European Championship History - 1964 Spain

The 1964 UEFA European Nations Cup was the second European Football Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over defending champions Soviet Union.

The tournament was a knockout competition; 29 teams entered (Greece withdrew after being drawn with Albania). The Soviet Union, Austria, and Luxembourg received byes into the second round. The teams played home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.

Qualifying

The tournament was a knockout competition; 29 teams entered (Greece withdrew after being drawn with Albania). The Soviet Union, Austria, and Luxembourg received byes into the second round. The teams played home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.

Luxembourg proved to be the giant-killers of the qualifying rounds; they beat the Netherlands 3–2 on aggregate (1–1 and 2–1), and then drew with Denmark 3–3 and 2–2, before losing the replay 1–0. Denmark thus became the most surprising of the qualifiers for the final tournament, joining the Soviet Union, Spain, and Hungary.

The Final

The hosts against the reigning champions and this time Franco could not play politics as he had done four year earlier, refusing to allow the Spanish side to travel to Russia.

Pereda opened the scoring just six minutes into the game with a powerful header which left Yashin, in the Russian goal, with no chance. The Soviets quickly equalised with another headed goal from Khusainov just two minutes later. The game remained a stalemate throughout the first half and much of the second until the deadlock was finally broken by Martínez in the 84th minute.

Victory for the hosts but they would need to wait Euro 2008 before they would win another major international tournament.