1984, France

The seventh European Football Championship was held in 1984. Eight teams participated in the final event which included 7 qualifiers and the hosts, France, led by Michel Platini. The official mascot of this European Championship was Peno, a rooster, representing the emblem of the host nation. It had the number 84 on the left side of its chest and its outfit was the same as the French national team - blue shirt, white shorts and red socks.

The group stages witnessed some tight finishes, some disappointments and some surprises. Portugal got the better of USSR winning 1-0. Romania qualified at the expense of 1976 champions Czechoslovakia. Italy were the shock exiters as their 1982 World Cup heroes retired and left them with a big hole to fill. Denmark was another surprise package, going through at the expense of England. In Group 7, The Netherlands thought they had done enough to qualify, given that their closest rivals Spain went into the very last match needing to beat Malta by eleven goals in order to qualify. And when Spain went in at half-time in Seville leading the Maltese minnows by a margin of only 3-1, the Dutch could have been forgiven for assuming they were safely home. Spain, incredibly, then proceeded to score nine more goals in the second half, the last of them coming in the 86th minute from Juan Señor, to book an unlikely passage to the finals.

Thus Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, West Germany, Yugoslavia and Romania joined the hosts France at the knock-out stage.

The Les Bleus secured fourth place in the 1982 World Cup and were the favourites to win the European Championship. The surprise finalists of Euro 1980, Belgium, dark horses Denmark and the ever consistent yet undeachievers Yugoslavia were France's group rivals.

In the Group B teams - West Germany was the favoured one and quite obviously so as they were the defending European champions and World Cup runners-up from two years ago. Romania, despite having overcome Italy and Czechoslovakia, were an unknown commodity. Spain were given an outside chance while Portugal were not tipped to win the event as this was their first entry into the final round of a major tournament.

The outcome though was completely topsy turvy as Spain, Denmark, Portugal and France reached the semis. Spain had to face Denmark and France took on Portugal. What transpired was one of the greatest ever matches at the Euro.

Jean-François Domergue opened the scoring for France but Portugal equalised through Rui Jordao on 74 minutes. Jordao scored again in the 98th minute to shock the French. That is when the French rallied and scored again through Domergue 16 minutes from time. Platini then fired in his eighth goal of the competition to hand France a fabulous victory. Spain and Denmark played a well fought out draw in the full time and the game was then forced to penalties. Spain converted all of theirs to complete a 5-4 victory over the Danes.

The final, played at the Parc des Princes, France, was touted to be a close one but a mistake by Spanish goalie Luis Arconada while saving a freekick from Platini gave the advantage to the hosts. Arconada had been resilient and brilliant in the tournament till then. Bruno Ballone's late winner confirmed that the match would not go past full time.