1960 European Nations' Cup


The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the first edition of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised 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 for the first leg. Spain were disqualified and, accordingly, 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 demoralised French 2–0 for third place.
In the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalised 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.

Qualification

Qualified teams

Venues

Squads

Match officials

Final tournament

In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner.
All times are local, CET.

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

Awards

;UEFA Team of the Tournament
GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards
Lev Yashin Ladislav Novák
Vladimir Durković		 Josef Masopust
Valentin Ivanov
Igor Netto		 Slava Metreveli
Viktor Ponedelnik
Milan Galić
Bora Kostić
Dragoslav Šekularac