UEFA Euro 2016 Final

UEFA Euro 2016 Final

Match programme cover
Event	UEFA Euro 2016
Portugal France 1 0
After extra time
Date	10 July 2016 (2016-07-10)
Venue	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Man of the Match	Pepe (Portugal)[1]
Referee	Mark Clattenburg (England)[2]
Attendance	75,868[3]
Weather	Sunny 28 °C (82 °F) 38% humidity[4]

The UEFA Euro 2016 Final was a football match that took place on 10 July 2016 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, to determine the winners of UEFA Euro 2016.^[5] Portugal defeated the hosts and two-time winners France 1–0 after extra time, with a goal from substitute Éder, to claim their first-ever major tournament title.^[6] In doing so, they became the tenth nation to win the UEFA European Championship, 12 years after losing their first final at home in 2004.^[7] France became the second host team to lose the final, after Portugal in 2004, and suffered their first defeat at a major tournament hosted in the country since the 1960 European Nations' Cup third-place playoff against Czechoslovakia.^[8] This was the fifth European Championship final to end in a draw after 90 minutes of play, and the second whose winners were decided by extra time, after the inaugural final in 1960.

As the winners, Portugal gained entry into their first-ever FIFA Confederations Cup, to be played in Russia in 2017.^[9]

Venue

The Stade de France in Saint-Denis hosted the final.

The final was held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. The announcement was made by UEFA, along with the full tournament schedule, on 25 April 2014, following a meeting held in Paris.^[10] The French capital had hosted two previous European Championship finals, in 1960 and 1984, both at the Parc des Princes.

Opened in 1998, the Stade de France was built for that year's FIFA World Cup. It hosted nine matches, including the opening match and the final. Serving as the national stadium, the Stade de France hosts numerous domestic cup finals, including the Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue, Coupe de France Féminine, and Coupe Gambardella finals in football, along with the Top 14 final in rugby union. The stadium has no permanent tenants, but serves as a secondary home facility of Parisian rugby clubs Stade Français and Racing 92, hosting a few of their regular-season fixtures. It also hosts some matches of the French national football and rugby teams.

The stadium was one of the venues of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, hosting six matches, including the final, and staged two UEFA Champions League finals, in 2000 and 2006. In addition to football, the Stade de France hosted matches at the 1999 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, including the latter's final. The stadium has also been one of the venues for the annual Six Nations Championship since 1998, and hosted the final of the Heineken Cup in 2010. In athletics, it hosted the IAAF World Championships in 2003, and is also the annual host of the Meeting Areva track and field event since 1999. The stadium has also staged the Race of Champions auto race in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

A UEFA Category Four stadium, the Stade de France is the sixth-largest stadium in Europe and the largest venue of Euro 2016, with a maximum capacity of 81,338 – although this was reduced for the tournament. The final was the seventh match played in the stadium at Euro 2016, which included the tournament's opening match between France and Romania.^[11][12][13]

Background

France had previously played in two European Championship finals, winning against Spain in 1984 on home soil, and via golden goal against Italy in the Netherlands in 2000. Portugal had played in one prior final, losing to Greece in their own country in 2004.

The two teams had previously met 24 times, starting in 1926 when France won 4–2 in Toulouse. Before the final, France had won 18 of those meetings, Portugal 5, and 1 draw. Portugal's last victory was in a 1975 friendly in France, after which France won all ten of the subsequent meetings. All three of their competitive meetings – in the semi-finals of Euro 1984, Euro 2000, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup – had been French victories.^[14]

