the euros is one of the biggest sporting events in the entire world and the tournament has come a long way from looking like this to now having electronic balls that look like this but how did we get here well it all started back in 1958 when enri Delon who was the Secretary General for UA saw the success of international competitions like the World Cup and called for a European Championship to try to emulate that success at the time there were a couple of small European tournaments that took place one between the British Nations and some between couple of the central European nations but HRI wanted to unite Europe with one competition and that's how the idea of the heroes was born now unfortunately hre Delon didn't live to see the birth of the tournament and witness the Behemoth of a competition that it would grow into because he passed away before the first tournament began but thanks to his contributions the trophy was named in his honor as the first tournament was set to kickoff in 1960 over in France the final tournament was only comprised of four nations France czechoslovak Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union but the qualification stages were in a knockout format so it was like an extended tournament that qualifying knockout ended in May of 1960 and then on the 6th of July the first edition of the Euros kicked off after a single knockout round the final took place between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia where the Soviet Union won 2 to one thanks to an extra time goal from Victor ponedelnik and the goalkeeping heroics of Lev yashi now since the early tournaments only had four teams taking part there were obviously fewer games and less to talk about But as time goes on this changes drastically because we're going to talk about the greatest Underdog Story in international history the football player who collapsed and almost died on the pitch and we're even going to talk about the future of the competition because the new technology is going to be changing football forever but before we get to all that the 1964 tournament was hosted in Spain and had a lot of political tension because Greece was drawn against Albania who they were at war with at the time so they pulled out of the competition this time round there were more countries interested in taking part as 29 teams entered the qualification stages but still only four qualified the final took place between Spain and the Soviet Union and on home soil Spain beat them two goals to one thanks to a late header from marcelin Martinez in front of 80,000 fans at the barau stadium which to this day Remains the highest attendance for a final match this Spanish victory was inspired by the great Lis Suarez which would be their only International victory for over 40 years until they would eventually come back to completely take over the Euros but anyway the 1968 tournament was hosted in Italy and yet again the hosts won the cup as Italy beat out Yugoslavia in a replay of the final the first final finished 1-1 and penalty shootouts weren't a thing back then so the final was replayed where Italy won 2-0 but in the semi-finals of this tournament something never seen before happened the game between Italy and the Soviet Union finished nil nil and this was actually decided by a coin toss thankfully Italian Captain Fetti called the coin toss correctly which is how they progressed to the final damn that's an awful way to lose a game of this magnitude and thankfully that's not a rule used nowadays this tournament was also the lowest scoring tournament ever with only 1.4 goals scored per match but in 1972 European football was going to change forever because it was the first time Germany qualified for the euros and they were about to start an era of domination making the final three tournaments in a row this tournament was hosted in Belgium but they couldn't get the hosting fortunes that we see so often because the final was between West Germany and the Soviet Union where the Germans put three goals past them to comfortably lift the trophy this German team was comprised of Legends such as Garett mu and France beckenbauer who helped make German an Unstoppable sign but just 4 years later the Unstoppable Germans were in fact stopped because after just 25 minutes in the final against Czechoslovakia Germany found themselves two goals down they managed to claw the game back to two all with an 89 minute equalizer to send the game to extra time and eventually to a penalty shootout after seven penalties without a Miss Germany finally slipped up meaning that Czechoslovakian Antonin panenka had all the pressure on drawn him to bring International glory to his country panenka oh it's genius and just like that he scored one of the most iconic goals in football history this moment was so iconic that the style of penalty was named after him now being known as the panenka penalty that's one way to leave a legacy but that's not the only Legacy created in this tournament because there are a lot more legacies left to be made and things are about to get really crazy because as of 1980 the tournament was expanded to eight teams meaning more games more goals and more drama but very quickly before I get to that please subscribe I want top bins to be the biggest football channel on all of YouTube and I can't do it without you guys so thank you okay now 1980 was hosted in Italy and Germany we're back with a vengeance with the introduction of four more teams it meant that for the first time in the Euros we saw group stages taking place where the eight teams were split into two groups of four and then the winners from each group went on to play in the final this final was between Belgium and Germany and for the second time in three tournaments Germany lifted the Trophy winning the game 2 to1 with an 88 minute winner from the German number nine hor trubish the top score of this tournament was German player Klaus Olof with three goals in four matches but this tally was nothing compared to what the world was going to witness 4 years later because Michelle plattin scored a whopping nine goals through out the tournament which is a record that still stands today 1984 was a crazy tournament thanks to the Brilliance of Michelle platini but I think there's a certain game in the qualifying stages that needs highlighting