UEFA Euro 1992 - More Than a Game

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The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship ( Euro 92 ) was the ninth European Football Championship. The competition took place over two weeks in June, from the 10 th to the 26 th. Euro 1992 was hosted by Sweden and supported by UEFA. It was the first major football competition in which the players had their names printed on their backs. The official anthem of the tournament was More Than a Game. The competition continued the use of the two group format. The games were played in the following stadiums:

• Nya Ullevi, Göteborg – Capacity: 44,000
• Rasundastadion, Solna – Capacity: 40,000
• Malmö Stadion, Malmö – Capacity: 30,000
• Idrottsparken, Norrköping – Capacity: 23,000

The European finals, the last comprising only eight teams, took place at a time of great political changes. Yugoslavia, having qualified and been in their preparation for the finals, were excluded because of the war crimes committed by its government in Belgrade. Denmark, the runners-up in their qualifying group, were invited to take their place. It was the beginning of a Danish summer fairy tale. The Soviet Union entered under the new name CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) after dissolution in 1991. CIS included eleven former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan discontinued permanent membership as of August 26, 2005, and is now an associate member. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were not members of CIS, and therefore did not send their players. Sweden qualified automatically as hosts of the event. As a result the following teams participated in the final tournament:

• CIS (replaced former USSR )
• Denmark (replaced Yugoslavia )
• England
• France
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Scotland (first appearance)
• Sweden (hosts, first appearance)

The biggest surprise in this competition was an early exit of France. Coached by Michel Platini with great talents Eric Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin, France had been considered as the favorites of Group 1, but they left without winning one match. It was yet another disappointing tournament for England and especially Graham Taylor who was heavily criticised for his decision to substitute Gary Lineker at a crucial stage when England were losing to hosts Sweden.

The semi-finalists were a united Germany, defending champions the Netherlands, the hosts Sweden, and Denmark. Sweden played Germany in the first semi final at the Råsundastadion in Solna in front of almost 30,000 fans. For Germany, this was the first international competition they took part in after unification. Sweden with Tomas Brolin fought bravely, but lost to Germany 3-2. The match between Denmark and Netherlands was a close affair with a 2-2 draw followed by a penalty shoot-out. Denmark won 5-4 to reach the final.

The final had a bigger surprise in store. In front of a capacity crowd of 38,000, Denmark provided goal after 18 minutes due to John Jensen. They had nothing to lose, and showed it, holding Germany out and reaching half time with a surprise lead. Germany failed to square the game up after the break. In 78 th minute Kim Vilfort scored the second goal for Denmark. They held on to their lead until the final whistle. Denmark won the match 2-0 with their skillful counterattacks. Brian Laudrup, goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and their colleagues with a brilliant performance won their first European Championship, although they had been invited to the tournament on a very short notice.