1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying


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This article describes the qualifying procedure for the 1960 European Nations' Cup, the inaugural edition of the European Nations' Cup tournament, now known as the UEFA European Championship.[1]

1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying
Tournament details
Dates28 September 1958 – 29 May 1960
Teams17
Tournament statistics
Matches played24
Goals scored91 (3.79 per match)
Top scorer(s)Czechoslovakia Titus Buberník
France Just Fontaine
(5 goals each)

1964 →

 

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

Team Qualified as Qualified on
  France (host) Quarter-finals winner 27 March 1960
  Yugoslavia Quarter-finals winner 22 May 1960
  Soviet Union Quarter-finals winner[A] 28 May 1960
  Czechoslovakia Quarter-finals winner 29 May 1960
  1. ^ Won by walkover after the withdrawal of Spain.

The qualification was a knockout tournament where the teams would play a two-legged tie on a home-and-away basis. If the aggregate scores were level at the end of the tie, a third leg was played at a neutral venue to decide the winners. It consisted of a preliminary round, a round of 16, and a quarter-final round. The four quarter-final winners would qualify for the tournament proper; one of those four countries would then be chosen to host it.

17 teams entered the competition; notable absences included West Germany, Italy and England. Two of the entrants, Czechoslovakia and the Republic of Ireland, were selected to play the preliminary round. The winner of that fixture would join the remaining 15 teams in the round of 16.

In fact, a few matches of the round of 16 took place before the preliminary round matches. The first European Nations' Cup qualifying match was played on 28 September 1958 between the Soviet Union and Hungary. The first goal was scored by Anatoli Ilyin of the Soviet Union four minutes into that game. On 3 December 1958, Greece became the first team to be eliminated from the European Nations' Cup after losing 8–2 on aggregate to France.

Czechoslovakia and the Republic of Ireland were randomly selected to face each other in the preliminary round. The other 15 countries received byes to the round of 16.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Republic of Ireland   2–4   Czechoslovakia 2–0 0–4
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Soviet Union   4–1   Hungary 3–1 1–0
France   8–2   Greece 7–1 1–1
Romania   3–2   Turkey 3–0 0–2
Norway   2–6   Austria 0–1 2–5
Yugoslavia   3–1   Bulgaria 2–0 1–1
East Germany   2–5   Portugal 0–2 2–3
Poland   2–7   Spain 2–4 0–3
Denmark   3–7   Czechoslovakia 2–2 1–5
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
France   9–4   Austria 5–2 4–2
Portugal   3–6   Yugoslavia 2–1 1–5
Romania   0–5   Czechoslovakia 0–2 0–3
Soviet Union   w/o[note 1]   Spain Canc. Canc.

There were 91 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 3.79 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  1. ^ Spain refused to travel to the Soviet Union for their quarter-final, so Spain were disqualified and the Soviet Union were awarded a walkover victory.
  1. ^ Garin, Erik; Stokkermans, Karel; Tabeira, Martín (10 June 2011). "European Championship 1960". RSSSF.com. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 March 2018.