
2769-650: The following 20 years the game achieved a growing popularity. Football clubs were founded in Berlin , Hamburg and Stuttgart . On 28 January 1900, representatives from 86 football clubs from German-speaking areas in and outside the German Empire met in the restaurant Mariengarten in Leipzig , founding the DFB. The founding meeting was led by E. J. Kirmse, chairman of the Leipziger Fussball Verband (Leipzig Football Association) . Ferdinand Hueppe, representing
2840-514: The four stars above the Germany national team logo on the team's jerseys. Germany hosted the World Cups in 1974 and in 2006. The women's national team has won two FIFA Women's World Cups, commemorated by two stars above the crest on their jerseys. Germany hosted the 2011 Women's World Cup. The Wankdorf Stadion in Bern saw 60,000 people cram inside to watch the Final between West Germany and Hungary ,
2911-404: The group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking: The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament with each round eliminating the losers. Any game that was undecided by the end of the regular 90 minutes, was followed by up to thirty minutes of extra time . For the first time in a major football competition, the golden goal system was applied, whereby
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2982-522: The group, with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle, and World Cup quarter-finalists Romania going home, with no points and only one goal scored. Groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stage. The Czechs lost to Germany, the eventual group winners, in their opener, but then defeated Italy and drew with Russia. Italy's defeat meant they had to beat Germany in their final game to progress, but
3053-413: The knockout phases. The four groups (A to D) still contained four teams each, with the top two from each group still going through to the knockout phase. 8 teams then went into the new quarter-finals, ahead of the usual semi-finals and final, with 8 teams going out at the group stage. The format is exactly the one which was applied to the 1958 , 1962 , 1966 and 1970 World Cups , except for the absence of
3124-437: The more popular locations. FIFA World Cup UEFA European Championship Summer Olympic Games FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Women's World Cup UEFA Women's Championship Summer Olympic Games UEFA Women's Nations League The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups and have been the runners up on four other occasions. The four World Cup championships are commemorated by
3195-432: The necessary stadium refurbishment by its leading clubs. The stadium capacities listed in the table are for the time of the tournament. Each national team had to submit a squad of 22 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers. To accommodate the expansion from an 8-team finals tournament to 16 teams, the format was changed from that used in 1992 with the addition of two extra groups in the group stage, and an extra round in
3266-432: The nineteenth before halftime, the tide began to turn in the Germans' favor. The second half saw misses from the Hungarian team as well as a disallowed goal from Puskás with 2 minutes left. Rahn then scored again to make the score 3–2. As he was scoring the goal, the popular German reporter Herbert Zimmermann gave the most famous German piece of commentary of all time - "Rahn schiesst - TOR!" ("Rahn shoots - GOAL!") - while
3337-596: The opening match of Group A when Alan Shearer 's 23rd-minute goal was cancelled out by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick. England defeated rivals Scotland 2–0 in their next game, and then produced one of their finest performances ever with a 4–1 win over the Netherlands. Patrick Kluivert 's late goal for the Netherlands secured his team second place in the group and ensured that Scotland would exit another major competition on goals scored. Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated
3408-712: The previous tournament in 1992 were again present, with only Sweden – despite also having finished third in the World Cup two years earlier – missing out. Italy and Spain qualified after missing out Euro 1992 and Romania and Portugal after 12 years. The following sixteen teams qualified for the finals: The draw for the final tournament took place on 17 December 1995 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham . Only four teams were seeded: England (as hosts), Denmark (as holders), Spain and Germany (as
3479-568: The quarter-finals, while the bottom two teams in each group were eliminated from the tournament. For the first time at a European Championship three points were awarded for a win, with one for a draw and a none for a defeat. All times are local, BST ( UTC+1 ). For the first time in the history of the European Championship, the position of teams tied on points was decided by their head-to-head record, and not goal difference. If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of
3550-545: The same group in the first round. Meeting on 22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1–0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser . Both German teams advanced to the second round anyway. The GDR team was eliminated there, while the DFB team eventually went on to win the tournament. In the year of German reunification (1990), West Germany secured its third World Cup as West and East Germans celebrated together. The present-day Germany national team
3621-462: The second footballer, after Mario Zagallo of Brazil, to become World Champion as a player (in 1974) and as team manager. In doing so, Beckenbauer also became the first captain of a winning team to later manage a winning squad. The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was held in the United States (changed from China due to the SARS epidemic) and won by Germany, who defeated Sweden by 2–1 in extra time. Earlier in
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#17328581988813692-513: The semifinals they had disposed of the defending champions and hosts, the United States , 3–0. Germany hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup . Thirty-two nations competed in the tournament, with matches played in a dozen cities ranging from Hamburg in the north to Munich in the south; Leipzig was the only former East city to hold matches (the matches at Berlin were held at former West Berliner territory). The opening match ( Germany vs Costa Rica )
3763-707: The shootout 5–3. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 in the third place play off at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart on 8 July. Miroslav Klose won the Golden Boot for the highest goalscorer of the tournament with 5 goals. Lukas Podolski received the Best Young Player Award . The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup was held in China and won by Germany, who became the first women's team to successfully defend
3834-617: The title. In the opening match in Shanghai , Germany beat Argentina by a record 11–0. Nadine Angerer , the key goalkeeper, went unbeaten the entire tournament. In the final at Shanghai, Germany beat Brazil , 2–0. UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship , commonly referred to as Euro 96 , was the 10th UEFA European Championship , a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA . It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996. It
