UEFA Euro 1992
The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
| Europamästerskapet i fotboll Sverige 1992 | |
|---|---|
 UEFA Euro 1992 official logo Small is Beautiful | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Sweden |
| Dates | 10–26 June |
| Teams | 8 |
| Venue(s) | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  |
| Runners-up |  |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Goals scored | 32 (2.13 per match) |
| Attendance | 430,111 (28,674 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |   (3 goals each) |
Denmark won the 1992 championship. The team had qualified only after FR Yugoslavia (who qualified as Yugoslavia) was disqualified as a result of the breakup and warfare in the country. Eight national teams contested the finals tournament.[1]
Also present at the tournament was the CIS national football team (Commonwealth of Independent States), representing the recently dissolved Soviet Union whose national team had qualified for the tournament. It was also the first major tournament at which the reunified Germany (who were beaten 2–0 by Denmark in the final) had competed.
It was to be the last tournament with only eight participants, the last to award the winner of a match with only two points, and the last tournament before the introduction of the back-pass rule, which was brought in immediately after the tournament was completed. When the next competition was held in 1996, 16 teams were involved and were awarded 3 points for a win.
Bid process
On 16 December 1988, Sweden was chosen over Spain to host the event, following a decision made by the UEFA Executive Committee.[2] Spain was at a disadvantage as they had already been chosen to host the EXPO 1992 in Seville and the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona.[2][3]
Summary
Seven of the eight teams had to qualify for the final stage; Sweden qualified automatically as hosts of the event.[4] The Soviet Union qualified for the finals shortly before the break-up of the country, and took part in the tournament under the banner of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),[5] before the former Soviet republics formed their own national teams after the competition. The CIS team represented the following ex-Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Tajikistan. Four out of 15 ex-republics were not members of the CIS: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania did not send their players; Georgia was not a member of the CIS at the time, but Georgian Kakhaber Tskhadadze was a part of the squad.
Originally, Yugoslavia qualified for the final stage and were to participate as FR Yugoslavia, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group's runner-up, Denmark, took part in the championship.[6] They shocked the continent when Peter Schmeichel saved Marco van Basten's penalty in the semi-final penalty shoot-out against the Netherlands, thus defeating the defending European champions.[7] The shock was compounded when Denmark went on to defeat the reigning world champions Germany 2–0 to win the European title.[8]
Qualification
Qualified teams
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament[upper-alpha 1] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Host | 16 December 1988 | 0 (debut) |
 | Group 1 winner | 12 October 1991 | 2 (1960, 1984) |
 | Group 7 winner | 13 November 1991 | 3 (1968, 1980, 1988) |
.svg.png){kind=small} | Group 3 winner[upper-alpha 3] | 13 November 1991 | 5 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988) |
 | Group 2 winner | 13 November 1991 | 0 (debut) |
| Group 5 winner | 20 November 1991 | 5 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988) |
| Group 6 winner | 4 December 1991 | 3 (1976, 1980, 1988) |
| Group 4 runner-up[upper-alpha 5] | 31 May 1992 | 3 (1964, 1984, 1988) |
- Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
- From 1960 to 1988, CIS competed as the Soviet Union.
- Replaced the Soviet Union.
- From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
- Replaced FR Yugoslavia (after qualifying as Yugoslavia), who were subject to sanctions under UN Security Council Resolution 757 and thus banned from appearing.[9]
Venues
| Gothenburg | Stockholm | |
|---|---|---|
| Ullevi | Råsunda Stadium | |
| Capacity: 44,000 | Capacity: 40,000 | |
 |
 | |
| Malmö | Norrköping | |
| Malmö Stadion | Idrottsparken | |
| Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 23,000 | |
 |
 |
Squads
Each national team had to submit a squad of 20 players.
Match ball
Adidas Etrusco Unico was used as the official match ball of the tournament. The ball was previously used in the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
Match officials
- Fourth officials
| Country | Fourth officials |
|---|---|
 |
Gerhard Kapl |
.svg.png){kind=small} |
Frans van den Wijngaert |
|
Vadim Zhuk |
|
Kim Milton Nielsen |
|
Rémi Harrel |
|
Karl-Josef Assenmacher |
 |
Sándor Varga |
 |
Tullio Lanese Pierluigi Pairetto |
|
Mario van der Ende |
 |
Jorge Emanuel Monteiro Coroado |
|
Leif Sundell |
 |
Bruno Galler Kurt Röthlisberger |
Group stage
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:
- Greater number of points in all group matches
- Goal difference in all group matches
- Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
- Drawing of lots
Group 1
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
Group 2
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | |
| 4 | |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
Knockout stage
In the knockout phase, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.
As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984, there was no third place play-off.
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 22 June – Gothenburg | ||||||
| 2 (4) | |||||
| 26 June – Gothenburg | ||||||
| 2 (5) | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 21 June – Solna | ||||||
| 0 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
Semi-finals
Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 32 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.13 goals per match.
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Source: UEFA[11]
Awards
- UEFA Team of the Tournament[12]
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Marketing
Slogan and theme song
Small is Beautiful was the official slogan of the contest.[5] The official anthem of the tournament was "More Than a Game", performed by Towe Jaarnek and Peter Jöback.
Logo and identity
It was the last tournament to use the UEFA plus flag logo, and the last before the tournament came to be known as "Euro" (it is known as "Euro 1992" only retrospectively). It was also the first major football competition in which the players had their names printed on their backs, at around the time that it was becoming a trend in club football across Europe.
Mascot
The official mascot of the competition was a rabbit named Rabbit, dressed in a Swedish football jersey, and wearing head and wristbands while playing with a ball.[13]
Sponsorship
| Global sponsors | Event sponsors | |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden | ||
References
- Chowdhury, Saj (12 May 2012). "Euro 1992: Denmark's fairytale". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- "Sweden to host 1992 Euro finals". New Straits Times. Reuters. 18 December 1988. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Die Geschichte der Fußball-Europameisterschaft, Verlag Die Werkstatt, ISBN 978-3-89533-553-2
- Hughes, Rob (16 October 1991). "Now, the going gets tough". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- Hughes, Rob (10 June 1992). "Confidence and flair: Dutch favored in Euro 92". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- "Yugoslav athletes banned". The New York Times. 1 June 1992. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- Thomsen, Ian (23 June 1992). "Danes upset Dutch in penalty shoot-out, advance to final". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- Thomsen, Ian (27 June 1992). "Upstart Danes upend Germany, 2–0, in soccer final". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- "United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (Implementing Trade Embargo on Yugoslavia)". UMN.edu. United Nations. 30 May 1992. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
- "European Football Championship 1992 FINAL". euro2000.org. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- Union of European Football Associations https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/history/seasons/1992/. Retrieved 14 May 2020. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - "1992 team of the tournament". Union of European Football Associations. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- Kell, Tom (1 February 2013). "The weird and wonderful world of Euro mascots". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
