Europa 80

When England kicked off their European Championship Group B finals match v Belgium in Turin on 12th June 1980, a whole generation of English fans back home were watching their team compete in the finals of an International tournament for the very first time. Incredibly, it had been ten years since England had last qualified for a tournament (the Mexico World Cup in 1970) and so for children under the age of 15 or so, this was a BIG deal. I remember eagerly completing my Panini Europa 80 sticker collection and even had my bedroom re-decorated in England squad wallpaper! What I didn't realise at the time was that the 'Euro's' had yet to capture the imagination of the football world at large, Europa 80 would be the first European Championships to resemble a proper finals tournament (with 8 teams now initially competing in a group stage, instead of just 4 in a Semi-final/3&4 play off/Final format), but the organisers of this year's tournament made the mistake of missing out a semi-finals stage - The two group winners directly progressed to the final which naturally resulted in teams approaching most of the games in an over cautious manner and some countries losing interest earlier than normal. Had UEFA sacrificed the 3rd/4th play off for a Semi-final stage, it would only have required squeezing in one extra fixture, but as it was, the attendance's and TV viewing figures proved to be disappointing and for England in particular the whole tournament turned out to be a huge anti-climax.

UEFA's decision to expand the European Championship finals to eight teams back in July 1976 required a host country to be selected before the qualifiers began, no less than six countries offered to stage it - England, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany. England were one of the final two up for consideration, but at a meeting on 19th October 1977 the tournament organising committee agreed to recommend Italy and this was unanimously approved by UEFA's executive committee in Zurich on 12th November 1977.
The qualifying draw was made on 18th November 1977, 32 nations entered (only Albania and Liechtenstein declined) and seven qualifying groups ultimately produced seven group winners to join the hosts. England made it through with ease by winning all but one of their eight Group One matches and finishing six points ahead of runners-up Northern Ireland (the Republic of Ireland were the sole nation able to hold England to a draw in Dublin). Scotland suffered a very poor qualifying campaign by finishing next to bottom of Group Two (won by Belgium) whilst Wales came 3rd in a four team group headed by West Germany.

England's opening match in the finals against Belgium began well enough but problems among the England support towards the end of the first half led to Italian riot police taking the decision to use tear gas which drifted onto the pitch, badly effecting goalkeeper Ray Clemence in particular and holding up the match. In the 2nd half England appeared to have taken a 2-1 lead but the goal was ruled out for 'offside'. The next opponents were hosts Italy, the country who had prevented England from going to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, a 79th minute goal by Marco Tardelli ended England's hopes for revenge and any chance of reaching the final.

ITV sent three commentators to Italy, Brian Moore covered the England matches as well as the final* whilst Gerald Sinstadt and Martin Tyler voiced the rest (no Hugh Johns), Ron Atkinson and Terry Venables were the co-commentators. Presenting duties back home were handled by Dickie Davies, other studio personal included Brian Clough, Mick Channon, Ian St. John and Trevor Francis (who was unable to play due to an injury). Presumably ITV commissioned a theme tune** to go with a title sequence, but nothing has been seen of it since.

*Brian Moore always stayed behind in London in a presenting role during World Cups, so this was his first time commentating on a proper International tournament.
**Could the theme tune have possibly been Jeff Wayne's "Jubilation" as used by The Big Match from the following August?
 

British TV coverage of Europa 80

Qualifiers & Friendlies

Wed 20/Sep/1978    Denmark 3 (Simonsen(pen), Arnesen, Røntved) England 4 (Keegan 2, Latchford, Neal)
Qualifier in Copenhagen
BBC Highlights
Barry Davies
*BBC1 "Sportsnight" 10:15-11:15pm.

Wed 20/Sep/1978    Austria 3 (Pezzey, Schachner, Kreuz) Scotland 2 (McQueen, Gray)
Qualifier in Vienna
BBC SCOTLAND LIVE
*Scotland only on BBC1 "European Sportscene" from 6:45pm. Austria led 3-0 at one stage.

