Event | UEFA Euro 1968 | ||||||
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Italy won after a replay | |||||||
Final | |||||||
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After extra time | |||||||
Date | 8 June 1968 | ||||||
Venue | Stadio Olimpico, Rome | ||||||
Referee | Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland) | ||||||
Attendance | 68,817 | ||||||
Replay | |||||||
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Date | 10 June 1968 | ||||||
Venue | Stadio Olimpico, Rome | ||||||
Referee | José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain) | ||||||
Attendance | 32,886 | ||||||
The UEFA Euro 1968 final consisted of two football matches played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on 8 and 10 June 1968, to determine the winners of the UEFA Euro 1968 tournament. It was the third European Championship final, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was contested by Italy and Yugoslavia.
En route to the final, Italy finished top of their qualifying group, which included Romania, Cyprus and Switzerland. After beating Bulgaria over a two-legged tie in the quarter-finals, they progressed to the final, winning a coin toss which decided the outcome of their semi-final against the Soviet Union, which had ended goalless after extra time. Yugoslavia also won their qualifying group, which included Albania and West Germany, before beating France 6–2 on aggregate in the two-legged quarter-finals, and then England 1–0 in the single-match semi-final.
The initial final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 8 June 1968 in front of a crowd of 68,817, and was refereed by Gottfried Dienst from Switzerland. After the match finished 1–1 during regulation, extra time brought no change to the scoreline and ended in a draw, thus requiring the result of the final to be determined by a replay. The replay was played two days later, again at the Stadio Olimpico, in front of a crowd of 32,866, with José María Ortiz de Mendíbil from Spain as the referee. Italy would this time win the match 2–0, securing their first European Championship title.