EURO holders' title defences: Spain still the only team to retain EURO crown
Thursday, July 11, 2024
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EURO holders haven't fared too well in the past, with just one team successfully defending their crown.
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According to the oft-repeated mantra, teams learn how to win; they develop that winning mentality and titles snowball. Success, they say, breeds success. Or does it?
The EURO has long been a stubborn outlier that bucks the trend. Over the 17 editions, just one team has successfully defended their crown – Spain in 2012. La Roja reverted to type four years later, failing to make it past the round of 16.
Italy are the latest holders to have fallen foul of this particular quirk of history, having followed up their EURO 2020 triumph with a round of 16 exit in 2024.
EURO title defences
| Year | Winners | How they fared next time |
| 1960 | Soviet Union | Runners-up |
| 1964 | Spain | Quarter-finals* |
| 1968 | Italy | Quarter-finals* |
| 1972 | West Germany | Runners-up |
| 1976 | Czechoslovakia | Third place |
| 1980 | West Germany | Group stage |
| 1984 | France | Did not qualify |
| 1988 | Netherlands | Semi-finals |
| 1992 | Denmark | Group stage |
| 1996 | Germany | Group stage |
| 2000 | France | Quarter-finals |
| 2004 | Greece | Group stage |
| 2008 | Spain | Winners |
| 2012 | Spain | Round of 16 |
| 2016 | Portugal | Round of 16 |
| 2020 | Italy | Round of 16 |
*Two-legged qualifier for four-team final tournament
World Cup holders have fared somewhat better at EUROs. France (2000) and Spain (2012) both won the continental crown, while Germany reached the 1976 and 1992 finals, and England achieved a third-place finish in 1968.
World Cup holders at a EURO
| World Cup/EURO | World champions | How they fared at EURO |
| 1966/1968 | England | Third place |
| 1974/1976 | West Germany | Runners-up |
| 1982/1984 | Italy | Did not qualify |
| 1990/1992 | Germany** | Runners-up |
| 1998/2000 | France | Winners |
| 2006/2008 | Italy | Quarter-finals |
| 2010/2012 | Spain | Winners |
| 2014/2016 | Germany | Semi-finals |
| 2018/2020 | France | Round of 16 |
**Won 1990 World Cup as West Germany, entered EURO '92 as Germany
