2000 Belgium\Netherlands

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Belgium\Netherlands 2000

Euro 2000 was the eleventh European Championship, but first to be cohosted by two countries, Belgium and The Netherlands. A total of 16 teams in the finals, with the hosts already qualifed, with four groups of four in the first phase of the competition, top two will proceed to the knockout stages.

World Champions France, wins the European title

Possibly the biggest shock in the group stages was Portugal and Romania taking the top two spots with England finishing third and holders Germany finishing fourth. Ionel Ganea last minute penalty ensure Romania's 3-2 win over England, and allows them to take second place. While Portugal's Sérgio Conceiçăo scoring a hat trick, sending the Germans home.

The Netherlands were the clear favorites to win Euro 2000, due to the home advantage and having world class players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert, The de Boer brothers and Clarence Seedorf in their squad. The 6-1 thrashing of Yugoslavia in the quarter finals, show signals that this is the side to beat.

However, the hosts seems to underachieve yet again. After a 0-0 draw against the Italians, Holland went out losing 3-1 in a penalty shoot out, as they only scored one out of the four penalties. Jaap Stam missing one, and Francesco Toldo saving Frank de Boer and Paul Bosvelt's efforts.

Italy were on the verge of lifting the trophy for the second time in their history, with Marco Delvecchio scoring the only goal in the 55th minute against France. Sylvain Wiltord scored in the 90th minute, to take the game into extra time, with David Trézéguet scoring the golden goal in the 103rd minute of the match. France, the current world champions, takes the european title for the second time.