Wed 20/Sep/1978    Republic of Ireland 0 Northern Ireland 0
Qualifier in Dublin
ULSTER LIVE
*This histroic first ever meeting between the Republic and Northern Ireland was shown live on Ulster Television at 2:40-4:55pm, Ulster showed highlights at 6:20-7:30pm. It was also live on BBC1 in Northern Ireland only at 2:40-5:00pm, they too showed highlights at 8:00-9:00pm (as well as "Sportsnight" from England at 10:15pm). RTE in the republic showed live coverage at 2:50-4:55pm, though a riggers strike had threatened to black the match out (highlights on RTE went out at 10:30-11:15pm). Danny Blanchflower said afterwards that it was "a good political result".

Wed 25/Oct/1978    Republic of Ireland 1 (Daly) England 1 (Latchford)
Qualifier at Dalymount Park, Dublin
ITV Highlights
Brian Moore
*"Mid-week Sports Special" showed highlights at 10:45pm-12:25am (the programme also included Gymnastics and highlights of Wales v Malta, possibly Scotland v Norway too). RTE in Ireland showed the match LIVE from 2:45-4:55pm (highlights at 10:31-11:10pm).

Wed 25/Oct/1978    Wales 7 (O'Sullivan, Edwards 4, Thomas, Flynn) Malta 0
Qualifier at Wrexham
ITV Highlights
Hugh Johns
*On 9th July 1976, following the crowd trouble at Wales' last Euro's match (the QF home leg v Yugoslavia in May), it was announced that UEFA had banned the Welsh from taking part in Europa 80  - but on 18th October 1976 the ban was reduced to forbidding them from playing home games at Ninian Park.

Wed 25/Oct/1978    Scotland 3 (Dalglish 2(1pen), Gemmill) Norway 2 (Aas, Økland-Larsen)
Qualifier at Hampden
SCOTTISH Highlights
?Arthur Montford?
*SCOTTISH probably had their own presentation rather than relaying "Mid-week Sport Special" from London.

Wed 25/Oct/1978    Northern Ireland 2 (Spence, Anderson) Denmark 1 (????)
Qualifier in Belfast
BBC Highlights
*Highlights were included on BBC1's "Sportsnight" at 10:05-11:25pm (also featuring Gymnastics, Boxing and Rugby Union). BBC1 N.Ireland relayed the English programme.

Wed 29/Nov/1978    England 1 (Coppell) Czechoslovakia 0
Friendly match at Wembley
ITV Highlights
Brian Moore
*"Mid-week Sports Special" 10:30-11:40pm.

Wed 29/Nov/1978    Wales 1 (Deacy) Turkey 0
Qualifier at Wrexham
ITV Highlights
Hugh Johns
*Included on "Midweek Sports Special"

Wed 29/Nov/1978    Portugal 1 (Fonseca) Scotland 0
Qualifier in Lisbon
*No British TV coverage scheduled, SCOTTISH opted out of "Mid-week Sports Special" and showed "Police Story" at 10:35pm, Grampian had a Connie Stevens concert.

Wed 29/Nov/1978    Bulgaria 0 Northern Ireland 2 (Armstrong, Caskey)
Qualifier in Sofia
*Possibly highlights included on ITV along with the England friendly.

Wed 07/Feb/1979    England 4 (Keegan, Latchford 2, Watson) Northern Ireland 0
Qualifier at Wembley
ITV LIVE
Brian Moore
*LIVE coverage under the "Mid-week Sports Special" banner, 7:30-9:30pm. Caption

Wed 02/May/1979    Wales 0 West Germany 2 (Zimmermann, Fischer)
Qualifier at Wrexham
BBC Highlights
John Motson
*BBC1 "Sportsnight" 10:06-11:33pm. Zimmermann 29, Klaus Fischer 52.

Wed 02/May/1979    Northern Ireland 2 (C.Nicholl, Armstrong) Bulgaria 0
Qualifier in Belfast
BBC Highlights
*Included on "Sportsnight" along with the Wales match and Republic of Ireland v Denmark.

Sat 02/Jun/1979    Scotland 1 (Graham) Argentina 2 (?????)
Friendly at Hampden
*Strike action at BBC Scotland (which had already blacked out the Scottish Cup final) meant that this friendly in which Maradona made his first appearance in the UK was not shown on television. There is however 16mm news footage of the match.

