1980 European Nations Championships - Italy

Bigger and Better

The German national soccer team players pose before the start of their European Nations soccer championship final against Belgium, 22 June 1980 in Rome.(Top, from L: Ulrich Stielike, Harald Schumacher, Hans-Peter Briegel, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Karl-Heinz Förster, Horst Hrubesch; bottom, from L: Klaus Allofs, Bernd Schuster, Bernard Dietz, Manfred Kaltz, Hansi Muller)

Italy staged the tournament for the second time in 1980, the first edition that featured eight rather then four, finalists split into two first round groups.

There was a new name to go with the new format, the tournament now going by the name of the European Nations Championships instead of Cup.

Also officially added was the organising country's right to an automatic place in the last eight.

UEFA's objective in increasing the size of the finals was to add a new sporting and economic dimension to the tournament.

The tournament was staged in the cities of Turin, Milan, Rome and Naples. Unfortunately, attendances were something of a disaster with stadiums around one quarter full except for matches involving the host country.

In addition the mediocre quality of football played seemed to fly in the face of the very reasoning for revamping the competition in the first place.

The format was unsatisfactory too. With two groups of four teams, the first in each group qualified directly for the final, while the second in each group played a third place deciding match.

A bonanza for Belgium

Four years after its failure to dominate Czechoslovakia in the final, West Germany took its revenge by winning a new title with a largely renewed squad.

Germany were a memorablse side that year, featuring impressive players such as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bernd Schuster, Hans-Peter Briegel, Uli Stielike and Horst Hrubesch, known as "the giraffe" or the "bulldozer".

portrait of German forward Horst Hrubesch, taken 24 February 1982 in Frankfurt, selected to play for the West German national soccer team.

Jupp Derwall's side finished first in its group while Belgium, coached by Guy Thys surprised Italy, England and Spain by winning the other group.

The final in Rome's Olympic stadium proved to be Horst Hrubesch's big day. Kept out of the side at the beginning of the tournament by Klaus Allofs, who had scored all Germany's goals in a 3-2 win against Holland.

Hrubesch proved his worth by scoring both goals in their 2-1 win over Belgium to seal the nation's second continental title.

The match for third place was notable for an epic 9-8 penalty shoot out win for Czechoslovakia, who had drawn 1-1 against a disappointing Italy team.

Did you know? - 1980

A CLOSE WATCH

During their stay in Rome, the German team were the subject of close surveillance against the threat of terrorism, with ten armed policemen watching over them day and night. Each member of the entourage even had to be issued with a special pass to enter and leave the hotel. Likewise, special passes were also issued to the other clients of their hotel. Further security measures included a permanent armed guard in the elevator, with another standing on the floor of the players' corridor.

(FILES) Picture taken 14 October 1971 shows Hungarian-born Ladislao Kubala, who died 17 May 2002 at a hospital in Barcelona. Kubala, voted the greatest player in the history of FC Barcelona in 1999, the club's centenary year, made his debut for the club in 1950 after arriving in Spain with a Hungarian team. He went on to help Barca to four Primera Division titles, five Copa del Rey's and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumphs before retiring in the 1961/62 season. AFP PHOTO EPA PHOTO/EFE FILES

STROKE OF FATE

Laszlo Kubala, the Spanish national team coach in 1980, escaped a tragic destiny. In 1949, at the age of 22, he left Czechoslovakia to take refuge in Italy. Torino then proposed that he come and play a friendly match in Lisbon against Sporting. Kubala was just about to accept when he received a telegram from his wife saying : "Have managed to come to Vienna with our son. Come and get us." This actually saved Kubala's life as the entire Torino team perished in a plane crash on their return from Portugal.

ABSENCE

The day after their match against Czechoslovakia the German defender Manfred Kaltz was furious, although this had nothing to do with football. He had, in fact, just learned through a telephone call that his house in Hamburg had been broken into. He had to contact his wife Heike, on holiday in Rome, so that she could return to Hamburg and make a list of all stolen objects for insurance claims.

HOMMAGE

Before the start of the European championships the players from the Italian squad paid a visit to Ponderano cemetery in Lombardy to pay hommage to Vittorio Pozzo, who led the Italian team in 1934 and 1938 when they won their first World Cup trophies.

Portrait taken in 1981 of German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher who plays for the West German national soccer team.

ZEN ?

The German team goalkeeper Harald Schumacher was, it seemed, a big yoga fan. Before coming on to the field of play, he would adopt the lotus position for three minutes and close his eyes to concentrate on the task that lay before him. This gesture eventually proved insufficient, however : before half-time in the match against Holland, the West Germany assistant coach, Erich Ribbeck, was worried about Schumacher's excessive nervousness and had to rush behind the goal to reassure him and to tell him not to respond to the taunts of the Dutch players.

FEATHERWEIGHT

The most imposing journalist of the Euro-80 was a 120 kg Spaniard by the name of Jose-Maria Mujica, a former bullfighting critic who had turned to football and was working for a newspaper in Bilbao. His size presented him with a number of problems, especially when trying to dictate his copy by telephone, the telephone cabins in the stadium proving just a little too tight.