The Pre Tournament’s Favorites’ Tough Luck in EURO History

 

In EURO history, the pre-tournament favourites have had less of an advantage than the dark horses.

Being pre-tournament favourites in major competitions can boost team confidence. However, it can also be burdensome. In EURO, the pre-tournament favorites do not always guarantee silverware in the end. In fact, this continental championship is frequently not in favour of the favorites. The underdog status may even be advantageous, as they face less pressure from the media and fans.

Throughout the tournament history, the favorites only thrived and clinched the silverware in four editions, 1960, 1972, 1984 and 2012. In those editions, USSR, West Germany, France and Spain managed to live up to their fans and pundits expectations in the final round, whereas the other 11 editions have always produced unlikely champions, either from secondary or tertiary favourites or from dark horses. This can be strong evidence that betting on the favourite is still a risky business. Nothing is impossible in football, especially in the UEFA European Championship.

Here are the campaign of pre-tournament favourites in each and every EURO edition.

Edition	Pre-tournament favorites	Reason	How far they progressed
EURO 1960	USSR	One of the best teams in the world at that time, Gold medal winner in 1956 Olympics. Top players: Lev Yashin, Igor Netto	Champions (vs Czechoslovakia 3-0 in semifinal) (vs Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final)
EURO 1964	USSR	Reigning champions, Lev Yashin just won Ballon D’or in 1963. Top Players: Lev Yashin, Valentin Ivanov	Runners up (vs Denmark 3-0 in semifinal) (vs Spain 1-2 in the final)
EURO 1968	England	1966 World Cup winner, Manchester United just won European Cup before EURO. Top Players: Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst	Third place (vs Yugoslavia 0-1 in semifinal) (vs USSR 2-1 in third place playoff)
EURO 1972	West Germany	1979 World Cup semifinalist, star-studded team. Top Players: Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Gerd Muller, Paul Breitner, Jupp Heynckes	Champion (vs Belgium 2-1 in semifinal) (vs USSR 3-0 in the final)
EURO 1976	West Germany	1974 World Cup winner, German clubs thrived in Europe (Bayern in UCL and Gladbach in UEFA Cup) Top players: Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Uli Hoeness	Runners up (vs Yugoslavia 4-2 in semifinal) Vs Czechoslovakia 2-2 (3-5) on penalties in the final)
EURO 1980	England	English clubs ruled Europe from 1977, including Nottingham Forest which just won European Cup before EURO. Top players: Kevin Keegan, Ray Wilkins, Peter Shilton, Glenn Hoddle.	Group stage (vs Belgium 1-1) (vs Italy 0-1) (vs Spain 2-1)
EURO 1984	France	The host, 1982 World Cup semifinalist, Michel Platini. Top players: Michel Platini, Luis Fernandez, Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse	Champion (vs Denmark 1-0) (vs Belgium 5-0) (vs Yugoslavia 3-2) (vs Portugal 3-2 in semifinal) (vs Spain 2-0 in the final)
EURO 1988	West Germany	The host, 1986 World Cup runners up. Top players: Lothar Mattheus, Rudi Voeller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Andreas Brehme.	Semifinalist (vs Italy 1-1) (vs Denmark 2-0) (vs Spain 2-0) (vs Netherlands 1-2 in semifinal)
EURO 1992	France	Perfect record in the qualifiers, star-studded teams, Michel Platini as manager. Top players: Jean Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps, Jocelyn Angloma.	Group stage (vs Sweden 1-1) (vs England 0-0) (vs Denmark 1-2)
EURO 1996	England	The host, the hype of Premier League, seeking redemption after failing to qualify in 1994 World Cup. Top players: Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, David Platt, Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, David Seaman	Semifinalist (vs Switzerland 1-1) (vs Scotland 2-0) (vs Netherlands 4-1) (vs Spain 0-0 (4-2) on penalties in quarterfinal) (vs Germany 1-1 (6-7) on penalties in semifinal)
EURO 2000	Netherlands	The host, 1998 World Cup semifinalist. Top players: Patrick Kluivert, Ronald de Boer, Edwin Van der Sar, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars	Semifinalist (vs Czech Rep 1-0) (vs Denmark 3-0) (vs France 3-2) (vs Yugoslavia 6-1 in quarterfinal) (vs Italy 0-0 (1-3) on penalties in semifinal)
EURO 2004	France	Reigning champion, Zinedine Zidane, star-studded squad, seeking redemption after 2002 World Cup failure. Top players: Zidane, Thierry Henry, Claude Makalele, David Trezeguet, Patrick Viera	Quarterfinal (vs England 2-1) (vs Croatia 2-2) (vs Switzerland 3-1) (vs Greece 0-1 in the quarterfinal)
EURO 2008	Germany	2006 World Cup third place, Michael Ballack. Top players: Michael Ballack, Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Jens Lehmann, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose	Runner up (vs Poland 2-0) (vs Croatia 1-2) (vs Austria 1-0) (vs Portugal 3-2 in quarterfinal) (vs Turkey 3-2 in the semifinal) (vs Spain 0-1 in the final)
EURO 2012	Spain	Reigning champion, 2010 World Cup winner, tiki taka era, Barcelona’s continual success. Top players: Xavi, Andreas Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso	Champion (vs Italy 1-1) (vs Ireland 4-0) (vs Croatia 1-0) (vs France 2-0 in the quarterfinal) (vs Portugal 0-0 (4-2) on penalties in semifinal) (vs Italy 4-0 in the final)
EURO 2016	France	The host. Top players: Antoine Griezmann, Dmitry Payet, Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba	Runner up (vs Romania 2-1) (vs Albania 2-0) (vs Switzerland 0-0) (vs Ireland 2-1 in the round of 16) (vs Iceland 5-2 in the quarterfinal) (vs Germany 2-0 in the semifinal) (vs Portugal 0-1 in the final)
EURO 2020 (held in 2021 due to global pandemic)	England	The host for final, 2018 World Cup semifinalist, Premier League clubs dominates rule Europe in 2019 and 2021. Top players: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Pickford, Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker	Runner up (vs Croatia 1-0) (vs Scotland 0-0) (vs Czech Rep 1-0) (vs Germany 2-0 in the round of 16) (vs Ukraine 4-0 in the quarterfinal) (vs Denmark 2-1 in the semifinal) (vs Italy 1-1 (2-3) on penalties in the final)