The European Football Championship Henri Delaunay Trophy

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European Champs Tournament

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the UEFA. more...

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Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations Cup, changing to the name European Football Championship in 1968. The tournament is considered the second-most important competition among national teams, based on European and worldwide fame, after the FIFA World Cup. Specific championships are often referred to in the form \"Euro 2008\" or whichever year is appropriate.

There is a UEFA Women's Championship inaugurated in 1984 and from 1997 held every four years, as well as a Men's Under-21 equivalent of the UEFA European Championship tournament, taking place every two years.

The competition

Before 1980, only four teams qualified for the final tournament. From 1980 eight teams competed and in 1996 the tournament expanded again to the current number of teams, 16. The competing teams are chosen by a series of qualifying games: in 1960 and 1964 through home and away play-offs; from 1968 through a combination of both qualifying groups and play-off games. The host country was selected from the four finalists after they were determined through qualifying.

Since the expansion of the final tournament starting from 1980, the host country, or countries, have been chosen beforehand and qualify automatically.

The defending champions have never been granted an automatic place in the finals.

Trophy

The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre Delaunay was the person in charge of making the trophy. Since the first tournament it has been awarded for the winning team to keep for four years, until the next tournament.

For the 2008 tournament, the trophy was slightly remodelled making the trophy larger, as well as minor cosmetic changes. The trophy was made 18 centimetres taller and two kilograms heavier. UEFA officials had stated that despite the prestige of the tournament, the old trophy was smaller that the ones awarded in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup.

History

European Nations Cup

In 1956, the groundwork for a European national team competition was laid. Two years later, in 1958, the first European Nations Cup began. The original format of the competition saw the early rounds played in home and away matches between the countries on a knockout basis. This continued until the semi-finals, where the remainder of the competition was played in the host country, chosen from the four semi-finalists.