At last, the Dutch come good and win a major football final. My friend Magi has a theory that the Semi-Finals are always a better game than the finals. Well Holland v Germany in 1988 would have proved her point. Whilst the Semis may well provide the best football, it is always the final that people remember. For the Dutch supporters it was celebration from a long way out, for the neutral an air of anti-climax.
The format for the European Championship in Germany was two Quarter Final groups with the winners and runners-up progressing to the Semi Finals. France were seen off by the Eastern Europeans and did not make the final stages. England were desperately disappointing, while Italy were as hard to beat as ever.
European Football Championship Final 1988
33′ Gullit, 54′ Van Basten
Holland: Van Breukelen, Van Aerle, Rijkaard, R.Koeman, Van Tiggelen, Vanenburg, Wouters, A.M?ren, E.Koeman, Gullit, Van Basten
Semi Finals
| Holland | 3-2 | Germany |
| USSR | 2-0 | Italy |
Group Stages 1988 – Statistics for qualifying matches
| Group 1 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| Spain | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| Romania | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 9 | ||||
| Austria | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 5 | ||||
| Albania | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 0 | ||||
| Group 2 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| Italy | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 13 | ||||
| Sweden | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 10 | ||||
| Portugal | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 8 | ||||
| Switzerland | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 7 | ||||
| Malta | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 21 | 2 | ||||
| Group 3 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| USSR | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 13 | ||||
| Germany (East) | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 11 | ||||
| France | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | ||||
| Iceland | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 6 | ||||
| Norway | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 4 | ||||
| Group 4 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| England | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 11 | ||||
| Yugoslavia | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 8 | ||||
| Northern Ireland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 3 | ||||
| Turkey | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 2 | ||||
| Group 5 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| Holland | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 16 | ||||
| Greece | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 9 | ||||
| Hungary | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 8 | ||||
| Poland | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 8 | ||||
| Cyprus | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 24 | 1 | ||||
| Group 6 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| Denmark | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| Czechoslovakia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 7 | ||||
| Wales | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Finland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 3 | ||||
| Group 7 | |||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GS | GA | PTS | |||||
| Republic of Ireland | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 11 | ||||
| Bulgaria | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| Belgium | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 8 | 9 | ||||
| Scotland | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 9 | ||||
| Luxembourg | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 23 | 1 | ||||
