The Euros or the UEFA European Championship was started in the year 1960 by the Union of European Football Associations – the European football governing body – where national teams from Europe compete every four years. Since then, there have been ten different countries on the Euro Winners list over the past 16 editions of the tournament.
Originally called the UEFA European Nations’ Cup, the first-ever winner of the tournament was the Soviet Union, who had defeated Yugoslavia 2-1 at the Parc des Princes in Paris to lift the title.
The most recent edition, the Euro 2020, which was postponed by a year, saw Italy defeating England 3-2 on penalties to lift their second Euro Cup in 2021. In a one-off Euro edition, the tournament was held across 11 venues across 11 different countries.
Below is the list of every European football champion from 1960 to 2021.
Euro Winners List: Champions from every season
| Tournament | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Host Country |
| 1960 | Soviet Union | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Yugoslavia | Parc des Princes | Paris, France |
| 1964 | Spain | 2–1 | Soviet Union | Santiago Bernabéu Stadium | Madrid, Spain |
| 1968 | Italy | 2–0 | Yugoslavia | Stadio Olimpico | Rome, Italy |
| 1972 | West Germany | 3–0 | Soviet Union | Heysel Stadium | Brussels, Belgium |
| 1976 | Czechoslovakia | 2–2 (a.e.t.)(5–3 pen.) | West Germany | Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda | Belgrade, Yugoslavia |
| 1980 | West Germany | 2–1 | Belgium | Stadio Olimpico | Rome, Italy |
| 1984 | France | 2–0 | Spain | Parc des Princes | Paris, France |
| 1988 | Netherlands | 2–0 | Soviet Union | Olympiastadion | Munich, West Germany |
| 1992 | Denmark | 2–0 | Germany | Ullevi | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 1996 | Germany | 2–1 (g.g.) | Czech Republic | Wembley Stadium | London, England |
| 2000 | France | 2–1 (g.g.) | Italy | Feijenoord Stadion | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| 2004 | Greece | 1–0 | Portugal | Estádio da Luz | Lisbon, Portugal |
| 2008 | Spain | 1–0 | Germany | Ernst-Happel-Stadion | Vienna, Austria |
| 2012 | Spain | 4–0 | Italy | Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| 2016 | Portugal | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | France | Stade de France | Saint-Denis (Paris), France |
| 2020 | Italy | 1–1 (a.e.t.)(3–2 pen.) | England | Wembley Stadium | London, England |
Top 5 classic UEFA Euro final matches
Czechoslovakia 2 – 2 (5 – 3 pen) West Germany, 1970 Euro final
Beating the might German national team is never easy in football. Even before the European Championships had started in 1960, West Germany had already been FIFA World Cup winners in the 1954 edition. Hence, Czechoslovakia winning the European title by beating the European giants is a classic underdog tale.
The Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, was witness to a brilliant comeback story as well with title favourites West Germany taking an early two-goal lead only to see the scoreline reading 2-2 before heading into the penalty shoot-out. It was quite unbelievable for the German fans given that they had the legendary Franz Beckenbauer manning the backline. The 1970 Euro finale will always be remembered for Antonín Panenka‘s audacious chip for the winning spot-kick after Uli Hoeneß had struck his kick above the crossbar.
Denmark 2 – 0 Germany, 1992 Euro Final
Yet another Euro classic that features Germany, this took place in 1992 in Sweden’s Ullevi Stadium. And while this classic tale also has a similar underdogs theme, Denmark, unlike Czechoslovakia, had shocked the world with their controlling football against arguably the best team in Europe.
Reaching the European Championship final for the first time in history, Denmark ensured that they didn’t return home without the Euro title. Interestingly, both the goalscorers for Denmark were central midfielders John Jensen and Kim Vilfort. Denmark’s win over Germany at the 1992 Euro final is registered by UEFA as one of the most surprising European Championships results in the tournament history.