Sat 02/Jun/1979    Malta 0 Wales 2 (Nicholas, Flynn)
Qualifier in Valetta
*No British TV coverage scheduled.

Wed 06/Jun/1979    Bulgaria 0 England 3 (Keegan, Watson, Barnes)
Qualifier in Sofia
BBC LIVE
*LIVE on BBC1 from 3:55-6pm as part of a mi-week "Grandstand" which also included racing. Highlights were on "Sportsnight" at 9:25-10:55pm along with Athletics.

Wed 06/Jun/1979    Denmark 4 Northern Ireland 0
Qualifier in Copenhagen
*No British TV coverage scheduled. BBC N.Ireland relayed live coverage of the England match and also "Sportsnight" which only billed England highlights.

Thu 07/Jun/1979    Norway 0 Scotland 4 (Jordan, Dalglish, Robertson, McQueen)
Qualifier in Oslo
*Possibly shown on Scottish TV.

Sun 10/Jun/1979    Sweden 0 England 0
Friendly in Stockholm
BBC LIVE
John Motson
*As part of a programme billed as "International Sports Special" headlined by Athletics from 4:30-6:54pm.

Wed 13/Jun/1979    Austria 4 (Pezzey 2, Welzl 2) England 3 (Keegan, Coppell, Wilkins)
Friendly in Vienna
ITV LIVE
Brian Moore & Jack Charlton
*LIVE coverage as "Mid-week Sports Special" from 7:20-9:30pm.

Tue 11/Sep/1979    Wales 2 (Walsh, Curtis) Republic of Ireland 1 (????)
Friendly at Swansea
BBC WALES Highlights
*BBC1 Wales showed highlights at 10:50-11:40pm. No coverage was scheduled on RTE in Ireland.

Wed 12/Sep/1979    England 1 (Keegan) Denmark 0
Qualifier at Wembley
*Not shown on TV at all,  ITV (who were due to cover it) was off air at the time due to a lengthy strike.

Wed 12/Sep/1979    Scotland 1 (Olaechea(og)) Peru 1 (????)
Friendly at Hampden
*No TV coverage.

Wed 17/Oct/1979    Northern Ireland 1 (Moreland(pen)) England 5 (Francis 2, Woodcock 2, Nicholl(og))
Qualifier in Belfast
BBC Highlights
*Motor racing topped the  bill on "Sportsnight" on BBC1 (10:15-11:08pm) but highlights of this match appear to have been included in a late arrangement (ITV were probably supposed to cover it, but were still on strike).

Wed 17/Oct/1979    Scotland 1 (Gemmill) Austria 1 (Krankl)
Qualifier at Hampden
*No British TV coverage.

Wed 17/Oct/1979    West Germany 5 (Fischer 2, Kaltz, Rummenigge, Förster) Wales 1 (Curtis)
Qualifier in Cologne
*No British TV coverage. The Germans led 4-0 at HT with goals by Fischer on 22, Kaltz on 33, Fischer with his 2nd on 39 and Rummenigge 42. Förster made it 5-0 83, Curtis netted a consolation for Wales on 84.

Wed 21/Nov/1979    Belgium 2 (Van Der Elst, Voordeckers) Scotland 0
Qualifier in Brussels
BBC SCOTLAND LIVE
*Shown in Scotland only on BBC1 "International Sportscene" from 6:55pm, Scotland now unable to qualify

Wed 21/Nov/1979    Turkey 1 Wales 0
Qualifier in Izmir
*No British TV coverage scheduled other than a news report on "Sportsnight".

Wed 21/Nov/1979    Northern Ireland 1 (Armstrong) Republic of Ireland 0
Qualifier in Belfast
BBC N.IRELAND
George Hamilton
*BBC1 in Northern Ireland showed highlights at 9:35-11:00pm (BBC1 in England may also have shown highlights at the same time as England's match was postponed). RTE1 in the Republic showed the match LIVE at 2:25-4:15pm (plus highlights at 10:35-11:35pm).

Thu 22/Nov/1979    England 2 (Watson, Hoddle) Bulgaria 0
Qualifier at Wembley
BBC Highlights
Barry Davies
*A late change to the schedule saw highlights screened on "Sportsnight Special" on BBC1 at 10:24-11:10pm. This match was played on a Thursday night after fog had postponed the original kick-off on Wednesday.

