England are about to embark on their ninth European Championship and are yet to win a knockout game in normal time. Here we look back on England’s Euro Finals Record…
The first European Championship tournament was held in France in 1960, but England did not participate and though they did play in the second competition, they failed to reach the ‘finals’ losing to the French in a first round qualifying match.
In those days only the semi-finals and final were played in a host country up until 1980 when eight teams reached the tournament, which was played in Italy, competing in two groups of four with the top two teams playing in the final.
England’s first appearance in the semi-final was in 1968, when they finished third after beating Russia in a third-place play-off. They have only reached the last four on one other occasion, Euro 96, when the Finals were played on home soil.
Penalties sent them out against Germany, while it was the same fate in the quarter-final stage at Euro 2004 and Euro 2012.
England’s Euro Finals Record
Finals: P27 W9 D9 L9 F36 A31
Qualifying: P100 W66 D24 L10 F221 A58
Overall: P127 W75 D33 L19 F257 A89
1960 Did not enter
1964 Did not qualify
1968 Qualified as Group 8 winners (combining results of 1967 and 1968 British Home Championships), then beating Spain 3-1 on aggregate in quarter-finals
1 0-1 v Yugoslavia, 5 June 1968 (SF)
2 2-0 v USSR, 8 June 1968, (3rd PO)
1972 Did not qualify
1976 Did not qualify
1980 Qualified as Group 1 winners
3 1-1 v Belgium, 12 June 1980
4 0-1 v Italy, 15 June 1980
5 2-1 v Spain, 18 June 1980
1984 Did not qualify
1988 Qualified as Group 4 winners
6 0-1 v Rep of Ireland, 12 June 1988
7 1-3 v Holland, 15 June 1988
8 1-3 v USSR, 18 June 1988
1992 Qualified as Group 7 winners
9 0-0 v Denmark, 11 June 1992
10 0-0 v France, 14 June 1992
11 1-2 v Sweden, 17 June 1992
1996 Qualified as hosts
12 1-1 v Switzerland, 8 June 1996
13 2-0 v Scotland, 15 June 1996
14 4-1 v Holland, 18 June 1996
15 0-0 (4-2p) v Spain, 22 June 1996, 0 – 0 (QF)
16 1-1 (5-6p) v Germany, 26 June 1996 (SF)
2000 Qualified as Group 5 runners-up, then beating Scotland 2-1 on aggregate in play-offs
17 2-3 v Portugal, 12 June 2000
18 1-0 v Germany, 17 June 2000
19 2-3 v Romania, 20 June 2000
2004 Qualified as Group 7 winners
20 1-2 v France, 13 June 2004
21 3-0 v Switzerland, 17 Jun 2004
22 4-2 v Croatia, 21 June 2004
23 2-2 (5-6p) v Portugal, 24 June 2004 (QF)
2008 Did not qualify
2012 Qualified as Group G winners
24 1-1 v France, 11 June 2012
25 3-2 v Sweden, 15 June 2012
26 1-0 v Ukraine, 19 June 2012
27 0-0 (2-4p) v Italy, 24 June 2012 (QF)
England’s Euro Finals Record: The Managers
(stats after 90 minutes and extra-time)
Alf Ramsey (1968) P2 W1 D0 L1 F2 A1
Ron Greenwood (1980) P3 W1 D1 L1 F3 A3
Bobby Robson (1988) P3 W0 D0 L3 F2 A7
Graham Taylor (1992) P3 W0 D2 L1 F1 A2
Terry Venables (1996) P5 W2 D3 L0 F8 A3
Kevin Keegan (2002) P3 W1 D0 L2 F5 A6
Sven-Goran Eriksson (2004) P4 W2 D1 L1 F10 A6
Roy Hodgson (2012) P4 W2 D2 L0 F5 A3
England’s Euro Finals Record: Most Caps
11 Gary Neville
9 Alan Shearer, Steven Gerrard, Tony Adams
8 Ashley Cole, Stuart Pearce, Sol Campbell
England’s Euro Finals Record: Most Goals
7 Alan Shearer
5 Wayne Rooney
3 Frank Lampard
2 Teddy Sheringham, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen
England’s Euro Finals Record: Facts and Stats
England are taking part in their ninth European Championship finals. They didn’t qualify the last time the tournament was held in France (1984).
England have never made it past the semi-finals. They finished third in 1968 and were knocked out in the semis by Germany in 1996.
The only knock-out game England have won at a European Championship finals was against Spain on penalties at Wembley in 1996, though they did win their two-legged quarter-final, also against Spain, to reach the last four in 1968.
England have been knocked out on penalties in three of their last four European Championships (1996, 2004, 2012).
Alan Shearer is England’s top scorer in the Euros (7 goals). Only Michel Platini (9) has netted more goals in the finals than the former Three Lions skipper.
Wayne Rooney, who is the only player in the current England squad to have netted at a European Championship, needs two more goals to equal Shearer’s record of seven.
Roy Hodgson is leading England to a major tournament for the third time after Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014. It’s the most for an England manager since Sven-Goran Eriksson (World Cup 2002, Euro 2004, World Cup 2006).
Hodgson is the oldest head coach among the ones present at Euro 2016 (68 years old).
England have never won their opening game at the Euros (D4 L4).
The Three Lions have found the back of the net in 15 of their last 17 matches at the Euros, although they did fail to score versus Italy last time out.
England have kept consecutive clean sheets in each of their last two European Championship matches for the first time since June 1992. They’ve never recorded three in a row.