Il Campionato europeo di calcio 1996, o semplicemente Euro 96, è stata la decima edizione del Campionato europeo di calcio, organizzato ogni quattro anni dalla UEFA.
Sede della fase finale del torneo fu l'Inghilterra dall'8 al 30 giugno 1996. Lo slogan del torneo era "Il calcio torna a casa" ("Football Comes Home").
Il torneo fu vinto dalla Germania, che batté in finale la rivelazione Repubblica Ceca per 2-1 al golden gol, novità nel regolamento introdotta dalla UEFA per la manifestazione. I tedeschi così si riscattarono conquistando il titolo di campioni d'Europa dopo la soprendente sconfitta contro la Danimarca nella finale del campionato d’Europa 1992.
Dopo un buon inizio e una convincente vittoria contro la Russia, l'Italia di Arrigo Sacchi trovò un'improvvisa sconfitta con la Repubblica Ceca, che la costrinse a giocarsi la qualificazione con la quotata Germania. La partita decisiva fu dominata dagli azzurri, che, anche grazie all'espulsione di Strunz obbligarono i tedeschi a stazionare nella loro area per gran parte della durata del match senza mai, però, trovare il gol. L'Italia fallì un calcio di rigore con Gianfranco Zola nei primi minuti della partita e non riuscì a vincere, pertanto fu eliminata. Le stesse ultime 2 avversarie dell'Italia nel suo girone, Repubblica Ceca e Germania, si sarebbero ritrovate, poi, in finale.

The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 96) was hosted by England. It was the tenth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The tournament's final stages took place between 8 June and 30 June 1996. The slogan of the tournament was "Football Comes Home", as it was the first time the tournament had taken place in England, the land where the game was born. English football and popular culture has since referenced the competition fondly even though the team did not reach the final. The national impact of the competition can be measured by the fact that the song "Three Lions", which became the song the England fans sang when their team played was re-released for the 1998 World Cup containing lyrics referencing Euro 96, such as "Psycho (Stuart Pearce) screaming" replacing "Nobby (1966 team member Nobby Stiles) dancing". The song thus upstaged the tournament's official theme, "We're In This Together" by Simply Red.
Fifteen teams had to go through a qualifying round to reach the final stage. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event. This was the first European Championship to introduce the current format of 16 countries competing in the final tournament. UEFA had made the decision to expand the tournament as in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was far easier for European nations to qualify for the World Cup than their own continental championship; 14 of the 24 teams at the 1982. 1986 and 1990 World Cups had been European, whereas the European Championship finals still involved only eight teams. Since the Taylor Report, England now boasted enough all-seater stadia of sufficient capacity to hold an expanded tournament.
The final of the tournament was between Germany and the surprise of the tournament – the Czech Republic. In the end, it was a triumph for German striker Oliver Bierhoff, who scored Germany's equaliser in the 2nd half after Patrik Berger's penalty had given the Czechs the lead. As the game went into extra time, it was Bierhoff who scored the Golden Goal (after a mistake from the Czech goalkeeper, and the first Golden Goal in the history of international football) to give Germany another major tournament success.
Although not all the games were sold out, the tournament had the highest aggregate attendance in championship history (1,276,000) and the highest average per game of 41,158 for the revised 16 team format with 31 games. Only Germany had had a higher average attendance in championship history with an average of 56,656 in 1988 but only staged 15 games in an 8 team championship.

ITALIA 1996
C.T.: Arrigo Sacchi

• Portieri / Goalkeepers: Luca Bucci, Angelo Peruzzi, Francesco Toldo
• Difensori / Defenders: Luigi Apolloni, Amedeo Carboni, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini (C), Roberto Mussi, Alessandro Nesta, Moreno Torricelli
• Centrocampisti / Midfielders: Demetrio Albertini, Dino Baggio, Angelo Di Livio, Roberto Di Matteo, Roberto Donadoni, Diego Fuser, Fabio Rossitto
• Attaccanti / Forwards: Pierluigi Casiraghi, Enrico Chiesa, Alessandro Del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Gianfranco Zola

MULTIMEDIA:

• Video: Casiraghi 1° e 2°, Italia - Russia 2-1 (WC1996) [500Kb] *qt; Zola, Italia - Inghilterra 1-0 (1997) [500Kb] *qt

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