2016 Euro Final – France 0–1 Portugal

Lore & Background

Portugal finished third in Group F, with draws against Iceland, Austria and Hungary. They then defeated Croatia in the last 16, Poland in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out, and beat Wales 2–0 in the semi-finals. France finished as winners of Group A, beating Romania and Albania before drawing with Switzerland. In the knockout stage, France defeated the Republic of Ireland in the last 16, Iceland in the quarter-finals, and beat Germany 2–0 in the semi-finals.

The final was refereed by English official Mark Clattenburg in front of 75,868 spectators. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo departed the match through injury during the goalless 90 minutes. Portugal took the lead in the 108th minute through substitute Eder, whose low shot from 25 yd beat France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Portugal won 1–0 to claim their first major tournament title.

Portugal became the tenth different nation to win the European Championship, twelve years after losing their first final, at home in the 2004 tournament. France became the second host team to lose the final, after Portugal, and suffered their first defeat at a major tournament hosted in the country since the 1960 European Nations' Cup third-place play-off against Czechoslovakia.

Reader's Guide

The final was held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. France had previously played in two European Championship finals, winning as tournament hosts against Spain in 1984, and via a 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; before the final, France had won eighteen of those meetings, Portugal five, with one 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 previous competitive meetings – in the semi-finals of Euro 1984, Euro 2000, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup – had been French victories. At the start of the tournament, Portugal were listed in eighth place in the FIFA World Rankings, while France were seventeenth.

Did You Know?

• 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 FIFA Confederations Cup, which was played in Russia in 2017.
• The Stade de France was the largest venue of Euro 2016, with a maximum capacity for the tournament of 80,000.