From Yashin to Trezeguet

Dinamo Moscow's captain and goalkeeper Lev Yachine (L) stands next to English midfielder Bobby Charlton during the presentation of the players participating to the friendly match between Dinamo Moscow and FIFA's "Rest of the World" selection, 28 May 1971 in Moscow.

If one looks back at the history of the competition some of the greats who shone in it immediately spring to mind.

'The black spider' Lev Yashin in the Soviet Union net for instance or the German defender known as 'the Kaiser' Franz Beckenbauer. There are magical midfielders such as Michel Platini, Ruud Gullit and Zinedine Zidane, or strikers like Brian Laudrup, Jurgen Klinsmann and Marco van Basten.

A mouth-watering selection of the influential players who have engraved their names, as winners, into the European championships' history books.

A competition which, after it was last staged in 2000, gave France a second win at the first edition to be jointly hosted by two nations, Belgium and the Netherlands.

France having won the World Cup in 1998, became the second nation to hold the European Championships at the same time as the World Cup (West Germany won the Euro in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974), largely thanks to their talismanic playmaker Zinedine Zidane.

Golden goals bring silverware

Germany became the first national team to win a third continental title (1972, 1980, 1996), beating the Czech Republic 2-1 at Euro 96 on the hallowed turf of Wembley.

That had been a long time in coming. Four years earlier last minute guests Denmark, led by the younger of the celebrated Laudrup brothers Brian, beat Germany 2-0 in the final of Euro-92 in Sweden.

Germany's Oliver Bierhoff scores the second goal for his team in the European Nations soccer final against the Czech Republic at London's Wembley stadium 30 June 1996. Bierhoff's first-ever golden goal in international competition gave Germany a 2-1 victory in extra time.

French forward David Trezeguet celebrates after scoring the winning golden goal in extra-time during the Euro-2000 soccer final between France and Italy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 02 July 2000. France beat Italy 2-1. EPA PHOTO EPA/TOUSSAINT KLUITERS (ELECTRONIC IMAGE)

Germany's 1996 win came virtue of the new "golden goal" rule, scored by Oliver Bierhoff in extra-time. A ruling also put to devastating effect by David Trezeguet at Euro 2000, as he blasted the French past a stubborn Italy.

The competition was created by the European Union of Football Associations (UEFA) in 1960 and was initially called the European Nations Cup before being re-labelled the European championship and eventually the "Euro".

Picture of the European trophy and the logo of the competition after the draw ceremony of the Euro 2004 football Championship final, 30 November 2003 in Lisbon.The continental competition will be hosted by Portugal from 12 June to 05 July 2004. AFP PHOTO LLUIS GENE

As in 2000 Euro 2004 will bring together 16 national teams for the final phase of the tournament: fifteen of whom won their passport to the European showpiece through the various preliminary stage groups and play-offs, the remaining place being allocated to hosts Portugal.

One surprise will be the appearance of Latvia who will make their debut in the tournament after defeating Turkey in the play-offs.

Before we get stuck in on Euro 2004, let's have a brief look into the colourful history of the competition....