Regional tournaments for national teams existed before the advent of a truly pan-European
competition. Starting in 1883, the British Home Championship was an annual competition contested
between the United Kingdom’s four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
Until these national teams entered the FIFA World Cup in 1950, it was the most important
international tournament these nations competed in. Similarly, from 1927 until 1960 the Central
European International Cup was held six times. It brought together the national teams of Austria,
Hungary, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. The idea for a pan-European football
tournament was first proposed by the French Football Federation’s secretary-general Henri Delaunay
in 1927, but it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started, three years after Delaunay’s
death.[6]
In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him.[7]
The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four teams competing in the finals out of 17 that entered
the competition.[8] It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a tense final in
Paris.[9] Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the Soviet Union because of two
political protests.[10] Of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees
were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. (資料來源 )
The UEFA European Football Championship,[1] less formally the European Championship and
informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of
European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contested by UEFA members’ senior men’s
national teams, determining the continental champion of Europe.
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.[2] The competition has been held every four years since
1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, but
kept the name Euro 2020. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between FIFA World Cup
tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations’ Cup, changing to the current name in
1968. Since 1996, the individual events have been branded as “UEFA Euro [year]”. (資料來源 )