Czechs and Dutch: past finals meetings

The Czech Republic open their UEFA EURO 2016 Group A qualifying campaign against the Netherlands, with the two sides having met at the highest level in Europe in two previous UEFA European Championship final tournaments.

Coached by Frank Rijkaard, the Netherlands were hoping for an easy ride on 11 June 2000 in their first game as co-hosts of UEFA EURO 2000, but found Jozef Chovanec's Czechs to be a tough nut to crack at the Amsterdam Arena. Pavel Nedvěd and Jan Koller both headed against Edwin van der Sar's crossbar for the visitors before Ronald de Boer was fouled in the area late on, allowing his brother Frank to step up and score the 89th-minute winner from the penalty spot.

The Czechs gained revenge of a sort on 19 June 2004 under Karel Brückner, coming from 2-0 down at the Estádio Municipal in Aveiro to beat Dick Advocaat's ten-man Oranje 3-2 and claim a place in the quarter-finals in only their second match at the tournament in Portugal. Wilfred Bouma and Ruud van Nistelrooy struck early on for the Dutch, but Koller (23) and Milan Baroš (71) reined them back in, with Vladimír Šmicer conjuring an 88th-minute clincher following the dismissal of John Heitinga for a second yellow card.

Baroš, who equalised with a thunderous strike, said: "We began too nervously and we were completely down after two goals. But it was a fantastic game in the end, the best one I have played."