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The UEFA Euro 2004 (or just Euro 2004) was the twelfth edition of UEFA’s quadriennial European Football Championship and was held in Portugal, for the first time, between June 12 and July 4, 2004. Like in the previous two editions, in England and Netherlands/Belgium, sixteen teams contested the final tournament after going through a qualification round which began in 2002. The tournament took place in ten venues located in eight cities — Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Lisbon and Porto.

Greece’s triumph was even more outstanding considering that in their only other appearance, back in 1980, they did not win a single game.

Final: Greece - Portugal 1 - 0

The 2000 UEFA European Championship, or Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and organized by UEFA, football’s governing body in Europe.

The finals of Euro 2000 were co-hosted (the first time this happened) by Belgium and the Netherlands between June 10 and July 2, 2000. The final tournament was contested by 16 nations. With the exception of the national teams of the hosts, Belgium and the Netherlands, the finalists had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. France won the tournament, by defeating Italy 2-1 in the final, via a golden goal.

Final: France - Italy 2 - 1 (AET)

The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 96) was hosted by England. It was the tenth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The tournament’s final stages took place between June 8 and June 30, 1996. The slogan of the tournament was “Football Comes Home”, as it was the first time the tournament took place in England, the land where the game was born. English football and popular culture has since referenced the competition fondly even though the team did not reach the final. The national impact of the competition can be measured by the fact that the song “Three Lions”, which became the song the England fans sang when their team played was re-released for the 1998 World Cup containing lyrics referencing Euro 96, such as “Psycho (Stuart Pearce) screaming” replacing “Nobby (1966 team member Nobby Stiles) dancing”. The song thus upstaged the tournament’s official theme, “We’re In This Together” by Simply Red.

Final: Germany - Czech Republic 2 - 1 (AET)

The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 92) final tournament was hosted by Sweden. It was the ninth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The final tournament took place between June 10 and June 26, 1992.

Eight countries contested the final tournament. Seven countries had to qualify for the final stage as Sweden qualified automatically as hosts of the event. The USSR qualified for the finals shortly before the break-up of the country, and took part in the tournament under the banner of the CIS before the former Soviet republics formed their own national teams after the competition. The CIS team consisted of the following Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova and Tajikistan. 5 out of 15 ex-republics were not members of CIS, and therefore did not send their players: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Originally, Yugoslavia qualified for the final stage, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group’s runner-up Denmark took part in the championship. They shocked the continent by defeating the reigning world champions Germany for the title.

The official anthem of the tournament was More Than a Game performed by Towe Jaarnek and Peter Jöback. It was also the first major football competition in which the players had their names printed on their backs.

Final: Denmark - Germany 2 - 0