UEFA Euro 1988

1988 UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA Fußball-Europameisterschaft; Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1988
	; UEFA Euro 1988 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	West Germany
Dates	10 June – 25 June
Teams	8
Venue(s)	8 (in 8 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands (1st title)
Runners-up	Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	34 (2.27 per match)
Attendance	888,645 (59,243 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Marco van Basten (5 goals)
	← 1984 1992 →

The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany between 10 and 25 June 1988. It was the eighth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.

The tournament crowned the Netherlands as European champions for the first, and so far only time. Euro 88 was a rare incidence of a major football tournament ending without a single sending-off or goalless draw, nor any knockout matches going to extra time or penalties.

Qualification

Main article: 1988 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying

At the time, only eight countries could compete in the final tournament. Seven countries had to qualify for the final stage. West Germany qualified automatically as hosts of the event. The holders, France, failed to qualify.

Teams

UEFA Euro 1988 finalists.

The following eight teams participated in the final tournament:

Host

Special stamp issued by Deutsche Post for the tournament

West Germany won the right to host the tournament with five votes ahead of a joint bid from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, who gained 1 vote, and a bid from England.¹

Because the Eastern Bloc disagreed that West Berlin was part of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Football Association ruled out playing Championship matches in West Berlin. This secured the participation of Eastern European members of UEFA. In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, however, West Berlin had hosted three games.

As a compromise, Berlin Olympic Stadium did host a Four Nations Tournament in 1988, with West Germany playing against the Soviet Union, Argentina and Sweden.²

Venues

Munich	Gelsenkirchen	Hamburg	Frankfurt
Olympiastadion	Parkstadion	Volksparkstadion	Waldstadion
Capacity: 69,000	Capacity: 62,000	Capacity: 61,200	Capacity: 61,000

Düsseldorf	Hanover	Stuttgart	Cologne
Rheinstadion	Niedersachsenstadion	Neckarstadion	Müngersdorfer Stadion
Capacity: 55,850	Capacity: 50,423	Capacity: 50,000	Capacity: 47,000

Match officials

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see UEFA Euro 1988 squads

Overview

Group Stage

The first group pitted two pre-tournament favourites West Germany and Italy together, along with Spain and Denmark. The Italians had not played in the competition finals since the 1980 edition, which they hosted and West Germany won. Spain and Denmark contested the second semi-final of the 1984 edition. Spain prevailed on penalty-kicks, but lost the final to hosts, France who failed to qualify in 1988.

The Germans and Italians contested the opening game. The Germans, as of 2012, have not defeated the Italians in a competitive fixture. This game was tightly contested. Roberto Mancini capitalised on a defensive error on the left-hand side of the German goal and the striker squeezed in a shot from a tight angle. Just three minutes later, Walter Zenga stepped out side of his penalty area while holding the ball and delivering a goal kick. Andreas Brehme scored the resulting free-kick which crept under the wall. Both teams settled for a 1-1 draw.

Spain defeated Denmark again, this time 3-2. Míchel opened the scoring after five minutes and Brian Laudrup equalised twenty minutes later. Spain dominated the next hour and Emilio Butragueño and Rafael Gordillo but the Spanish 3-1 to the good. A late surge saw Flemming Povlsen reduce the score line, but was not enough for the Danes, who now needed to win both their remaining games to be certain of a place in the semi-finals.

In the remaining games the West Germans swept aside the Danes and Spanish. Jurgen Klinsmann and Olaf Thon scored to dispatch the former 2-0 while two goals from Rudi Völler was enough to beat Spain 2-0. The second goal was particularly notable. Lothar Matthäus ran forty yards into the Spanish penalty box before back-heeeling the ball for the oncoming Völler, following up his run, to strike the ball with the outside of his foot and into the corner of the goal.

The Italians won a difficult match against the Spanish 1-0, courtesy of a goal from Gianluca Vialli on 73 minutes. In the last games, against an already eliminated Denmark, the Italians prevailed by two goals to nil.

