The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contested by UEFA members' senior men's national teams, determining the continental champion of Europe. It is the second-most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup. The Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The competition has been held every four years since 1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, but kept the name Euro 2020. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup before changing to its current name in 1968. Since 1996, the individual events have been branded as "UEFA Euro [year]".
The Slovakia national football team represents Slovakia in men's international football competition and it is governed by the Slovak Football Association (SFZ), the governing body for football in Slovakia. Slovakia's home stadium from 2019 is the reconstructed Tehelné pole in Bratislava. Slovakia is one of the newest national football teams in the world, having split from the Czechoslovakia national team after the dissolution of the unified state in 1993. Slovakia maintains its own national side that competes in all major tournaments since.
The Slovak Football Association is the governing body of football in Slovakia. It has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Slovakia and is the body that runs the Slovakia national football and futsal teams.
The Czechoslovakia national football team represented Czechoslovakia in men's international football from 1919 to 1993. The team was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association, and the team qualified for eight World Cups and three European Championships. It had two runner-up finishes in World Cups, in 1934 and 1962, and won the European Championship in the 1976 tournament.
Antonín Panenka is a Czech retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent most of his career representing Czechoslovak club Bohemians Prague. Panenka won UEFA Euro 1976 with the national team of Czechoslovakia. In the final against West Germany, he notably scored the winning penalty in the shootout with a softly-chipped ball up the middle of the goal as the goalkeeper dove away; a style of penalty now known as a panenka, named after him. In 1980, he won Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year and his team finished third at Euro 1980.
Ivo Viktor is a Czech former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Czechoslovakia, representing his country on 63 occasions between 1966 and 1977, taking part in the 1970 FIFA World Cup and winning the 1976 European Championship. Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation in Europe in his prime, he placed third in the 1976 Ballon d'Or, and was a five-time winner of the Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year award, and a two-time winner of the European Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Ladislav Jurkemik is a former Slovak football player and later a football manager. He played in the Czechoslovak First League for Inter Bratislava and Dukla Banská Bystrica. Jurkemik played internationally for Czechoslovakia; he played a total of 57 matches and scored 3 goals. He managed Slovakia in 2002 and 2003.
Dušan Galis is a Slovak politician and a former football player and manager. In the Czechoslovak league he played 226 matches, scoring 89 goals. He was capped eight times for Czechoslovakia national team, scoring one goal. He was a participant at the 1976 European Football Championship where he became European Champion with his national team
JUDr. Ján Pivarník is a former Slovak football player and later a football manager. He played for Czechoslovakia, for which he played 39 matches.
This article discusses the structure of football leagues in the Czech Republic. These leagues are organised by The Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR). Football is the most popular sport in the Czech Republic.
Jozef Móder is a former Slovak football midfielder and later coach. He is a member of the Czechoslovakia winning team at the UEFA Euro 1976. He was known as corner kick specialist.
Václav Ježek was a Czech football manager. Ježek is best known for being the serial manager at Sparta Prague, one of the Czech Republic's most successful clubs, as well as helming the Czechoslovakia national football team to the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship triumph, the country's sole international title.
The UEFA Euro 1976 final was the final match of Euro 1976, the fifth edition of the European Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. Contested by Czechoslovakia and West Germany, the match was played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on 20 June 1976. En route to the final, Czechoslovakia finished top of their qualifying group, which included England, Cyprus and Portugal. After beating the Soviet Union 4–2 on aggregate over a two-legged tie in the quarter-finals, they progressed to the final after defeating the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the semi-final. West Germany won their qualifying group, which included Greece, Malta and Bulgaria, before beating Spain 3–1 on aggregate in the two-legged quarter-final and tournament hosts Yugoslavia 4–2 after extra time in the single-match semi-final.
Slovakia has participated in international football as an independent nation ever since 1993 when Czechoslovakia was divided into two new states. Slovakia qualified to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2010, where the side upset perennial power Italy and lost in the Round of 16. Since independence, they qualified for the UEFA European Championship for their first time in 2016. Football is the most popular sport in the Slovak Republic.
In association football, the panenka is a technique used while taking a penalty kick in which the taker, instead of kicking the ball to the left or right of the goalkeeper, gives a light touch underneath the ball, causing it to rise and fall within the centre of the goal, deceiving the goalkeeper who most likely will have committed to a dive away from the centre.
A chip, also known as a lob, is a shot in which the ball is kicked from underneath with accuracy but with less than maximum force, to launch it high into the air in order either to pass it over the heads of opponents or to score a goal over the goalkeeper. Chip shots usually have backspin, otherwise they are usually considered a lob.
The final tournament of UEFA Euro 1976 was a single-elimination tournament involving the four teams that qualified from the quarter-finals. There were two rounds of matches: a semi-final stage leading to the final to decide the champions. The final tournament began with the semi-finals on 16 June and ended with the final on 20 June at the Stadion Crvena zvezda in Belgrade. Czechoslovakia won the tournament with a 5–3 penalty shoot-out victory over West Germany.
The Czechoslovakia junior football team was the under-16 and under-17 football team of Czechoslovakia. It was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association.
