1964, Spain

The 1964 European Nation's Cup final tournament was held in Spain and the eventual winners too were the hosts. They defeated defending champions, USSR, 2-1 in the finals.

Luxembourg proved to be the giant-killers of the qualifying rounds; they beat the Netherlands 3-2 on aggregate (1-1 and 2-1), and then drew with Denmark 3-3 and 2-2, before losing the replay 1-0. Denmark were the surprise package and joined USSR, Spain and Hungary in the semi-finals.

In the pre-quarters, Spain defeated Northern Ireland 2-1 on aggregate while USSR had a 3-1 victory over Italy.

In the quarter-finals, Spain had an easy time over the Republic of Ireland, defeating them 7-1 on aggregate and thus looking ominous for the business end of the championships. USSR too had it easy over Sweden with a 4-2 victory on aggregate.

The semi-finals saw Spain pitted against Hungary and USSR taking on the surprise package Denmark. Although the Soviet Union side had it easy with a 3-0 romp, Spain had to struggle against a spirited Hungary side. Spain eventually had it their way in the extra-time, edging out Hungary 2-1.

Spain were on home soil and against a side whom they had refused to play during the 1960 championships. In front of a boisterous Santiago Bernabeu crowd which included President Franco, the hosts went up early through Jesus Maria Pereda. The USSR came back on level terms when Galimzyan Khusainov scored. The USSR rearguard held out pretty well, but the absence of defensive midfielder, Alexei Korneev, eventually hurt them. The winner came when Luis Suarez sent another pass out to the right, Pereda crossed, and Marcelino's superb stooping header went low inside the near post. Even the great Lev Yashin, still superb at 34, was left just as a spectator. The Bernabeu erupted.