first because it has controversy written all over it you see Spain had a poor qualifying campaign for this euros and with one qualifier game left they weren't looking like they were going to make it to the tournament their last game was against Malta and they needed to win by 11 goals to qualify this was practically impossible because Malta had never lost by 11 goals in their nation's history after the first half was played Spain LED three goals to one meaning they would have to score eight goals and not concede in 45 minutes to qualify and this still seemed impossible but when the two nations came out from the halftime dressing room everything changed as Spain scored eight goals in the second half to qualify nobody knows what went on in these dressing rooms at halftime but many believe that Malta was paid to let in the eight goals whilst the maltes claimed that they were given fruit that had gone bad making them feel sick and they also claimed that the Spanish were using performance-enhancing drugs as one malti player says he saw the Spanish players foaming at the mouth what happened in those second 45 minutes will remain a mystery but what is for sure is that there was some shady play going on but anyway on to the actual tournament the format changed slightly as the third place playoff match was removed and now the top two of each group went to the semi-finals and then to the final this final came between France and Spain where France won the game two goals to nil with a goal for Michelle platini to make it his ninth of the tournament this meant he scored nine goals in five games and even with the extension of the tournament in the future nobody has been able to get close to this record but four years later the tournament was hosted in West Germany and this time the Netherlands made it to the final and faced off against the Soviet Union on the road to the finals Netherlands had to defeat the hosts West Germany and this was the first time they had beaten them in over 30 years so they took this momentum straight into the final as they defeated the Soviet Union 2-n there was a clear standout performer in this tournament who was the Dutch Striker Marco van Baston and something about these great players is that they show up in the big moments and that's exactly what van Baston did by scoring probably the best goal of his entire career in the final that was just a power perfect hit but he wasn't the only star in this Dutch team because they really had a golden era on their hands with players like Frank Reichard Ronald colan and rulet all being at the Forefront of the Dutch domination but 4 years later in Euro 92 this Dutch super team would be stopped by The Underdogs who managed to win the tournament and this was the first of two great Euros Underdog stories but we'll get to the second one soon for now let's talk about Denmark because they managed to scrape through a group that that included England France and the hosts Sweden then thanks to the heroics of the great goalkeeper Peter schmeichel they managed to win against the Netherlands on penalties to make their way to the final where they fac the now unified Germany who they defeated 2N what made this Victory so spectacular was that only 6 years before this Denmark didn't even have a professional football club in the entire country not to mention the political discussions going on as they refused to join the European Union but all this put together birthed a beautiful quote saying if you can't join them beat them but now the year is 1996 and the Euros have just expanded to 16 teams meaning things are about to get a lot more fun and to kick this new era off Euro 96 was hosted in England which led the English to believe football was coming home especially with the legendary Paul gascoin on the pitch but a semi-final penalty shootout lost to Germany Med football did not come home and this wasn't the only time English Hearts would get shattered in the Euros but we'll get there soon the final saw Germany face off against the Czech Republic the game finished level at 90 minutes but the rule of this tournament was Golden Goal leing the first team to score in extra time would lift the trophy and thanks to a 95th minute goal from the German substitute Oliver beer Hoff Germany became the champions of Europe for the third time in their history now we're entering the 2000s and this edition of the Euros was the first to be hosted in two Nations which were Belgium and the Netherlands this tournament kicked off with a thriller of a match between Yugoslavia and Slovenia where in the 60th minute Yugoslavia were down to 10 men and were also three goals down to nothing but in one of the great Euros comebacks they scored three goals in 7 minutes to tie the game 33 although neither team went on to make it too far in the tournament this red card was actually just one of many throughout the tournament because this was the Euros with the most red cards being shown even to this day with 10 red cards in 31 matches the final this year saw world champions France face off against Italy and this game was dramatic Italy scored in the 55th minute and led the game all the way till the end until the 90th minute where the French substitute syane wi Tor made it oneall sending the game to Golden Goal and then just 14 minutes into extra time another French substitute in tes blasted the ball into the net to make France both world champions and European Champions they were the only nation to achieve this feat up till this point so it was very significant but four years later the Euros winners were the furthest thing for world champions because they hadn't even qualified for the World Cup before it this is one of football's great Underdog stories and shows that really anything is possible as Greece somehow were able to become the European Champions before the tournament had begun they were given 150 to1 odds to win it and they really did defy the odds as they beat the Champions France 1 n in the quarterfinals the Czech Republic one nil in the semis and then came up against host Portugal in the final this was Cristiano Ronaldo's first tournament and he was looking to lift the trophy on home soil but a 57th minute goal from Angelus Harry stus meant another 1n Victory from Greece to lift the trophy and break Portuguese Hearts the Greek Captain Theodor zagaris