The second group witnessed a surprising set of results. In the opening game, one of the pre-tournament favourites lost 0-1 to Ireland. Ray Houghton scored a looping header after six minutes after the English defence failed to clear a cross. The English applied strong pressure as the game wore on. Gary Lineker was unusually sluggish, missing a series of chances and hitting the cross bar. In the the other opening game, the Soviet Union defeated the Netherlands 1-0 through a Vasyl Rats goal, despite the Dutch dominating for long periods.

England met the Netherlands in Düsseldorf, both needed to win. England started strongly with Lineker hitting a post and Glen Hoddle striking the crossbar with a free-kick. The English defence, weakened by the absence of Terry Butcher, conceeded the first of three goals to Marco van Basten on 44 minutes. Van Basten turned Butcher's replacement Tony Adams and beat Peter Shilton - playing his 100th game for England - to give his side a 1-0 lead. England rallied after the break. Lineker and Bryan Robson exchanged a kick one-two pass allowing Robson to burst into the box and lift the ball over Hans van Breukelen after 53 minutes. The score remained when Van Basten turned Tony Adams inside out to finish from 18 yards on 71 minutes. The striker pounced from close-range after a corner to seal a 3-1 win four minutes later.

The Irish and Soviets led the group after two games through a 1-1 draw in Hanover. Ronnie Whelan scored a spectacular volley from 30 yards to to put the Irish into the lead. Oleh Protasov equalised the Soviet exerted late pressure.

Needing to defeat the Irish to progress, the Dutch won the game 1-0 through a Wim Kieft goal. The ball deflected into his path and he delievered a looping header which spun into the Irsh net with nine minutes remaining just after Paul McGrath hit a Dutch post. In the other game the Soviets soundly thrashed England. A mistake from Hoddle allowed Sergei Aleinikov to score after three minutes. Adams equalised and England had chances to go ahead, but a goal before half time and late in the game assured the Russians of first place in the group.

Semi-final

The first semi-final was significant as rivals West Germany played the Netherlands. It was only the third time the two sides had faced each other since the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final; the West Germans winning a first round match in the 1980 European Championship, and a 0-0 draw in a 1978 FIFA World Cup second round group match. The game was tight, and the West Germans broke the deadlock on 55 minutes with a Matthäus penalty after a foul on Klinsmann. The lead was held for 20 minutes until Jurgen Kohler brought down Van Basten. Ronald Koeman converted the spot-kick to level the match. With the match headed for extra time a through ball caught the Germans out and Van Basten finished clinically with a a shot as he slid along the floor, beating the goal keeper and Kohler to the ball in the 88th minute for 2-1 win. It gave the Dutch their first competitive victory against the Germans and first appearence in the competition's final. The victory was marred by the reaction of Dutch captain Koeman who wipped the shirt of Olaf Thon, given to him after the match, on his backside infront of the German fans. The player appologised afterwards.

The other semi-final was another unpredicatable result. Italy were strong favourties to reach the final and had beaten the Soviets 4-1 in a friendly just two months earlier. Desptie controlling the play and having the majority of the chances, the Italians were undone by poor finishing, and a strong, tough opposition who sought to stop their more skillful opponents playing through hard tackles and a defensive strategy. The hard work-rate of the Soviets paid off and four second half minutes, counter-attacks saw two goals from Hennadiy Lytovchenko and Protasov. The first was a looping shot which floated over Zenga. The second from Protasov was initially blocked, but quick reations beat Franco Baresi to the ball to far the second shot into the far corner for a 2-0 victory. It would be the Soviet Union's fourth appearence in the European Championship final.

