The 1968 European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the 3rd edition of the European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between June 5 and June 10, 1968.

It was in this edition that the tournament changed its name from European Nations Cup to European Championship.

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, along with all the others, for the final stage.

Venues

• Stadio San Paolo, Naples - Capacity: 72,800
• Stadio Comunale, Florence - Capacity: 47,000
• Stadio Olimpico, Rome - Capacity: 86,500

The qualifying round was played throughout 1966 and 1967 (group phase), and 1968 (quarter-finals). 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.

Group Phase

Group 1								Group 2
Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Spain	8	6	3	2	1	6	2	Bulgaria	10	6	4	2	0	10	2
Czechoslovakia	7	6	3	1	2	8	4	Portugal	6	6	2	2	2	6	6
Republic of Ireland	5	6	2	1	3	5	8	Sweden	5	6	2	1	3	9	12
Turkey	4	6	1	2	3	3	8	Norway	3	6	1	1	4	9	14

Group 3								Group 4
Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Soviet Union	10	6	5	0	1	16	6	Yugoslavia	6	4	3	0	1	8	3
Greece	6	6	2	2	2	8	9	West Germany	5	4	2	1	1	9	2
Austria	6	6	2	2	2	8	10	Albania	1	4	0	1	3	0	12
Finland	2	6	0	2	4	5	12

Group 5								Group 6
Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Hungary	9	6	4	1	1	15	5	Italy	11	6	5	1	0	17	3
East Germany	7	6	3	1	2	10	10	Romania	6	6	3	0	3	18	14
Netherlands	5	6	2	1	3	11	11	Switzerland	5	6	2	1	3	17	13
Denmark	3	6	1	1	4	6	16	Cyprus	2	6	1	0	5	3	25

Group 7								Group 8
Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
France	9	6	4	1	1	14	6	England	9	6	4	1	1	15	5
Belgium	7	6	3	1	2	14	9	Scotland	8	6	3	2	1	10	8
Poland	7	6	3	1	2	13	9	Wales	4	6	1	2	3	6	12
Luxembourg	1	6	0	1	5	1	18	Northern Ireland	3	6	1	1	4	2	8

Quarter-finals

1st Leg - Saturday April 6, 1968

17:00 EET Vassil Levski Stadium, Sofia
Referee: Gerhard Schulenburg (West Germany)

Bulgaria	3 - 2	(1-0)	Italy
Kotkov 12' pen			Penev 61' own goal
Dermendjiev 66'			Prati 83'
Jekov 73'

2nd Leg - Saturday April 20, 1968

16:00 CET Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Referee: Gottfried Dienst (SWI)

Italy	2 - 0	(1-0)	Bulgaria
Parti 14'
Domenghini 68'

Italy won 4-3 on aggregate.

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1st Leg - Saturday May 4, 1968

17:00 CET Ferenc Puskas Stadium, Budapest
Referee: Laurens van Ravens (NET)

Hungary	2 - 0	(1-0)	Soviet Union
Farkas 22'
Göröcs 84'

2nd Leg - Saturday May 11, 1968

19:30 MSK Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

Soviet Union	3 - 0	(1-0)	Hungary
Solymosi 22' own goal
Khurtsilava 59'
Byshovets 72'

Soviet Union won 3-2 on aggregate.

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1st Leg - Wednesday April 3, 1968

19:45 GMT Wembley Stadium, London
Referee: Gilbert Droz (SWI)

England	1 - 0	(0-0)	Spain
B. Charlton 84'

2nd Leg - Wednesday May 8, 1968

20:30 CET Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Madrid
Referee: Josef Krnavek (CZE)

Spain	1 - 2	(0-0)	England
Amancio 48'			Peters 55'
			Hunter 81'

England won 3-1 on aggregate.

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1st Leg - Saturday April 6, 1968

16:00 CET Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
Referee: Erwin Vetter (West Germany)

France	1 - 1	(0-0)	Yugoslavia
Di Nallo 78'			Musemic 66'

2nd Leg - Wednesday May 24, 1968

16:30 CET Partizan Stadium, Belgrade
Referee: Paul Schiller (AUT)

Yugoslavia	5 - 1	(4-1)	France
Petkovic 3'			Di Nallo 34'
Musemic 12'
Dzajic 24'
Petkovic 33'
Musemic 80'

Yugoslavia won 6-2 on aggregate.

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Semi-finals

Wednesday June 5, 1968

18:00 CET Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

Italy

0 - 0 AET

Soviet Union

Italy through on coin toss. 21:15 CET Stadio Comunale, Florence
Referee: José Maria Ortiz de Mendibil (SPA)

Yugoslavia	1 - 0	(0-0)	England
Dzajic 86'

Third Place Match

Saturday June 8, 1968

15:00 CET Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee: Istvan Zsolt (HUN)

England	2 - 0	(1-0)	Soviet Union
B. Charlton 39'
Hurst 63'

Final

Saturday June 8, 1968

22:15 CET Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee: Gottfried Dienst (SWI)

Italy	1 - 1 AET	(0-1)	Yugoslavia
Domenghini 80'			Dzajic 39'

Final Replay

Monday June 10, 1968

21:15 CET Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee: José Maria Ortiz de Mendibil (SPA)

Italy	2 - 0	(2-0)	Yugoslavia
Riva 11'
Anastasi 32'

2 Goals

• Dragan DZAJIC (YUG)

1 Goal

• Luigi RIVA (ITA)
• Angelo DOMENGHINI (ITA)
• Pietro ANASTASI (ITA)
• Geoff HURST (ENG)
• Bobby CHARLTON (ENG)

European Football Championship

France 1960 | Spain 1964 | Italy 1968 | Belgium 1972

Yugoslavia 1976 | Italy 1980 | France 1984

West Germany 1988 | Sweden 1992 | England 1996

Belgium/Netherlands 2000 | Portugal 2004 | Austria/Switzerland 2008

International Football

FIFA (International) : FIFA World Cup (Women's) : FIFA World Rankings : FIFA World Player of the Year AFC (Asia) : Asian Cup | CAF (Africa) : African Nations Cup CONMEBOL (South America) : Copa América | CONCACAF (North America) - Gold Cup OFC (Oceania) : Oceania Cup | UEFA (Europe) : European Championships