1976, Czechoslovakia

1976 was the first and only time that all four matches in the final tournament were decided after extra time, either on penalties or by goals scored. Czech player Antonin Panenka gained fame for innovating the "Panenka penalty", now commonly known as the chip shot in the tournament's final against West Germany.

The round-robin format saw Czechoslovakia, Wales, Yugoslavia, Spain, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Belgium and West Germany qualify for the knock-out stages. The final tournament was held in Yugoslavia.

In the quarter-finals, Czechoslovakia outclassed Soviet Union over the two legs. Yugoslavia defeated Wales while West Germany overpowered Spain to reach the semi-finals. It was Netherlands who looked ominous though, as they thrashed a hapless Belgium 7-1 over their two legs. The semi-finals were held between Netherlands-Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia-West Germany.

Yugoslavia were on the brink of a final berth as they led 2-1, eight minutes from time, when West Germany coach Helmut Schon made one of the most inspired substitutions of all time. He replaced Herbert Wimmer with Dieter Muller and the debutant wasted no time in announcing his arrival. First he scored the equaliser. Then, in extra time, he scored another couple of scorchers to complete his hat-trick as well as take West Germany to the showpiece match. It was a bit harsh on Yugoslavia who were simply superb in the first half but that's how the game goes sometimes.

The second semi was a showdown between the Czechs and the Dutch. For all their reputation as a team of many talents, the Dutch, orchestrated by the marvellous Johan Cruyff, were never shy of showing their teeth in the field of play. Against holders Brazil in the World Cup, for example, they had shown a gritty edge. Here, however, reduced to nine men following the dismissals of Johan Neeskens and Wim van Hanegem, they eventually ran out of steam. Czech captain Anton Ondrus gave his team an early lead only to equalise for the Dutch team with an own goal in the 77th minute. Netherlands held on to take the match into extra time. Zdenek Nehoda and Frantisek Vesely scored a goal each in the extra time to take the Czechs into the finals.

When they had left for the European Championships nobody expected the Czechs to achieve any success there. Yet the fact is that the Czechs had a really strong team; the composition of the team was outstanding, made up of outstanding individuals. West Germany showed their fighting capabilities and resilience yet again as in the semis. They came back from a two goal deficit to level terms through Dieter Muller and Bernd Holzenbein. But first half strikes by Jan Švehlik and Karol Dobiaš would eventually not go in vain for the Czech side as the match went into penalties. After Hoeness skied West Germany's fourth attempt it was up to Panenka to win the match for Czechoslovakia, and he did so in audacious fashion, achieving immortality by waiting for Maier to dive before chipping down the middle. "If it were patentable, I'd have it patented," he joked later.