UEFA Euro 1972

The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972.

At the time, only four countries could play the final tournament which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third place match.

The hosts were only announced after the qualifying round, which meant all teams had to participate in the qualification process for the final stage. Belgium was chosen among three candidates; the other bids came from England and Italy, whose teams did not reach the semi-finals.

West Germany won the tournament, beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller (twice) and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.

Qualifying round
The qualifying round was played throughout 1970 and 1971 (group phase), and 1972 (quarter-finals). There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament.

The following teams participated in the final tournament (see also UEFA Euro 1972 squads):


 * 🇧🇪 belgium (first appearance)
 * 🇭🇺 hungary
 * (first appearance)
 * (first appearance)

Final tournament
All time are CET/UTC+1

Statistics

 * Fastest goal: 24 minutes
 * Raoul Lambert (Belgium vs Hungary)
 * Gerd Müller (West Germany vs Belgium)

Goalscorers
With four goals, Gerd Müller is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 10 goals were scored by 7 different players in 4 matches, for an average of 2.5 goals per game. None of the goals is credited as own goal.


 * 4 goals
 * Gerd Müller
 * 1 goal
 * Herbert Wimmer
 * Anatoli Konkov
 * 🇧🇪 Raoul Lambert
 * 🇧🇪 Odilon Polleunis
 * 🇧🇪 Paul Van Himst
 * 🇭🇺 Lajos Kű

Awards

 * UEFA Team of the Tournament