Hope for Austria and Poland: A History of Euro New Kids

Austria and Poland will both be making their first-ever European Championship appearance in Euro 2008, and it’s a daunting club to join. As has been said before, the Euros are arguably the most difficult tournaments in world football, harder in many ways than the World Cup, where weaker confederations send relative minnows. In the Euros, everyone (hosts aside) got there by beating some very good teams. This year’s Euro debutants may have a tough road to further advancement in the tournament, but it might help their morale to look back on how some other first-timers have done it.

There have been 12 European Championships so far, running like clockwork every four years since 1960. Since the first tournament (where, obviously, everyone was a first-timer), 19 teams have added themselves to the history of the Euros. That first tournament looked very different than this year’s, with no Italy, no Spain, and no Germany. In those early days, the final tournament itself was an even more exclusive club, with only four semifinalists making it in, and there were no promises that the host would qualify.

In 1964, Hungary, Denmark and Spain were the new kids, with Spain hosting and eventually winning in their debut. Three of the four qualifiers were first-timers that year. Four years later, Italy matched Spain’s effort and won the Euros in their first finals appearance. That was also the year that England first appeared, finishing third. In 1972, another first-timer, West Germany, won the tournament, the first time a debutant had done so without also hosting the event. In 1980, the field expanded to eight teams rather than four, and in 1996, it grew again to the current 16-team format.

Over all the years, debutants have actually done quite well. They have won three tournaments, runners up once, and (since the expansion in 1980) made the semifinals once too (Portugal in 1984). Other teams have come back from long Euro droughts to have success as well, like France, who finished fourth in the first event back in 1960, then missed out on the next five straight tournaments before winning in 1984. So having a long, distinguished history at the Euros isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.