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Showing posts with label Euro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euro. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2012

EURO 2012 FINAL - KEY FACTS : Spain v Italy


 Spain v Italy

UEFA EURO 2012 FINAL 

Key pre-match facts, trivia and stats ahead of the 2012 European Championship final between Spain and Italy at Kiev's Olimpiyskyi Stadium.




It will be the fourth time a Euro final takes place between teams who met earlier in the tournament. It happened in 1988 (Netherlands-USSR), 1996 (Germany-Czech Republic) & 2004 (Greece-Portugal).

Italy and Spain are facing each other for the 31st time in their history. The Italians hold the advantage with 10 wins to Spain’s eight. 12 draws complete the picture.

Italy are unbeaten against Spain at major tournaments (penalties shoot-outs excluded), with three wins and four draws. Nevertheless, Spain managed to qualify in their last encounter in knockout games, it was at the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 (0-0 after 120 mins, 4-2 after penalties).

Cesare Prandelli has faced Spain twice as Italy head-coach and has never lost. Italy beat them in a friendly in August 2011 (2-1) before drawing in their opening game of Euro 2012 (1-1).

Spain haven’t conceded a single goal in their last 900 minutes of action in major tournament knockout games, a streak which started in the quarter finals of Euro 2008.

Spain are the second European side to reach the final of three consecutive major tournaments, after West Germany (Euro 72, World Cup 74, Euro 76).

Spain could become the first team in history to successfully defend their European Championship title. They would also become the first European side to win three consecutive major tournaments.

Spain have won 75% of their finals at major tournaments (three out of four), the best ratio for European sides who have played more than one final alongside France.

Italy have reached their ninth final at major tournaments (three at European Championships, six at the World Cup). They’ve won 63%.

Italy are the only side who have never trailed at any time during Euro 2012.

Spain have the best defensive record at Euro 2012 with only one goal conceded. In their last two games combined (quarter-final v France & semi-final v Portugal), Spain have only faced one shot on target.

Spain have conceded only 12 shots on target at Euro 2012, 50% of those were against Italy in their opening game (6).

Spain have always dominated possession in their seven games at World Cup 2010 and five games at Euro 2012. Germany, in the final of Euro 2008, are the last side to dominate possession against La Roja.

Italy and Spain have had the most shots at Euro 2012: 99 and 86 respectively.
Italy have picked up the most bookings at Euro 2012: 15. That’s five more than Spain (10).

The Azzurri are unbeaten in their 15 competitive games under Cesare Prandelli: 10 wins and five draws.

Five Spanish players (Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Ramos) have completed more passes than Italy’s most prolific player in that department, Andrea Pirlo (320 passes).

Mario Balotelli scored as many goals against Germany in the semi-finals as he did in his 12 previous caps for Italy. He’s scored Italy’s last three goals at Euro 2012.

Balotelli has had the most shots on target at Euro 2012: 10.

Balotelli has become the first Italian player to score three goals in a European Championships tournament.

Gianluigi Buffon has played 24 matches at major tournaments, equalling Dino Zoff’s Italian record. He’s still four short of the record holder among goalkeepers, Spain’s Iker Casillas (28).

Andres Iniesta is the player who’s had the most shots on target without scoring at the European Championships, since 1980: 11 shots on target, 0 goal.

Cesc Fabregas and Santiago Cazorla are the most used substitutes in the history of the European Championships (alongside Holland’s Aron Winter), having been brought on seven times.



  • Spain are bidding to become the first team in history to win three successive major tournaments (Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012) and the first to retain the Henri Delaunay trophy.
  • La Roja are contesting their fourth European Championship final (1964, 1984, 2008 and 2012). They have lost just one (1984).
  • Vicente del Bosque's side are 19 competitive games without defeat and have won their last nine knockout matches at major tournaments without conceding a goal.
  • However, the Iberian outfit have not registered a competitive win over Italy in nearly a century (with their penalty shoot-out success in the quarter-final of Euro 2008 classed as a draw). Their record in 11 previous meetings is W1, D5, L5, with the sole victory coming in the sides' first ever encounter at the 1920 Olympic games.

