1960 European Nations Cup
| UEFA Championnat Européen du Football France 1960 |
|
|---|---|
UEFA Euro 1960 official logo
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| Tournament details | |
| Host country |
 France
|
| Dates | 6 – 10 July |
| Teams | 4 |
| Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Soviet Union (1st title)
|
| Runners-up |  Yugoslavia |
| Third place |  Czechoslovakia |
| Fourth place | France |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 4 |
| Goals scored | 17 (4.25 per match) |
| Attendance | 78,958 (19,740 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Milan Galić François Heutte Valentin Ivanov Dražan Jerković Viktor Ponedelnik(2 goals each) |
The 1960 UEFA European Nations' Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time.
The tournament was a knockout competition; just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy and England among them. The teams would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would then move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.
In the quarter-finals, Spain, who were under Francisco Franco's far-right dictatorship at the time, refused to travel to the Soviet Union (the main supporter of the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War) for the first leg. Spain were disqualified and, acccordingly, three of the final four teams were from communist countries: USSR, Czechoslovakia, and SFR Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France.
In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, beating them 3–0. The other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4 after coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the demoralized French 2–0 for third place.
In the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalized in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in extra time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship.
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