ON this football day in 2007….. On This Football Day.com was born! Yes dear reader it is one year to the day that we began our daily journey through the annals of football history for your pleasure. Does this mean the end of the line for the OTFD train I hear you cry? No no, fear not, just like Dean Windass’ career there is life in the old dog yet so do not depair, we will be here for the forseeable. Now, back to the football….

As football basks in the collective glory of the excellent Euro 2008 tournament we have all just enjoyed so much, we should all be getting down on our knees and doing the ‘we’re not worthy’ motion at the feet of the man who invented the competition and who the trophy is now named after.

That man is Henri Delauney who is sadly no longer with us, having passed away in 1955. A Frenchman, Delauney was a referee in his early days and along with compatriot Jules Rimet was instrumental in creating the World Cup. He was keen to set up a European competition but did not live to see his baby come to fruition.

Today in 1960, five years after Delauney’s death, the final of the first European Championships took place in France. Called the UEFA European Nations Cup it was quite different to the competition we know now. Seventeen teams entered the knock-out tournament but West Germany, England and Italy were not among them.

The first matches were held throughout 1958 and 1959 with the finals in France a much smaller event to what we are used to. Just four teams would contest the finals with home nation France facing Yugoslavia in one of the semis, with Czechoslovakia taking on the USSR in the other.

A thrilling 5-4 win put Yugoslavia in the final while the USSR cruised through with a 3-0 win over Czechoslovakia. Yugoslavia drew first blood in the final though Milan Galić but the USSR, captained by legendary ‘keeper Lev Yashin hit back with a Slava Metreveli goal. The stalemate could not be broken so the match went to extra time. Viktor Ponedelnik scored on 113 minutes to win the first ever European Championship for the USSR.

It was a somewhat fortunate victory for the Soviets as they were drawn against Spain in the quarter-finals but Franco refused to let his country’s team travel to Russia who had supported the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish civil war. With no opposition the USSR team were given the victory.

See the goals from the final below and be sure to head back this way tomorrow when just like the credit crunch, we’ll still be here.

What was OTFD on about on this day last year? Find out here…

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