  • Italy are competing in their third European Championship final (1968, 2000, 2012). They have won just one (1968).
  • The Azzurri are facing Spain for the 31st time, with their record in prior encounters reading W10, D12, L8. The sides' most recent meeting was in their opening match in this tournament, which finished as a 1-1 draw.
  • Italy have won just two of their last eight matches in regulation time, but are yet to lose a competitive fixture under Cesare Prandelli.
  • With his double against Germany, Mario Balotelli  became the first Italian to score three goals at a single European championship.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Jump, Head, Kick and Fall - Funny Football - Euro 2012 in Pics







Saturday, June 23, 2012

Euro 2012 - Funny Fans Pics










Saturday, June 9, 2012

UEFA Euro 2012 - Interesting Facts





UEFA Euro 2012 







Europe’s biggest and prestigious football crown, UEFA Euro 2012 has kicked-off on Friday with host nation Poland played out for a draw with 2004 winners Greece.




Initially, the first two tournaments in 1960 and 1964 were known as UEFA European Nations Cup before being changed to the current name since 1968.


Frenchman Michel Platini, who typified the player wearing jersey #10, is the top goalscorer in UEFA European Football Champions history with 9 Goals. As per another record, he scored all of his goals in 1984 which makes him the top goal scorers in one tournament as well.


Germany has played the most number of matches in all UEFA Tournaments with 38 Matches, Netherlands is ranked second with 32 Matches and Spain is next with 30 Matches.


Through the entire 13 UEFA Euro National Champions, Greece was the only National Team to win the title without a local National Coach. In 2004, Greece won the tournament with German Coach Otto Rehhagel.


Portugal (in 2004) was the only team to lose the final as hosts.


Michel Platini is the only player to score hat-tricks twice and the only player to score twice in the same tournament. Platini scored two hat-tricks in 2000 while Patrick Kluivert and SergioConceicao scored one each in 2000.


So far, only six players have played in 4 different Euro tournaments. Lothar Matthuis (Germany):1980, 1984, 1988 and 2000 - championship 1980. Peter Schmeichel (Denmark): 1988,1992, 1996 and 2000 - championship 1992. Aron Winter (Netherlands): 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 - championship 1988. Alessandro Del Piero (Italy): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Edwin Van Der Sar (Netherlands): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Lilian Thuram (France): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 - championship 2000.






The largest attendance in the history of the tournament was recorded at a qualifier between England and Scotland at Hampden Park in 1968. Approximately 130,711 people were present to watch the match.




So far, Belgium (1972), Austria and Switzerland (2008) have been the only teams not to reach semi-final when tournament were hosted on their lands.


David Villa (Spain) became the seventh player to score a Euro hat-trick after Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands), Sergio Conceicao (Portugal), Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Michel Platini (France), Klaus Allofs (Germany) and Dieter Müller (Germany).


Seven of the Spanish team members that started the World Cup final in 2010 were part of Barcelona squad. They send the same number of players to Poland and Ukraine for the Euro 2012.


Spain scored 8 goals in the tournament in South Africa with all coming from Barcelona players (David Villa scored five; Andres Iniesta two; Carles Puyol one).


Casillas has more caps than any other player competing in the Euro 2012 tournament with 129.


Co-hosts Ukraine are the only nation making their debut at this European Championship.


Poland are the lowest ranked nation in the FIFA World Rankings (65th) to participate in Euro 2012.






Past European Championships
Year Winner Runner-up Third Fourth
2016 France
2012 Poland & Ukraine
2008  Spain Germany Austria & Switzerland
2004 Greece Portugal Czech Republic & Netherlands
2000 France Italy Portugal & Netherlands
1996 Germany Czech Republic England & France
1992 Denmark Germany Netherlands & Sweden
1988 Netherlands USSR Germany & Italy
1984 France Spain Denmark & Portugal
1980 Germany Belgium Czechoslovakia Italy
1976 Czechoslovakia Germany Netherlands Yugoslavia
1972 Germany USSR Belgium Hungary
1968 Italy Yugoslavia England USSR
1964 Spain USSR Hungary Denmark
1960 USSR Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia France




Titles Country
3 Germany
2 France
2 Spain
1 Denmark
1 Netherlands
1 Czechoslovakia
1 Greece
1 Italy
1 USSR


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