UEFA Euro 1984

1984 UEFA European Football Championship
Championnat d'Europe de football; France 1984
Tournament details
Host country	France
Dates	12–27 June
Teams	8
Venue(s)	7 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	France(1st title)
Runners-up	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	41 (2.73 per match)
Attendance	599,669 (39,978 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Michel Platini(9 goals)
	←1980 1988→

The1984 UEFA European Football Championshipfinal tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventhUEFA European Championship,a competition held every four years and endorsed byUEFA.

At the time, only eight countries took part in the final stage of the tournament, seven of which had to come through the qualifying stage.Francequalified automatically as hosts of the event; in the tournament led byMichel Platini,who scored nine goals in France's all five matches, which is still the record for goals scored in a single tournament and until 2020 also the record for goals scored by a single player at all tournaments.Les Bleuswon the championship – their first major international title.^[1]

Bid process

The hosting of the event was contested by bids from France and West Germany. The French bid was unanimously selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting on 10 December 1981.^[2]

Tournament summary

Group matches

The opening game of tournament featuredFranceandDenmark.The sides played out a very close encounter untilMichel Platini's goal on 78 minutes gave the hosts a 1–0 victory. The opening game also saw a premature end to the tournament for Danish midfielderAllan Simonsen,who suffered a broken leg. Platini then scored hat-tricks against bothBelgiumandYugoslaviaas the French recorded maximum points in Group 1. Denmark took second place in the group with victories over Belgium and Yugoslavia, while Belgium finished third with two points. Yugoslavia, despite going out with no points, gave the hosts a fright in their last group game when they took a 1–0 lead into half-time and then reduced France's 3–1 lead to one goal six minutes from time. The games in Group 1 were unusually high-scoring, and featured 23 goals over the six matches.

Group 2 provided fewer goals, but produced a huge surprise asWest Germanyfailed to qualify for the semi-finals after a 1–0 defeat in their last match toSpainwith a late goal byAntonio Maceda,and a latePortugalwin byNenéagainstRomaniathat sent the holders out.

Semi-finals and final

The first semi-final between France and Portugal is often considered one of the best matches in the history of the European Championship.^[3]Jean-François Domergueopened the scoring for France but Portugal equalised throughRui Jordãoon 74 minutes. The game went to extra time and Jordão scored again in the 98th minute to give the Portuguese a shock lead, but the French rallied and Domergue equalised with six minutes left. Then, in the dying moments of the match and with a penalty shoot-out looming, Platini scored his eighth goal of the championship to give France a memorable 3–2 victory.

The other semi-final between Spain and Denmark saw two evenly matched sides draw 1–1 after extra time, asSøren Lerby's goal after only seven minutes was cancelled out by Maceda’s strike an hour later. The match went to a penalty shoot-out, and Spain converted all five of their penalties to win 5–4 and reach the final for the first time since1964. The final was played to a capacity crowd at theParc des PrincesinParis.Just before the hour mark, Platini scored from a free-kick to put France ahead following a mistake by Spanish goalkeeperLuis Arconada.France were reduced to ten players whenYvon Le Rouxwas sent off, but Spain were unable to equalise, andBruno Bellone's goal in injury time made the final score 2–0. France had won their first major championship in world football.^[4]

Qualification

Portugal and Romania made their debuts in the European Championship. France, the hosts and eventual winners, qualified for the first time since inaugural tournament in 1960, which they also hosted. Denmark qualified for the first time since 1964. Yugoslavia qualified after missing the 1980 tournament. Notable absentees were the1982 FIFA World Cupwinners andEuro 1980hosts Italy, as well as1966 World Cupwinners England, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands (who failed to qualify for the last time until 2016) and Hungary.

Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament^[A]
France	Host	10 December 1981	1 (1960)
Belgium	Group 1winner	12 October 1983	2 (1972,1980)
Portugal	Group 2winner	1 November 1983	0 (debut)
Denmark	Group 3winner	16 November 1983	1 (1964)
West Germany	Group 6winner	20 November 1983	3 (1972,1976,1980)
Romania	Group 5winner	30 November 1983	0 (debut)
Yugoslavia	Group 4winner	21 December 1983	3 (1960,1968,1976)
Spain	Group 7winner	21 December 1983	2 (1964,1980)

^Boldindicates champion for that year.Italicindicates host for that year.

