Dates 10 Jun 1992 – 26 Jun 1992 Goals scored 32 Matches played 15 | Venue(s) 4 (in 4 host cities) Teams 8 Attendance 430,111 | |
 | ||
Similar UEFA Euro 1996, UEFA Euro 1988, UEFA Euro 1984, UEFA Euro 2000, UEFA Euro 1980 | ||
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.
Contents
- Bid process
- Summary
- Match ball
- Match officials
- Group stage
- Tiebreakers
- Knockout stage
- Awards
- Slogan and theme song
- Logo and identity
- Mascot
- References
Denmark won the 1992 championship. The team had qualified only after Yugoslavia was disqualified as a result of the breakup and warfare in the country. Eight national teams contested the finals tournament.
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.
Bid process
On 17 December 1988, Sweden was chosen over Spain to host the event, following a decision made by the UEFA Executive Committee. Spain was at a disadvantage as they had already been chosen to host the EXPO 1992 and the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.
Summary
Seven of the eight teams had to qualify for the final stage; Sweden qualified automatically as hosts of the event. 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), 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, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group's runner-up, Denmark, took part in the championship. 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. The shock was compounded when Denmark went on to defeat the reigning world champions Germany 2–0 to win the European title.
Match ball
Etrvsco Unico, a different version of the Adidas Etrusco Unico, was used as the official match ball of the tournament.
Match officials
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
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 match.
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
Awards
(3 goals each)
Slogan and theme song
Small is Beautiful was the official slogan of the contest. 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.