1996: Football comes home

As a result of the break up of many of the old Eastern European countries, 48 teams entered the 1996 UEFA European Championship - EURO '96™ - and it was decided to change the format to reflect the increased entries.

Larger competition
This time, 16 teams travelled to the finals in England to play each other in four groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing. In the first quarter-final, England triumphed over Spain on penalties and France prevailed over the Netherlands in similar fashion. Germany defeated Croatia 2-1 and in the last quarter-final, the Czech Republic beat Portugal 1-0. In the semi-finals, Germany overcame England on penalties and the Czech Republic defeated France in similar fashion.

German treble
The Czechs took the lead in the final after an hour through a Patrik Berger penalty. Germany brought on Oliver Bierhoff, and within minutes he had headed the equaliser. The game went to extra time and - for the first time in history - was settled by a Golden Goal when Bierhoff scored the winner, ending the game and winning the Henri Delaunay Trophy for Germany once more.