3905-489: The tournament only surpassed by Brazil . It also holds three UEFA European Championships ( 1972 , 1980 , 1996 ), behind only Spain , and won the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017 . The Germany women's national football team has won two FIFA Women's World Cups ( 2003 , 2007 ) and a record eight UEFA European Women's Championships ( 1989 , 1991 , 1995 , 1997 , 2001 , 2005 , 2009 , 2013 ), as well as
3976-469: The two highest ranked teams). The remaining twelve teams were all unseeded and could be drawn in any group. Draw procedure: The balls were drawn by UEFA figures Gerhard Aigner and Lennart Johansson . The draw resulted in the following groups: Since the implementation of the Taylor Report in 1990, following the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, England now had enough all-seater stadia of sufficient capacity to hold an expanded tournament due to
4047-440: The umbrella of the DFB. With the rise of Nazism, left-leaning sporting associations such as the ATSB and Rotsport were banned. Communist sporting officials such as Ernst Grube, Reichstag deputy and head of Rotsport, were murdered in concentration camps. The DFB integrated as Fachamt Reichsfußball into the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise . From 1933 to 1945 the highest level of play in German football
4118-410: Was awarded the Golden Boot award, after scoring five goals in the group stage and in the semi-finals against Germany . The competition slogan was Football Comes Home reflecting that the sport's rules were first standardised in the United Kingdom. UEFA President Lennart Johansson had said that the organisation had felt it was time to bring the event "back to the motherland of football". The slogan
4189-406: Was centered in the region of Franconia during the 1920s as 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Fürth dominated the competition. In 1919, the proletarian Arbeiter-Turnbund was renamed Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportbund (ATSB). The name change especially reflected the incorporation of football into the federation, which promoted leftist political views and attempted to break the monopolisation of football under
4260-410: Was competing at its first major tournament), Spain, and a France team featuring a young Zinedine Zidane . The knockout stage was characterised by negative, defensive play; as a result, only nine goals were scored in the seven games and four of the matches were decided on penalties. The first quarter-final between the hosts and Spain ended goalless, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for
4331-406: Was developed by Gremlin Interactive for Windows , DOS , and the Sega Saturn . The Sega Saturn version was the subject of considerable media hype and was a major system-seller for the system in the United Kingdom. A terrorist attack took place in Manchester on 15 June, one day before the group stage match between Germany and Russia was due to take place in the same city. The detonation of
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#17328581988814402-426: Was finally achieved when the club won the Landesliga in 2008. After a 29-year absence, Bayernliga football returned therefore to the city of Erlangen. The last club from the city to play at this level was the BSC Erlangen in 1979. The club established itself reasonably well in the new league, finishing in fifth place in 2008–09 and eighth in the following year. After the promotion of local rival SC Eltersdorf to
4473-425: Was held on 9 June in the Allianz Arena in Munich , with Germany defeating Costa Rica 4–2. The final match took place in Olympiastadion Berlin one month later between Italy and France . The match was drawn 1–1 at full-time and after extra time. Zinedine Zidane was controversially sent off for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi with 10 minutes to go before the match went into penalties. France lost to Italy in
4544-399: Was incorporated into the competition's most popular song: " Three Lions " recorded by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner with Britpop band the Lightning Seeds . Baddiel and Skinner were then strongly connected with football owing to their BBC show Fantasy Football League . Released as a single, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for a total of two weeks. It was promoted by
4615-417: Was organised in 16 Gauligen , whose winners qualified for the finals in the German championship, held at the end of season. After the war, Germany was occupied in three states. The DFB and its team continued in what was called West Germany , while the Saarland and East Germany fielded separate teams for some years. The FIFA World Cup 1974 was staged in West Germany, and both German teams were drawn in
4686-406: Was said to play his best in rainy weather. The Final saw the legendary Ferenc Puskás playing even though he was not fully fit. Despite this he put his team ahead after only 6 minutes and, with Zoltán Czibor adding another two minutes later, it seemed destined that the pre-tournament favourites would take the title. However, with a goal from Max Morlock on the tenth minute and Helmut Rahn on
4757-407: Was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFA's decision to expand the tournament from eight teams. Matches were staged in eight cities and, although not all games were sold out, the tournament holds the European Championship's second-highest aggregate attendance (1,276,000) and average per game (41,158) for the 16-team format, surpassed only in 2012 . The tournament
4828-440: Was the first European Championship where three points were awarded for a win during the qualification and finals group stages, as opposed to the old system of two points for a win, reflecting the growing use of this system in domestic leagues throughout the world during the previous decade. Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a golden goal from Oliver Bierhoff during extra time; this
4899-541: Was the first major competition to be decided using this method. This was also Germany's first major title won as a unified nation , adding to the two European Championship titles won by West Germany prior to reunification. At the time of the bidding process, it had not yet been confirmed that 16 teams would be participating. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, meaning only four venues were due to be required. All candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991. The hosting of
4970-427: Was the official song of the England team, and is the song most strongly connected with the tournament, however the official song of the tournament was " We're in This Together " by Simply Red . The song was performed at the tournament's opening ceremony. The British Royal Mint issued a commemorative £2 coin in 1996, which featured a representation of a football, "1996" in the centre, and 16 small rings representing
5041-427: Was the one player to miss in the shootout, as Czech Republic won the penalty shoot-out 6–5. The other semi-final was a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Germany and England. Alan Shearer headed in after three minutes to give his side the lead, but Stefan Kuntz evened the score less than 15 minutes later, and the score remained 1–1 after 90 minutes. In extra time, Paul Gascoigne came very close to scoring
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