UEFA European Championship

The UEFA European Championship is an international tournament of football, often termed as the 'UEFA European Nations Cup'. The tournament was founded by the members of the Union of European Football Association. The first tournament was held in the year 1960, hosted by France where the Soviet Union emerged as champions. Fifteen tournaments have been played so far, and Spain and Germany are the only two teams to win the trophy thrice. Currently, 24 nations participate in the tournament while 55 teams are eligible to enter the qualification round. Initially, the competition was held for the senior men’s national team of the members of Union of European Football Association (UEFA), to determine the continental champion of Europe. At first, four teams competed against each other, then the number of teams was expanded to 8, then 16 and at last in the year 2010, the number of teams was expanded upto 24. Before entering the tournament, all the teams apart from the hosting nation have to compete in a qualifying round. The championship winners get a chance to compete in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The 2012 Euro final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million.