 The final took place at De Kuip (pictured in 2014) in Rotterdam. | |||||||
| Event | UEFA Euro 2000 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| After golden goal extra time | |||||||
| Date | 2 July 2000 | ||||||
| Venue | De Kuip, Rotterdam | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Francesco Totti (Italy) | ||||||
| Referee | Anders Frisk (Sweden) | ||||||
| Attendance | 48,100 | ||||||
| Weather | Mostly cloudy 20 °C (68 °F) 68% humidity[1] | ||||||
The UEFA Euro 2000 final was the final match of UEFA Euro 2000, the eleventh European Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at De Kuip in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 2 July 2000, and was contested between world champions France and Italy.
En route to the final, France were drawn in Group D, alongside hosts the Netherlands, Denmark, and the Czech Republic, and ended the group stage as runners-up to the Netherlands. They then defeated Spain in the quarter-finals, before progressing to the final following a victory over Portugal in the semi-finals, won via a golden goal from Zinedine Zidane. Meanwhile, Italy were allocated to Group B, alongside Turkey, Belgium, and Sweden, winning the group with maximum points. In the quarter-finals, they defeated Romania, before a semi-final penalty shoot-out victory over the Netherlands saw them progress to the final.
The final took place in front of 48,100 spectators, and was refereed by Swedish official Anders Frisk. After Italy's Marco Delvecchio opened the scoring in the 56th minute, France would equalise in the fourth minute of stoppage time through Sylvain Wiltord, sending the match to extra time. Just two minutes before the interval in extra time, France's David Trezeguet would half-volley the ball into the top corner, netting a golden goal that confirmed France's 2–1 victory and their second European Championship title.
Following their 1998 FIFA World Cup success on home soil, France became the first World Cup winners to go on to lift the subsequent European Championship. As winners, they would have qualified for the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup as UEFA's representative; however, they had already secured an automatic spot in the tournament as hosts. After both Euro runners-up Italy and 2002 World Cup runners-up Germany both declined to participate, the spot was eventually given to World Cup bronze-medalists Turkey.
- ^ "Weather History for Rotterdam, Netherlands". Weather Underground. 2 July 2000. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2017.