UEFA Euro 2000

The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Football Championship, which is held every four years and organised by UEFA, association football's governing body in Europe.

The finals of Euro 2000 were co-hosted (the first time this happened) by Belgium and the Netherlands, between 10 June and 2 July 2000. Spain and Austria also bid to host the event. The final tournament was contested by 16 nations. With the exception of the national teams of the hosts, Belgium and the Netherlands, the finalists had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. France won the tournament, by defeating Italy 2–1 in the final, via a golden goal.

The finals saw the first major UEFA competition contested in the King Baudouin Stadium (formerly the Heysel Stadium) since the events of the 1985 European Cup Final and the Heysel Stadium disaster, with the opening game being played in the rebuilt stadium.

Summary

One of the biggest surprises of the tournament was Portugal, winning Group A with three wins, including a 3–0 win against Germany, with Sérgio Conceição scoring a hat-trick, and a 3–2 win over England, in which they came back from 2–0 down. Romania was the other qualifier from the group, beating England with a late penalty in their last group game.

UEFA Euro 2000 squads

Below are the squads for the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands, that took place between 10 June and 2 July 2000. The players' listed age is their age on the tournament's opening day (10 June 2000).

Group A

England

Head coach: Kevin Keegan

Germany

Head coach: Erich Ribbeck

Portugal

Head coach: Humberto Coelho

Romania

Head coach: Emerich Jenei

Group B

Belgium

Head coach: Robert Waseige

Italy

Italy named an initial 26-man squad for the tournament on 18 May 2000. Midfielders Dino Baggio and Diego Fuser, and defender Giuseppe Pancaro did not make the cut for the final 22, while forward Christian Vieri was ruled out through injury. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was originally named in the final 22, but suffered a broken hand in a warm-up friendly against Norway on 3 June 2000; he was replaced in the squad by Milan's Christian Abbiati.

Head coach: Dino Zoff

Sweden

Head coaches: Lars Lagerbäck and Tommy Söderberg

Turkey

Head coach: Mustafa Denizli

Group C

Norway

Head coach: Nils Johan Semb

UEFA European Championship video games

The UEFA European Football Championship has its own video games licensed from European football's governing body, UEFA. Seven games have been released so far, with the first game released in 1988. Originally held by Gremlin Interactive, it was then held by Electronic Arts from Euro 2000 till Euro 2012. Konami have the rights for Euro 2016.

UEFA Euro 1988

Euro'88, by Gremlin Interactive was the first game to replicate the European Football Championship, including only the 8 teams present in the final stage with accurate rosters and stadiums.

UEFA Euro 1992

Euro'92, by Gremlin Interactive was the second game to replicate the European Football Championship, including only the 9 teams (with Yugoslavia) present in the final stage with accurate rosters and stadiums.

UEFA Euro 1996

Euro'96, by Gremlin Interactive was the third game to replicate the European Football Championship, and using all the hype behind the Football is coming home campaigns, the Sheffield company modified some parts in their Actua Soccer title, including the 16 teams present in the final stage with accurate rosters and stadiums, as well as Euro 96 mode, Exhibition Match, Practice Penalties, and Practice game.