Wed 19/Dec/1979    Scotland 1 (Robertson) Belgium 3 (Vandenbergh, Van Der Elst 2)
Qualifier at Hampden
SCOTTISH Highlights
?Arthur Montford?
*Late night highlights for viewers North of the border (11:30pm-midnight).

Wed 06/Feb/1980    England 2 (Keegan 2) Republic of Ireland 0
Qualifier at Wembley
BBC1 Highlights
John Motson
*BBC1 showed highlights on "Sportsnight" 10:15-11:15pm (also including Cricket). RTE1 in the Republic showed the match LIVE from 7:30-9:30pm.

Wed 26/Mar/1980 Scotland 4 (Dalglish, Gray, Archibald, Gemmill(pen)) Portugal 1 (Gomes)
Qualifier at Hampden
*possibly covered by SCOTTISH for their own highlights or inclusion on networked show (see below)

Wed 26/Mar/1980    Spain 0 England 2 (Woodcock, Francis)
Friendly at Camp Nou, Barcelona
ITV Highlights
Brian Moore
*"Mid-week Sports Special" 10:40-11:40pm, Ronald Allison presented. Ron Greenwood (England manager), Kevin Keegan and Trevor Francis were all interviewed.

Tue 13/May/1980    England 3 (Johnson 2, Keegan) Argentina 1 (?????)
Friendly at Wembley
BBC Highlights
Barry Davies
*BBC1 "International Match of the Day" introduced by Jimmy Hill at 10:10-11:10pm.

Wed 28/May/1980    Poland 1 Scotland 0
Friendly in Poznam
*No British TV coverage scheduled. Played on the same night as the European cup final.

Sat 31/May/1980    Australia 1 (????) England 2 (Hoddle, Mariner)
Friendly in Sydney
*No British TV coverage scheduled.

Sat 31/May/1980    Hungary 3 Scotland 1 (Archiblad)
Freindly in Budapest
BBC SCOTLAND Highlights
*BBC1 Scotland showed highlights the following day (Sunday afternoon) on "International Sportscene" from 4:00-4:45pm.
 

Europa 80 Finals
Held in Italy (Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin)
Eight finalists split into two groups of four, the two group winners contested the final, the runners-up played off for 3rd place (no semi-finals).
TVTimes Wall Chart

Tue 10/06/1980      "The European Football Championship"
*ITV's preview programme broadcast from 9:30-10pm, presented by Brian Moore with guest Brian Clough and an interview with Ron Greenwood.

Game 1

Wed 11/06/1980    Czechoslovakia 0 West Germany 1 (Rummenigge)
Group A (4:45pm bst)
LIVE
Brian Moore & Terry Venables
*ITV coverage began at 4:25pm, BBC1 (commentator Barry Davies) showed highlights from 10:30pm.

Wed 11/06/1980    Netherlands 1 (Kist(pen)) Greece 0
Group A (7:30pm bst)
Highlights
Martin Tyler
*Netherlands v Greece was ITV's featured match on their late night highlights programme (11:10-11:55pm), Czechoslovakia v West Germany was shown as the 2nd match. BBC1 (commentator Des Lynham) showed highlights only of today's games (10:30-11:40pm) and so the Netherlands match was not broadcast live on either channel.

Thu 12/06/1980    Belgium 1 (Ceulemans) England 1 (Wilkins)
Group B (4:45pm bst)
Highlights
Brian Moore
*BBC1 (John Motson) showed this live, ITV showed highlights at some point during the live broadcast of the night match.

Thu 12/06/1980    Italy 0 Spain 0
Group B (7:30pm bst)
LIVE
Martin Tyler & Ron Atkinson
*One source says the ITV commentator was Gerald Sinstadt, BBC1 (Barry Davies) showed highlights of the day's games at 10:15-11:05pm.

Sat 14/06/1980    "World of Sport"
*ITV's Saturday afternoon Sport show included a review of the European Championships at 12:35pm.

Game 2

Sat 14/06/1980    West Germany 3 (Allofs 3) Netherlands 2 (Rep(pen), Van De Kerkhof)
Group A (4:45pm bst)
Highlights
Gerald Sinstadt
*BBC1 (Barry Davies) showed this live as part of "Grandstand". ITV highlights were shown during the live programme later that night.