Route to the final

Portugal		Round	France
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Iceland	1–1	Match 1	Romania	2–1
Austria	0–0	Match 2	Albania	2–0
Hungary	3–3	Match 3	Switzerland	0–0
Group F third-place finisher Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Hungary 3 5 2  Iceland 3 5 3  Portugal 3 3 4  Austria 3 1 Source: UEFA		Final standings	Group A winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1  France (H) 3 7 2   Switzerland 3 5 3  Albania 3 3 4  Romania 3 1 Source: UEFA (H) Host.
Opponent	Result	Knockout phase	Opponent	Result
Croatia	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Round of 16	Republic of Ireland	2–1
Poland	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Quarter-finals	Iceland	5–2
Wales	2–0	Semi-finals	Germany	2–0

Pre-match

Match ball

The official match ball for the knockout phase and final was the Adidas Fracas, provided by German sports equipment company Adidas.^[15] The ball was announced during the tournament, and was official launched 20 June. This was the first time a match ball was not used exclusively for the final, and the first time multiple balls were used throughout the tournament (excluding the final). The design incorporates the main colour white with multiple shades of blue and red, with letters and numbers on each line creating "EURO" and "2016". The design is similar to the Adidas Beau Jeu, the official group stage ball of Euro 2016, although the Fracas' artwork features a "more disruptive" red and black design, according to Adidas, in contrast to the cleaner lines of the Beau Jeu.^[16][17]

Stadium

Before the match started, the stadium was invaded by Silver Y moths, which caused some irritation to the players, staff and coaches. The reason this occurred is because the workers at the stadium left the lights switched on the day before the match which attracted huge swaths of insects. The players and coaches of each team during the warm-up tried swatting the moths, and ground staff used brushes to clean moths from the walls, ground and other areas.^[18][19]

Officials

Mark Clattenburg was the final's referee.

On 8 July 2016, the UEFA Referees Committee announced the officiating team, led by 41-year-old English referee Mark Clattenburg of The FA. His compatriots Simon Beck and Jake Collin were chosen as assistant referees, and fellow Englishmen Anthony Taylor and Andre Marriner the additional assistants. Hungarian Viktor Kassai was chosen as the fourth official, with his fellow countryman György Ring as the reserve assistant. Clattenburg became the second official to officiate both a Champions League final and European Championship final in the same season, after Pedro Proença in 2012. This made it a hat-trick of cup finals for Clattenburg, after the 2016 FA Cup Final and the aforementioned 2016 UEFA Champions League Final, all within a seven-week span. In addition, Clattenburg, FIFA listed since 2007 and a UEFA Elite referee, has officiated the 2012 Olympics gold medal match and the 2014 UEFA Super Cup. Domestically, he also officiated the 2012 Football League Cup Final and the 2013 FA Community Shield. He is the first English European Championship final referee since Arthur Ellis in 1960 and Arthur Holland in 1964, the first two European Championship finals. The match was Clattenburg's fourth appointment at Euro 2016.^[2]

Violence

In the hours before the final, there were clashes between fans trying to access the Eiffel Tower fan zone and police attempting to prevent overcrowding.^[20] In addition, police carried out a controlled explosion on a package left near the stadium complex, while fans set litter bins alight. The disruption was under control by the second half, but after the match, fights broke out between fans outside the stadium. Police advised people not to travel to the Eiffel Tower or the Champs-Élysées as the area was not safe.^[21]

Closing ceremony

Prior to the start of the match, at 20:45, the closing ceremony was held, featuring a live performance by performers and musicians, including members of the Paris Fire Brigade, the French Republican Guard, and the Choir of Radio France. French DJ David Guetta and Swedish singer Zara Larsson performed the official tournament song "This One's for You".^[22]

Match

Summary

France started the match trying to impose an uptempo rhythm whereas Portugal preferred a more controlled pace. There were very few goalscoring opportunities in the first half, with the exceptions being an over-the-bar volley from Nani in the 4th minute, a header from Griezmann in the 10th and a low strike by Sissoko in the 34th, these last two both saved by Portugal's Rui Patrício.^[23] France had more possession (55% to 45% at halftime, 53% to 47% in the end of regulation) and goal attempts as the match progressed.^[24][25] In the eighth minute Portugal's captain and all-time leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo suffered an injury to the knee from a hard tackle by Dimitri Payet, not judged as a foul by referee Mark Clattenburg. Ronaldo attempted to play on but came off twice before finally going down a third time and was substituted for Ricardo Quaresma in the 25th minute.^[26][27] Sports Illustrated remarked that France missed opportunities in the 10th, 34th, 66th, and 84th minutes,^[25] while the UEFA website mentioned that France continued to probe without managing to obtain clear chances.^[23]

