The Euro 1968 Championships

Euro 1968 Championships


		The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third European Football Championship, an event held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between June 5 and June 10, 1968. It was in this year that EUFA changed the name to the European Championships.

There were also some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase.At the time, only four countries could play the final tournament which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third place match. The hosts were only announced after the qualifying round, which meant that they had to qualify like every other team.

The qualification competition was played in two stages: a group stage (taking place from 1966 until 1968) and the quarter-finals (played in 1968). There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each with the exception of group 4, which only had three. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament.

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