Group 1
France
Denmark
Belgium
Yugoslavia

Group 2
West Germany
Spain
Portugal
Romania

Organisation

Tournament format

After trying out several formats,UEFAfinally developed for the 1984 tournament the format that would serve for all subsequent eight-team European Championships.^[5]The eight qualified teams were split into two groups of four that played a round-robin schedule. The top two teams of each group advanced to semi-finals (reintroduced after being absent from the 1980 tournament) and the winners advanced to the final. Thethird place play-off,widely perceived as an unnecessary chore, was dropped. As usual at the time, a win was credited with two points only, teams on equal points were ranked by goal difference instead of head-to-head results, and the sudden-death rule in extra time did not apply.

Fixtures were scheduled according to an innovative rotation schedule in which each team played its three first-round matches in three different stadia. Host France, for instance, played in Paris, Nantes, and Saint-Étienne. This formula had the advantage of exposing residents of a given city to more teams but implied multiple and sometimes costly trips from town to town for fans who wanted to follow their side. In subsequent championships, the organisers reverted to conventional schedules in which teams played in one or two cities only.

Overall impressions

Very few hooligan-related incidents were recorded throughout the tournament. Only one minor instance of fan trouble was recorded, in Strasbourg around theWest Germanyvs.Portugalmatch. The small group of German hooligans responsible for the incidents was arrested and deported back to West Germany on the same day using a new law specially passed by the French Parliament ahead of the Euro. Overall, the organisation was flawless,^{[citation needed]}a feat that established France's credentials as a host nation and eventually helped it win the right to stage the1998 FIFA World Cup.

The entire competition was marked by exceptionally fine weather which, along with the high quality of play throughout the tournament (a welcome change from the1980 European Championship) and the absence of hooligans, contributed to a very positive and enjoyable experience for teams and fans alike.^{[citation needed]}

Mascot

The official mascot of this European Championship wasPeno,arooster,representing the emblem of the host nation, France. It has the number 84 on the left side of its chest and its outfit is the same as the France national team, blue shirt, white shorts and red socks.

Venues

France's winning bid to host the Euro was based on seven stadia. The 48,000-seatParc des Princesin Paris was the venue for the opening match and the final. Built in 1972, it was still state-of-the-art in 1984 and needed minor improvements only.Marseille'sStade Vélodromewas expanded to 55,000 seats to host one semi-final and some group matches, becoming France's largest stadium on the occasion.Stade de GerlandinLyon,the venue for the other semi-final and some group matches as well, was thoroughly renovated and expanded to 40,000.Stade Geoffroy-Guichardin Saint-Étienne andStade Félix-Bollaertin Lens were the other existing stadia that hosted group matches and were expanded to 53,000 and 49,000, respectively. Lastly, two all-new stadia were built to host group matches (and subsequently provided worthy home grounds for the traditionally strong local club teams):Stade de la Beaujoirein Nantes (53,000) was built on an entirely new site whileStade de la Meinauin Strasbourg was rebuilt from the ground up on the site of the old stadium into a modern 40,000-seat arena.

Paris	Marseille	Lyon
Parc des Princes	Stade Vélodrome	Stade de Gerland
Capacity:48,360	Capacity:55,000	Capacity:51,860

Paris Marseille Lyon Saint-Étienne Lens Nantes Strasbourg		Saint-Étienne
		Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
		Capacity:48,274

Lens	Nantes	Strasbourg
Stade Félix-Bollaert	Stade de la Beaujoire	Stade de la Meinau
Capacity:49,000	Capacity:52,923	Capacity:42,756

Match officials

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 20 players.

Group stage

1984 UEFA European Championship finalists.

The teams finishing in the top two positions in each of the two groups progress to the semi-finals, while the bottom two teams in each group were eliminated from the tournament.

All times are local,CEST(UTC+2).

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:

Goal difference in all group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Drawing of lots

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France(H)	3	3	0	9	2	+7	6	Advance toknockout stage
2	Denmark	3	2	1	8	3	+5	4	Advance toknockout stage
3	Belgium	3	1	2	4	8	−4	2
4	Yugoslavia	3	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Source:UEFA
(H)Hosts

12 June 1984

20:30

France	1–0	Denmark
Platini78'	Report

Parc des Princes,Paris

Attendance: 47,570

Referee:Volker Roth(West Germany)

13 June 1984