had this to say about the game when the referee ended the match it was as if the lights went out another blank spot in my memory the constant smile of an idiot on my face for I don't know how many minutes unbelievable moments this tournament also saw Wayne Rooney break onto the scene becoming the youngest ever goal scorer in the tournament at just 18 years old he actually finished the tournament with four goals but only made it to the quarterfinals where Portugal knocked them out on penalties but now from underdogs to an Era of domination the 2008 Euros was the start of the Spanish national team's Golden Era where they were simply Unstoppable with their Ticky taka style of football they topped their group winning every game they beat Italy in the quarterfinals on penalties they breezed past Russia in the semi-finals putting three past them and then in the final against Germany they dominated the whole match and won the game one goal to nothing the Spanish side were so dominant that the team of the tournament incl included nine Spanish players chavy Hernandez was named as the player of the tournament and David via finished as the top scorer this tournament saw the trophy be remodeled to make it larger and more Grand at this new trophy weighed in at 8 kg making for a nice trophy lift we also saw Edwin vanders break the record for alltime clean sheets with nine but this record would be equal just four years later by the Spanish goalkeeper Iker kusas in a tournament where Spain just got even better in between euro 200 and Euro 2012 Spain won the World Cup in 2010 making them the clear dominant force in International Football they top their group that included Italy Croatia and Ireland they put two goals past France in the quarterfinals to win 2-n they defeated Portugal on a penalty shootout in the semi-finals and for the third international tournament in a row they found themselves in a final this time against Italy and they really showed up winning the game 4 n and embarrassing the Italians in the final this time round Iniesta was named as the player of the tournament Fernando Torres finished as the top scorer and Mario Balotelli gave us this iconic celebration where he scored in the semi-finals against Germany Spain were so good this time that they only conceded one goal in six matches that took place in the tournament this was thanks to their fantastic Center back Duo of Sergio Ramos and Gerard PK but now the year is 2016 and 12 years after his heartbreak against Greece Cristiano Ronaldo finally lifted International silverware with Portugal as they won this edition of the Euros this tournament was hosted in France and was the first to be expanded to 24 teams this tournament also saw a record live attendance in the stadiums with a total of 2.4 million Spectators but I guess that can be put down to the added games goal line technology was introduced this time around and this tournament allowed us to witness a couple of great Underdog runs with Wales making it all the way to the semi finals and Iceland a country with the population of under 400,000 knocked out England to reach the quarterfinals where they were unfortunately knocked out by the finalists France due to the expansion to 24 teams this tournament was strange in structure where half of the groups allowed a third place team to qualify and what was even crazier is that Portugal placed third in their group which means in any other addition up till now they wouldn't have made it out of the group but instead they qualified to the round of 16 where they beat Croatia they then sent Poland home on penalties and after a semi-final victory over Wales they found themselves playing the host France in the final this French team were clear favorites with the likes of Griezmann and Pogba in the team Cristiano Ronaldo went off injured after 25 minutes but Against All Odds Eder was able to score a winner in extra time to hand Portugal the trophy this tournament also saw ronato Sanchez become the youngest player ever to appear in a final at just 18 years old and we also saw the oldest player to ever appear as gor kirali made an appearance for hungry at 40 years old now rollong Euro 2020 and a pandemic meant that it had to be postponed by a year but as long as we got the tournament in the end it was going to be okay this was a paneuropean tournament which meant that the games were hosted in 11 countries with the final played in Wembley over an England this led the English to believe that it was in fact coming home and I don't blame them with the Run they went on as they made it to the final for the first time in their history but unfortunately it didn't come home it came to Rome instead as Italy defeated the English on penalties thanks to the heroics of John Luigi donaruma and it was these heroics that landed him the player of the tournament award a couple of other notable performers in the tournament were Federico kza spaa and Cristiano Ronaldo who finished as the top goal scorer actually also becoming the tournament's all-time top goal scorer in his fifth Euros tournament but a key talking point of this tournament was the nightmare that almost happened as a football player almost died on the pitch during the 42nd minute of Denmark's Opening match against Finland Christian Erikson suddenly collapsed on the pitch having suffered a cardiac arrest Medics rushed onto the pitch and quickly provided CPR and were able to resuscitate him this was a very close call for Ericson and we are just thankful that the Medics were there in time to save him in the Hospital Erikson was given an implant in his chest to keep his heart running and regulate his heartbeat and after some time out of the game he thankfully returned to professional football but now we're heading into the 2024 euros and the ball now has technology inside it that makes it look like this this is in order to assist referees but I'm certain we're still going to see a fair share of controversy now who do I think is going to win this time around well it's a tossup between England France and Germany but on home soil I'd say Germany take it we're also going to see Cristiano Ronaldo break the record for the most tournaments played in with a total of six which is just crazy and what I really want is for them to bring back the golden go rule because those were some wild endings.