UEFA Euro 1968

The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly called UEFA Euro 1968, was the third edition of UEFA's continental tournament for Europe's senior men's national teams. The final stage took place in Italy from 5 to 10 June 1968, bringing together four teams after a qualifying campaign across the continent.

The competition used a short knockout format that was typical of its era. Teams first played through qualifying rounds and quarter-finals, and only the last four reached the final tournament. Compared with the modern European Championship, the 1968 edition was much smaller, but it still carried high importance because every match directly affected the title race.

The defending champions were Spain, but they did not keep the trophy. In the semifinals, Italy and the Soviet Union finished level after extra time, and Italy advanced by a coin toss, a rare method before penalty shootouts were introduced. In the other semifinal, Yugoslavia defeated England 1-0. That left Italy and Yugoslavia to contest the final, while the Soviet Union met England in the match for third place.

The first final ended 1-1, so the championship had to be decided in a replay two days later. Italy won the rematch 2-0 and claimed its first European title. The replay made the tournament memorable, because it showed how different international football could be before modern tie-breaking rules became standard.