UEFA European Football Championship

Euro 2024 and beyond

I had published a quiz on the AFC Asian Cup football tournament earlier this year here and it’s now Europe’s turn as Euro 2024 is in its knockout phase.

Questions:

1) He led his team to victory in the inaugural edition of what was initially known as the European Nations' Cup in 1960. He is the only goalkeeper to be awarded the Ballon d'Or till date. Who and which country?

2) The coaches of five of the 24 teams at Euro 2024 are from one country. Which country? (it’s beaten the Netherlands’ mark of three coaches out of 16 teams at Euro 2008)

3) Who controversially commented on the French football team during Euro 1996 that it was “artificial to bring players from abroad and call them the French team”? The racial fault lines highlighted in the remarks continue to this day.

4) Something happened for the first time at an international title contest in football at the 1976 European Championship Final. What?

5) The winning shot in the 1976 final marked the birth of a new scoring tactic. The method is named after the scorer from Czechoslovakia, Antonin ————. Lionel Messi tried this tactic in the ongoing Copa America against Ecuador but missed. What is the tactic named after the player from Czechoslovakia known as?

6) Euro 1996 was the first major international tournament whose final was decided by a new format, which was since abandoned. Which format? (Hint: goal by Oliver Bierhoff)

7) Which country made it to the Euros for the first time in 2024?

8) Who scored his first international goal in Euro 2004 against Greece? His team lost that game 2-1 and Greece went on to become the surprise winner of the tournament.

9) Which country hosted Euro 2012 along with Poland?

10) Why did Russia object to Ukraine’s football kit for Euro 2020?

11) Greece had demanded that another country replace its jersey for Euro 2020, arguing that it violated the terms of a treaty with Athens. UEFA rejected Greece’s contention. Which country? (the 2020 edition marked its first European Championship appearance)

12) Country X found a place in a European Championship in the 1990s only because country Y, which had qualified was thrown out even as war was breaking it up. X went on to win the tournament in a major surprise. Name X and Y.

13) He led his country to its first major football trophy at the Euros in the 1980s. He scored nine goals including two hat-tricks (at least one goal in all five games). Who and which country? (Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed him in the total number of goals scored at the Euros in the 2020 edition, but the Portuguese star needed five Euros to reach that mark)

14) Who scored two goals to set up Italy’s victory over Germany in the Euro 2012 semifinals?

15) Football players George ——- and Herman ———-left what was then a South American colony of a European power on the same ship in 1957. They settled as immigrants in the colonising country. Their sons were key to this European country’s first major football triumph at the Euros. One of them was the team captain. Name the two players, the European country, and the South American country of the players’ heritage.

16) In March 2024 the German football team announced it was ending a long-standing sponsorship deal dating back to the 1950s. It is switching to a rival company from 2027 and Euro 2024 will be the last European Championship with the outgoing sponsor. (hint: the outgoing sponsor’s product had an important role in Germany’s surprise win in the 1954 World Cup final). Name the two companies involved.

17) This Euro 2024 participant’s away kit is inspired by a widely-known comic strip character. (The author of the cartoon series is from the country). Name the country and the comic strip.

18) This country played its ‘home’ games of the Euro 2024 qualifiers in Hungary. It crashed out of the qualifiers with a 4-1 loss to Iceland in Budapest. Iceland’s Norwegian coach said before the match that he was hesitant to play against this country. Which country?

Below are the quizzes I posted during the 2022 World Cup.