Germany and Norway reprise 2005 final

The opening Group B match brings together the two most successful teams in this tournament's history. Between them Germany and Norway won every edition apart from the inaugural 1984 competition.

• Norway won the second UEFA Competition for National Representative Women Teams in 1987 and the second UEFA European Women's Championship six years later. In 1995 they beat Germany 2-0 in Stockholm to win the FIFA Women's World Cup.

• Germany won the third and final UEFA Competition for National Representative Women Teams in 1989 with a 4-1 victory against Norway in Osnabruck and the first UEFA European Women's Championship two years later, beating the same team 3-1 after extra time in Aalborg. After Norway took the title in 1993, Germany regained it in 1995 and successfully defended it in 1997, 2001 and 2005, also winning the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.

• Germany are meeting Norway for the 32nd time in a senior international and both teams have recorded 13 wins with five draws, though Germany have scored 50 goals to their opponents' 46.

• Not only did the teams meet in the 2005 final in Blackburn, Germany winning 3-1, but they had also played – like this time – in an opening Group B fixture. The holders prevailed 1-0 in Warrington with a 61st-minute Conny Pohlers goal.

• The teams for the group game were:
Germany: Silke Rottenberg, Kerstin Stegemann, Ariane Hingst, Steffi Jones, Sandra Minnert, Kerstin Garefrekes, Inka Grings, Navina Omilade (Britta Carlson), Conny Pohlers (Petra Wimbersky), Anja Mittag, Inga Grings (Sandra Smisek).
Norway: Bente Nordby, Marianne Paulsen, Marit Fiane Christensen, Ane Stangeland, Gunhild Følstad, Solveig Gulbrandsen, Ingvild Stensland, Trine Rønning, Dagny Mellgren, Stine Frantzen (Isabell Herlovsen), Unni Lehn (Lise Klaveness).

• Herlovsen's 83rd-minute appearance aged 16 years 348 days made her the youngest player in the history of the finals. Three days later she became the youngest goalscorer with her strike against France.

• In the 2005 final Anja Mittag gave Germany a 21st-minute lead and Renate Lingor made it 2-0 three minutes later. Dagny Mellgren pulled one back for Norway on 41 minutes but Germany captain Birgit Prinz, who had missed the group game through injury, made sure of her fourth European title in the 63rd minute.

• The teams for the final were:
Germany: Silke Rottenberg, Kerstin Garefrekes, Ariane Hingst, Steffi Jones, Sandra Minnert, Britta Carlson (Sarah Günther), Inka Grings (Sandra Smisek), Renate Lingor, Conny Pohlers, Anja Mittag, (Petra Wimbersky), Birgit Prinz.
Norway: Bente Nordby, Marianne Paulsen, Marit Fiane Christensen, Ane Stangeland, Gunhild Følstad, Solveig Gulbrandsen, Ingvild Stensland, Trine Rønning (Marie Knutsen), Dagny Mellgren, Lise Klaveness (Kristin Blystad-Bjerke), Stine Frantzen (Isabell Herlovsen).

• Overall these teams have played ten times in this competition, including four qualifiers, two group games, a semi-final and three finals. Germany have won five of the encounters – including the last three – and Norway two, with Germany scoring 15 goals and Norway nine. As well as the 1989, 1991 and 2005 finals, Germany triumphed 1-0 in the 2001 semi-final and the Scandinavian side have only avoided defeat in EURO finals against Germany with a goalless draw on home soil in the 1997 tournament.

• However, Norway do have the edge on Germany in one competition; they beat them 3-2 in the group stage of the 1996 Olympic Games and 1-0 in the 2000 semi-finals on their way to claiming gold in Sydney.

• Since the 2005 EURO final Germany have beaten Norway 1-0 in the 2006 Algarve Cup before going down 2-1 to the same opponents a year later. In a pre-World Cup friendly in August 2007 in Mainz the teams drew 2-2 but in the semi-finals in China, Germany won 3-0. In the 2008 Algarve Cup, Norway won 2-0 and repeated the trick in a home friendly in July of that year.

• In the 2007 World Cup semi-final Trine Rønning put through a 42nd-minute own goal before Germany's Kerstin Stegemann made it 2-0 on 72 minutes and substitute Martina Müller increased the advantage three minutes later.

• The teams were:
Germany: Nadine Angerer, Kerstin Stegemann, Ariane Hingst, Linda Bresonik (Sandra Minnert), Kerstin Garefrekes, Simone Laudehr, Renate Lingor, Melanie Behringer (Fatmire Bajramaj), Sandra Smisek (Martina Müller), Birgit Prinz.
Norway: Bente Nordby, Gunhild Følstad (Siri Nordby), Trine Rønning, Ane Stangeland, Camilla Huse, Solveig Gulbrandsen (Lene Storløkken) Ingvild Stensland, Marie Knutsen, Leni Larsen Kaurin, Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, Isabell Herlovsen (Lise Klaveness).

• Germany have not failed to win a game in this competition since 1999, a 29-match run dating back to a 4-4 draw in Italy on 11 November of that year. In 2009 qualifying they secured first place with three games to spare by winning 5-0 in Belgium and had the best overall record: P8 W8 D0 L0 F34 A1 PTS24.

• Their last EURO defeat was a 3-1 qualifying defeat at home to Norway on 2 May 1996, a 41-match run. Germany have won their last 13 EURO finals games dating back to a 0-0 draw with Norway on 3 July 1997. Since the introduction of an eight-team final tournament that year they are unbeaten in 15 such games; their last loss at a final stage was in the 1993 third-place match in Italy, when they lost 3-1 to Denmark having been knocked out by the hosts on penalties.

• Norway won their first seven Group 7 games and confirmed qualification with a 0-0 draw in Russia to finish three points clear without conceding a goal. Their record was P8 W7 D1 L0 F26 A0 PTS22.

• Since qualifying began five Germany legends have retired from the international game: goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg, defenders Sandra Minnert and Steffi Jones, midfielder Renate Lingor and striker Sandra Smisek.

• Two Norway players made their debuts last Wednesday in a 1-0 friendly win in Sweden: Celilie Pedersen and Marit Sandvei.

• Germany's players from 1. FFC Frankfurt will hope that their meeting with Norway's Røa IL in the UEFA Women's Cup second qualifying round on 11 October 2008 was an omen as they won 3-1 in Drammen. That result proved decisive in taking Frankfurt into the quarter-finals, where they lost to domestic rivals FCR 2001 Duisburg.

• Frankfurt's team included Birgit Prinz and Saskia Bartusiak while Røa fielded Caroline Knutsen and Hedda Gardsjord.

• Duisburg went on to face Olympique Lyonnais, featuring winter signing Stensland and former Norway goalkeeper Nordby in the semi-finals. Stensland opened the scoring in the first leg at Stade de Gerland in a 1-1 draw, as she faced Germany's Sonja Fuss, Annike Krahn, Bresonik, Bajramaj and Grings.

• A week later Grings scored twice and Bresonik converted a penalty as Duisburg won 3-1. As well as Grings, Bresonik, Krahn, Fuss and Bajramaj starting, Laudehr came off the bench. Duisburg went on to beat Zvezda-2005 7-1 on aggregate in the final.

• After this tournament, Germany's next scheduled competitive match is their opening game as hosts of the 2011 World Cup on 26 June 2011 at Berlin's Olympiastadion. The final is on 17 July in Frankfurt, with further host cities including Augsburg, Bochum, Dresden, Leverkusen, Monchengladbach, Sinsheim and Wolfsburg. The only previous World Cup in Europe was in Sweden in 1995, when Norway beat Germany 2-0 in the final in Stockholm.