Greece 1 – 0 Portugal, 2004 Euro Final
When a Portugal team consisting of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Deco, Rui Costa and many more superstars had reached the final of the European Championship, which was going to be held in Portugal’s Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, no one had given Greece a chance at winning the title. Though the Greek team had already beaten Portugal in the group stage once, they had drawn against Spain and lost to Russia before narrowly advancing into the knockouts on more goals scored.
Portugal, on the other hand, were flying high after beating star-studded sides England and the Netherlands in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively and were the obvious favourites being the hosts. But, Greece had shocked the Portuguese by a 57th-minute header from Angelos Charisteas, which was enough to help them win their solitary European title.
Germany 0 – 1 Spain, 2008 Euro Final
A proper battle of the giants was on the cards when Germany and Spain clashed in the 2008 Euro Cup final. If Spain had Fernando Torres and David Villa overbrimming with confidence in front of the goal, Germany had the seasoned likes of Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Ballack bringing composure to the squad.
An intense fight was expected and the match delivered the same with Fernando Torres’ 33rd-minute goal the only difference between the two teams. This was the start of Spain’s domination in world football as they would go on to win the 2010 Fifa World Cup as well as the 2012 Euro Cup from here.
France 0 – 1 Portugal, 2016 Euro Final
If Portugal were the title favourites in 2004, they had arrived at the 2016 Euro final as the underdogs against host France, who were brimming with talent. From Paul Pogba and Patrice Evra to Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann, the French team was deemed the next world champions long before they eventually won the World Cup in 2018.
Portugal, on the other hand, had only one world-class name on the team sheet – Cristiano Ronaldo. And to their dismay, an injured Ronaldo had to be substituted in the 25th-minute with Ricardo Quaresma. However, it wasn’t that substitution that changed the game. The fate had changed when centre-forward Eder had come on in place of Renato Sanches on the 79th minute. Eder would score in the ninth minute of extra time to shock France and become the European Championship winners.
Euro Winners List: By Number of Titles
| Team | No. of Euro titles | Runners-up | Years won | Years runners-up | No. of finals |
| Germany | 3 | 3 | 1972, 1980, 1996 | 1976, 1992, 2008 | 6 |
| Spain | 3 | 1 | 1964, 2008, 2012 | 1984 | 4 |
| Italy | 2 | 2 | 1968, 2020 | 2000, 2012 | 4 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 1984, 2000 | 2016 | 3 |
| Russia | 1 | 3 | 1960 | 1964, 1972, 1988 | 4 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 1976 | 1996 | 2 |
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | 2016 | 2004 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1988 | – | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 | 0 | 1992 | – | 1 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 2004 | – | 1 |
| Serbia | 0 | 2 | – | 1960, 1968 | 2 |
| Belgium | 0 | 1 | – | 1980 | 1 |
| England | 0 | 1 | – | 2020 | 1 |
Germany | 3 titles | 6 final appearances
Without a doubt, the German national team remains the most successful team in the European Championship competition with three titles and three runners-up finishes. The fact that they have managed to make six final appearances in Euros to date, speaks highly of their consistency. They have also been quite successful on the world stage by becoming the World Champions four times and ending as the runners-up on the other four instances.
Spain | 3 titles | 4 final appearances
Unlike Germany, the Spanish national team wasn’t as consistent or threatening in the early part of the competition with their only title win in the 60s coming in the 1964 Euros when they had beaten defending champions Soviet Union 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. However, Spain’s golden period started in the late 2000s with a flurry of superstars like Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Xavi Hernandez, Fernando Torres and more helping the side win back to back European Championships in 2008 and 2012. Spain are also the only team to win consecutive European Championships.
No other team apart from Germany and Spain have won the Euro three times. Their success is followed by Italy and France, who have two European football championship titles to their name. Russia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands – all have one Euro title each.
FAQs
Who was the Euro Cup 2020 winner?
Italy won their second UEFA European Championship title in Euro 2020, which was postponed by a year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. They had defeated England 3-2 on penalties.
Who won Euro 2016?
Portugal had won the Euro 2016 tournament by beating tournament favourites France at the Stade de France in Paris.
