Pure Football Joy – European Championship

“Oh, you beauty! What a hit, son! What a hit!”

It’s been years since sports broadcasting began and still, to this day the storytelling, commentary on football events like the European Championship gives us goosebumps. Although listening to a game of footie won’t provide the same visual details as visiting a live game, the impeccable descriptions and play-by-play insight of the games by the presenters allow any listener to transfer themselves onto the field.

Therefore, we have brought you a selection of the most notable EURO moments tackling the game one (historical) moment at the time.

The history of sports broadcasting begins way back in the 1920s. Where it really began depends on the sport you are talking about. 

As early as 1925, Bernhard Ernst spoke the first live commentary to a football match on the radio. The first international football match fully broadcasted was on the 18th of April 1926. Sportscast on the radio has since come a long way. For example, radiostations like talkSport and Sportradio Deutschland fully dedicate their program to the coverage of sports events.

But what would any sport be with the memories attached to it? Many fans of the game can recall where they have been at the moment, that their favourite team scored. So we have here a selection of some of the most memorable moments in European Championship history.

1960: The First Euro Games

During the then-called European Nations’ Cup, the first of its kind, with seventeen teams competing for the title, the Soviet Union beat out runners-up Yugoslavia for the championship. Viktor Ponedelnik scored the winning goal in extra time, with only seven minutes to spare.

1968: A Coin Toss for Italy

In the journey to the final, Italy had to beat the Soviet Union in the semi-finals. This was a time before penalty shoot-outs, therefore, after 120 minutes without a goal for either Italy or the Soviet Union, a tight game was decided by none other than the toss of a coin. Could you imagine?

1976: The Birth of the Panenka Penalty Kick

Czechoslovakia took home the trophy over West Germany, following a penalty shoot-out where attacking midfielder Antonín Panenka, subtly chipped the ball right down the middle, as German goalkeeper Sepp Maier went left. Though it was a risky choice, to say the least, the move paid off, giving rise to the now-famous Panenka technique.

1988: Marco van Basten’s Voll

When the Netherlands took home their first Euro win in 1988, no one could stop talking about the seemingly impossible goal made by striker Marco van Basten in the final against the Soviet Union. It happened fifty-four minutes into the game when Arnold Muhren floated the ball from the left. A twenty-three-year-old van Basten went to meet it at an incredibly tight angle and the ball soared over the Soviet goalkeeper Rinat Dasayev.

1992: A Landmark for Denmark

Denmark didn’t originally qualify for the final stage of the competition in 1992, and they wouldn’t have made it had group winners Yugoslavia not been disqualified amid civil war and unrest. With little over a week before the event, the Danish team was given notice they would be going to Sweden. Despite the odds, Denmark made it to the final after goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel held a penalty shot from Marco Van Basten. In the finals, the danish team defeated ruling world champion Germany and won the trophy in a since dubbed “fairy-tale win.”

1996: The Golden Goal

The 1996 final between Germany and the Czech Republic was decided when twenty-eight-year-old striker Oliver Bierhoff secured a 95th-minute “Golden Goal.” Bierhoff hadn’t initially made it to the starting line-up for the final, but the wife of German coach Berti Vogts urged him to bring Bierhoff with him to England, reportedly promising: “He will repay you.” It was his second goal in twenty-two minutes.

2004: A Victory for Greece

“The target at the start was to win a game. Just one game”, midfielder Vasilis Tsiartas would later tell in interviews. Needless to say, they did that and more by beating out host team Portugal in 2004 final in Lisbon.

Are you still looking for the right soundtrack to get pumped up for a game of footie? We created a playlist with the greatest (on our opinion) songs to dribble your new football to.