1992, Denmark

Sweden were chosen over Spain to host the 1992 European Championship as Spain had already been chosen to host the EXPO 1992 and the 1992 Summer Olympics. Again, the host nation got a default entry into the final stage while seven other teams had to qualify for it. The USSR qualified for the finals shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and thus took part in the event under the banner of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Yugoslavia too had qualified earlier but the Yugoslav wars led to their disqualification. Denmark were the lucky ones to enter the tournament at their expense. The result of the championship proved that miracles happen and that's what happened when the Danes defeated the Germans in the finals to go from lucky entrants to winners.

The official anthem of the tournament was "More Than a Game", performed by Towe Jaarnek and Peter Joback. 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, as it was around the time that it had started becoming a trend in club football across Europe.

It was France, Scotland, the CIS, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and England who reached the final round of the tournament to join hosts Sweden. Group A featured Sweden, Denmark, France and England while Group B had Netherlands, Germany, Scotland and CIS. Sweden and Denmark were the semi-finalists from Group A while Netherlands and Germany qualified from Group B.

Thomas Hassler's awesome free-kick set the stage for Germany to eliminate hosts Sweden in the EURO '92 semi-finals, as manager Berti Vogts proved their defeat by the Netherlands in the group stage was essentially a blip brought about by injuries. Karlheinz Riedle was brought down by Jan Eriksson leading to a freekick. Hassler converted the kick to bring joy to German fans. Riedle then scored a brace for the Germans while Tomas Brolin's penalty and Kennet Andersson's last ditch effort gave the scoreline some respectability at 3-2.

It was Peter Schmeichel who was the toast of the town in Denmark with success against the Dutch side in the semi-final. He denied Marco van Basten, the Dutch hero of the 1988 championships, in the penalty shootouts. That after keeping out Bryan Roy's effort in the extra time. Although the holders converted their other four penalties, Kim Christofte put away the fifth for Denmark. It was an amazing achievement for the "lucky" qualifiers.

The finals were almost meant to be the most amazing fairytale for the Danish side. The Germans made a strong start but a stoic performance from Peter Schmeichel denied them any clear cut opportunities. It was John Jensen who opened the scoring for Denmark against the run of play. It was just the second goal for Jensen in 48 internationals. Germany came straight back at the Danes, but Schmeichel denied Jurgen Klinsmann with a superb save at full stretch. Kim Vilfort then settled the issue in the 79th minute. It was a more fitting and touching end for Vilfort, who had twice left the Danish camp during the tournament and missed a group match too to visit his 7 year old ailing daughter suffering from leukaemia.