Portugal used their remaining two substitutions in the second half, bringing on João Moutinho for Adrien Silva and Éder for Renato Sanches, while France brought on Kingsley Coman for Dimitri Payet and André-Pierre Gignac for Olivier Giroud. The home side's main chances occurred in the second half, when Griezmann was left unmarked 6 metres from the goal heading over the crossbar, and when Gignac hit the post in the last minute of normal time after his shot beat Rui Patrício. Portugal's best chances at goals came in extra time: a header from Éder was saved by Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Guerreiro hit the crossbar from a free kick given by the referee from an alleged handball by Laurent Koscielny, though the replays showed the ball touching Éder's hand instead while being pressed by Koscielny from behind.^[28][29][30] Éder ended up scoring what would turn out to be the winning goal in the 109th minute. João Moutinho recovered the ball in the midfield directly from a Bacary Sagna's throw-in and, after a ball passing sequence which involved also William Carvalho and Quaresma, passed it to the forward. Holding off Koscielny, Éder cut inside and struck the ball low to the keeper's right from approximately 25 yards (23 m).^[25] ESPN said that the strike was "brilliantly taken" and "one that deserved to win any final".^[24] France immediately brought on Anthony Martial, but to no avail, as Portugal went on to win their first major trophy.^[30][31]

Details

Portugal  v  France

10 July 2016 (2016-07-10) 21:00 CEST

Portugal	1–0 (a.e.t.)	France
Éder  109'	Report

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 75,868[3] Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)

Portugal[4]

France[4]

GK 1 Rui Patrício  120+3' RB 21 Cédric  34' CB 3 Pepe CB 4 José Fonte  119' LB 5 Raphaël Guerreiro  95' DM 14 William Carvalho  98' RW 16 Renato Sanches  79' AM 23 Adrien Silva  66' LW 10 João Mário  62' CF 17 Nani CF 7 Cristiano Ronaldo (c)  25' Substitutions: FW 20 Ricardo Quaresma  25' MF 8 João Moutinho  66' FW 9 Éder  79' Manager: Fernando Santos

GK 1 Hugo Lloris (c) RB 19 Bacary Sagna CB 21 Laurent Koscielny  107' CB 22 Samuel Umtiti  80' LB 3 Patrice Evra RM 18 Moussa Sissoko  110' CM 15 Paul Pogba  115' CM 14 Blaise Matuidi  97' LM 8 Dimitri Payet  58' SS 7 Antoine Griezmann CF 9 Olivier Giroud  78' Substitutions: MF 20 Kingsley Coman  58' FW 10 André-Pierre Gignac  78' FW 11 Anthony Martial  110' Manager: Didier Deschamps

Statistics

Post-match

The match was Portugal's first competitive win against France, and gave Portugal their first ever major trophy.^[14][18] The win also qualified Portugal for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, marking their first appearance in the competition, and the first time that three countries from the same confederation will participate in the competition (hosts Russia, world champions Germany and Portugal).^[34]

Youth on field

Signed from Benfica a few weeks before the tournament, Bayern Munich's Renato Sanches became the youngest player to win the Euro at 18 years and 328 days. Had France won the final, it also would have been a Bayern player to have this new record, Kingsley Coman (20 years, 27 days).

Renato Sanches was later named the Young Player of the Tournament by UEFA.^[35]

See also

• 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: Ronaldo-less Portugal beats France 1-0; wins Euro '16

• UEFA Euro official website