1960 European football championships

The European Championships was endorsed by UEFA in the year 1960, and was then named the European Nations cup. The UEFA secretary Henri Delaunay had long been an advocate of such an event taking place.
The 1960 European championships were structured as a knockout competition, where sixteen teams featured in the tournament. All the teams were to play both home and away ties until the stage of the semi-finals. The remaining sides that were left in the European championships would play along with the hosts France.
Spain withdraw earlier on in the tournament, and the remaining nations left to battle it out were; Czechoslovakia, USSR, Yugoslavia and the host nation France.
The opening semi – final match witnessed USSR convincingly beating Czechoslovakia 3- 0 in a match played at Marseille. The other tie was a nine goal thriller, which was arguably one of the greatest matches of the European Championships of all time, Yugoslavia came out on top against France with the score line resulting 5- 4.
The 1960 European championship final was between Yugoslavia and USSR; Yugoslavia took the lead however the Soviet Union levelled the score in the 49th minute.
The match remained 1-1 and it was to go to extra time, with seven minutes remaining, Viktor Ponedelnik scored to hand the Soviets with the European championship.
The Soviet Union was led by their great goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who produced many stunning saves in the tournament and he was the key for the Soviet Union in the European Championships.
The third place playoff final between the hosts France and Czechoslovakia ended in a 2- 0 Czech victory.