User:Hamza Al Rehman/sandbox/Euro Cup
European association football tournament for men's national teams / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The UEFA European Football Championship,[1] commonly known as the UEFA European Championship and informally as the Euros, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), determining the continental champion of Europe. The competition has been held every four years since 1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form "UEFA Euro [year]"; this format has since been retroactively applied to earlier tournaments.[citation needed]
Founded | 1958; 66 years ago (1958) |
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Region | Europe (UEFA) |
Number of teams | 24 (finals) 55 (eligible to enter qualification) |
Current champions | Portugal (1st title) |
Most successful team(s) | Germany Spain (3 titles each) |
Website | Official website |
UEFA Euro 2020 |
Prior to entering the tournament, all teams other than the host nations (which qualify automatically) compete in a qualifying process. Until 2016 the championship winners could compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, but were not obliged to do so.[2]
The 15 European Championship tournaments have been won by ten national teams: Germany and Spain each have won three titles, France has two titles, and the Soviet Union, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Portugal have won one title each. To date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup. The Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million.[3]
The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, who beat France 1–0 in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis after extra time. The final also averaged 284 million viewers which is the second most viewed game in European tournament history.[4]