European Championship Winners List | Most Euro Titles

The UEFA European Championship (commonly referred to as the ‘Euros’) is a national football competition between European countries held every four years.

Spain are the current champions, winning 2-1 against England, who were runners-up for a second time in a row.

The Euros operate in an alternate four-year cycle to the World Cup, so fans see the Euros and the World Cup alternate every two years.

Nine countries have won the Euros to date – Spain have claimed four titles, with Germany next with three.

France have two Euro titles, while Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Greece have one each.

Spain is the only country to win consecutive titles, in 2008 and 2012.

European Championship Winners List

aet = after extra time; asdet =after sudden death extra time; pens = after penalty shoot-out.

European Championship History – 1960 – 1976

The idea for the European Championship was first proposed by the French Football Federation’s secretary-general Henri Delaunay in 1927.

However, his vision did not come to fruition for another 31 years when qualifiers for the 1960 tournament in France got underway.

Four teams out of the 17 that entered contested the tournament. The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia in the final. 

Spain hosted the next tournament and claimed the trophy by beating the reigning champions 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

Italy, West Germany and Czechoslovakia were the next three winners before the final tournament was extended to eight teams in 1980.

European Championship History – 1980 – 1996

West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2-1 in 1980, while France got the job done with a 2-0 victory over Spain four years later.

Michel Platini was the star of the show on home soil, netting nine goals in five games to cement his legacy as one of the finest players of his generation.

The Netherlands defeated the Soviet Union in Munich to claim the 1988 title, with Marco van Basten’s volley to make it 2-0 rated as one of the best goals of all time.

Denmark defied the odds to defeat Germany 2-0 in the 1992 final, but the latter bounced back to emerge victorious in the expanded 16-team tournament.

England hosted Euro 1996, but the eventual winners knocked them out after a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals.

European Championship History – 1980 – 2020

The 2000 edition of the tournament was the first to be held in two countries, with the Netherlands and Belgium joining forces to host the event.

France beat Italy 2-1 after extra time, with forward David Trezeguet famously scoring the winning golden goal in the additional period.

Greece were surprise winners in 2004, while Spain became the only team to win the title back-to-back in 2008 and 2012.

The 2016 tournament in France was the first to feature 24 teams and culminated with Portugal beating the hosts 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Eder in the 109th minute.

Multiple countries hosted Euro 2020 (staged in 2021), and Italy defeated England in a penalty shoot-out to become European Championship winners for the second time.