Sat 14/06/1980    Czechoslovakia 3 (Panenka, Vizek, Nehoda) Greece 1 (Anastopoulos)
Group A (7:30pm bst)
LIVE
Martin Tyler & Ron Atkinson
*No BBC coverage of this one today, although Des Lynham commentated for goal clips broadcast on the Sunday.

Sun 15/06/1980    "The European Football Championship"
*A preview of the Italy v England match presented by Dickie Davies, 2:30-3:00pm

Sun 15/06/1980    Belgium 2 (Gerets, Cools) Spain 1 (Quini)
Group B (4:45pm bst)
Highlights
Martin Tyler
*Curiously not shown live by either channel, BBC1 (Barry Davies) included the match in a late night BBC1 highlights show (11:05-12:05pm) whilst ITV showed a highlights package of the day's events at 11:35pm-12:05am.

Sun 15/06/1980    Italy 1 (Tardelli) England 0
Group B (7:30pm bst)
LIVE
Brian Moore & Ron Atkinson
*There was also a highlights programme late at night (11:35pm-12:05am), BBC1 (John Motson) also showed highlights of this match (11:05pm-12:05am). Ray Kennedy hit the post in the 2nd half before Tardelli scored via a low cross into the six-yard area from the left.

Game 3

Tue 17/06/1980    Czechoslovakia 1 (Nehoda) Netherlands 1 (Kist)
Group A (4:45pm bst)
Highlights
Martin Tyler
*ITV showed highlights of this one during the live broadcast of the night match, BBC1 (Barry Davies) showed it as part of their late night round up at 10:25-11:15pm.

Tue 17/06/1980    Greece 0 West Germany 0
Group A (7:30pm bst)
LIVE
Gerald Sinstadt
*BBC1 (Des Lynham) showed highlights at 10:25-11:15pm.

Group A Final Table
1. West Germany   +2  5
2. Czechoslovakia +1  3
3. Netherlands     0  3
4. Greece         -3  1

Wed 18/06/1980    England 2 (Brooking, Woodcock) Spain 1 (Dani(pen))
Group B (4:45pm bst)
LIVE
Brian Moore
*Glen Hoddle interviewed, there was also an ITV highlights package at 11:05-11:50pm. BBC1 (Barry Davies) showed highlights during their live broadcast of the night match.

Wed 18/06/1980    Italy 0 Belgium 0
Group B (7:30pm bst)
Highlights
Martin Tyler
*BBC1 (John Motson) showed this match live, ITV included highlights on their 11:05-11:50pm round up.

Group B Final Table
1. Belgium        +1  4
2. Italy          +1  4
3. England         0  3
4. Spain          -2  1

Sat 21/06/1980    "World of Sport"
*A Europa 80 report was included during the early part of the programme.

3rd & 4th Place Play Off

Sat 21/06/1980    Czechoslovakia 1 (Jurkemik) Italy 1 (Graziani) *Czechs won on 9-8 on pens (no extra-time)
3rd & 4th place play off (7:30pm bst)
Commentator unknown
*BBC1 (Barry Davies) showed highlights of this at the very late time of 12:15am prompting letters of complaint to the Radio Times, ITV didn't bother at all although they probably sent a commentator along and showed at least a goals report the following day.

The Final

Sun 22/06/1980    "The European Football Championship"
A 30 minute slot (5:00-5:30pm) to preview the final, hosted by Dickie Davies.

Sun 22/06/1980    West Germany 2 (Hrubesch 2) Belgium 1 (Vandereycken(pen))
The Final (7:30pm bst)
LIVE
Brian Moore & Ron Atkinson
*BBC also showed the final live with John Motson commentating for them, both channels began coverage at 7:15pm. TVTimes incorrectly billed Jack Charlton as the co-commentator.
ITV would have showed a highlights programme at 11pm if England had made it to the final. Had the final ended in a draw, a replay would have taken place on Tuesday 24th June.
 
 

Links
ITV regional football highlights 1968-83 home page
Europa 80 Stats

Page last updated November 2009