Undoubtedly, Germany is one of the favorite teams to win the UEFA Euro 2024, alongside France, Spain, and Portugal, among others. They started off on the right foot in this championship and want to win the tournament once again.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team already knows what it means to win this tournament; in fact, they have won it three times in their history, alongside Spain, making both teams the most successful in the competition’s history.
Let’s take a detailed look at the three times Die Mannschaft was crowned UEFA Euro champions, with an interesting fact about their last win 28 years ago, back in 1996.
UEFA Euro 1972
UEFA Euro 1972 was played in Belgium and Germany was still identified as West Germany. Great icons of German history played on that team, such as Günter Netzer, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, who scored a brace to defeat the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final to win the first European Championship for Germany.
West Germany Captain Franz Beckenbauer #5 shakes hands with the East Germany Captain before a match. Allsport UK /Allsport
UEFA Euro 1980
UEFA Euro 1980 was played in Italy and West Germany beat Belgium 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. This time the star player was Horst Hrubesch, who also scored a brace to give the Germans their second European title.
The former Hamburger SV player recalled: “We would not have endured extra time because it would have been too much, it was very hot that day and I remember being so tired after the game that it was difficult to lift the trophy.”
UEFA Euro 1996
UEFA Euro 1996 was played in England and this time Germany played the tournament as a unified country after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Germany managed to turn the result around to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 at the mythical Wembley Stadium.
This time the star player was Oliver Bierhoff who tied the match 15 minutes from the end and then scored the winning goal 4 minutes into extra time.
Oliver Bierhoff of Germany scores the equalising goal with a header during the UEFA European Championships 1996 Final between Germany and the Czech Republic. Stu Forster/Getty Images
The particularity of this final was that Bierhoff scored the winning goal at a time when extra time was played with the “golden goal” rule, meaning that whoever scored first won the match. It was the first time in history that a UEFA Euro was defined by a golden goal.
