UEFA European Championship
Overview
The UEFA European Championship is UEFA’s senior men’s national-team championship. The competition began as the European Nations’ Cup, with qualifying starting in 1958 and the first final tournament held in France in 1960.
Key facts
- Format
- Continental national-team championship
- Country/region
- Europe
- Founded
- 1958
History
Henri Delaunay was one of the central advocates of a European competition for national teams. After UEFA was founded in 1954, the project moved forward and the first European Nations’ Cup began in 1958. Seventeen associations entered the inaugural competition, whose four-team final stage took place in France in 1960. UEFA later renamed the tournament the European Football Championship and expanded the final tournament over successive eras. The Henri Delaunay Cup remained the trophy awarded to the champions. Footballopedia treats EURO as a major national-team graph connecting qualifying campaigns, final tournaments, champions, players, managers, venues and landmark matches.