Results

First round

All times local (CEST)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
West Germany	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	5
Italy	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	5
Spain	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	2
Denmark	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

10 June 1988 20:15	West Germany	1 – 1	Italy	Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf Attendance: 62,552 Referee: Keith Hackett (England)
	Brehme 55'	Report	Mancini 52'

11 June 1988 15:30	Denmark	2 – 3	Spain	Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover Attendance: 60,366 Referee: Albert Thomas (Netherlands)
	Laudrup 24' Povlsen 82'	Report	Míchel 5' Butragueño 52' Gordillo 67'

14 June 1988 17:15	West Germany	2 – 0	Denmark	Parkstadion, Gelsenkirchen Attendance: 64,812 Referee: Robert Valentine (Scotland)
	Klinsmann 10' Thon 85'	Report

14 June 1988 20:15	Italy	1 – 0	Spain	Waldstadion, Frankfurt Attendance: 51,790 Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)
	Vialli 73'	Report

17 June 1988 20:15	West Germany	2 – 0	Spain	Olympiastadion, Munich Attendance: 72,308 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)
	Völler 29', 51'	Report

17 June 1988 20:15	Italy	2 – 0	Denmark	Müngersdorfer Stadion, Cologne Attendance: 53,951 Referee: Bruno Galler (Switzerland)
	Altobelli 67' De Agostini 87'	Report

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Soviet Union	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	5
Netherlands	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	4
Republic of Ireland	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
England	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

12 June 1988 15:30	England	0 – 1	Republic of Ireland	Neckarstadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 51,573 Referee: Siegfried Kirschen (East Germany)
		Report	Houghton 6'

12 June 1988 20:15	Netherlands	0 – 1	Soviet Union	Müngersdorfer Stadion, Cologne Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Dieter Pauly (West Germany)
		Report	Rats 52'

15 June 1988 17:15	England	1 – 3	Netherlands	Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf Attendance: 63,940 Referee: Paolo Casarin (Italy)
	Robson 53'	Report	van Basten 44', 71', 75'

15 June 1988 20:15	Republic of Ireland	1 – 1	Soviet Union	Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover Attendance: 38,308 Referee: Emilio Soriano Aladren (Spain)
	Whelan 38'	Report	Protasov 74'

18 June 1988 15:30	England	1 – 3	Soviet Union	Waldstadion, Frankfurt Attendance: 53,000 Referee: José Rosa dos Santos (Portugal)
	Adams 16'	Report	Aleinikov 3' Mikhailichenko 28' Pasulko 73'

18 June 1988 15:30	Republic of Ireland	0 – 1	Netherlands	Parkstadion, Gelsenkirchen Attendance: 60,800 Referee: Horst Brummeier (Austria)
		Report	Kieft 82'

Knockout stage

Semi-finals		Final

21 June – Hamburg (Volksparkstadion)
West Germany	1
Netherlands	2

		25 June – Munich (Olympiastadion)
		Netherlands	2
		Soviet Union	0



22 June – Stuttgart (Neckarstadion)
Italy	0
Soviet Union	2

Semi-finals

21 June 1988 20:15	West Germany	1 – 2	Netherlands	Volksparkstadion, Hamburg Attendance: 61,330 Referee: Ioan Igna (Romania)
	Matthäus 55' (pen.)	Report	R. Koeman 74' (pen.) van Basten 88'

22 June 1988 20:15	Soviet Union	2 – 0	Italy	Neckarstadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 61,606 Referee: Alexis Ponnet (Belgium)
	Lytovchenko 58' Protasov 62'	Report

Final

Main article: UEFA Euro 1988 Final

25 June 1988 15:30	Soviet Union	0 – 2	Netherlands	Olympiastadion, Munich Attendance: 72,308 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)
		Report	Gullit 32' van Basten 54'

Statistics

Goalscorers

5 goals

Marco van Basten

2 goals

1 goal

Fastest goal

3 minutes

Sergei Aleinikov (USSR vs England)

References

^ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Die Geschichte der Fußball-Europameisterschaft, Verlag Die Werkstatt, ISBN 978-3-89533-553-2
^ Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation: Four Nations Tournament (West-Berlin, West Germany 1988)

External links

Alternative report on final

[0] Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Die Geschichte der Fußball-Europameisterschaft, Verlag Die Werkstatt, ISBN 978-3-89533-553-2

[1] Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation: Four Nations Tournament (West-Berlin, West Germany 1988)

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