LONDON, Dec 31 (Reuter): Football came home to its birthplace in the summer of 1996 but it was Germany not England who were celebrating loudest and longest at the ertd of the major event of the year — the European Championship.
England was transformed for three heady weeks in .June as Euro '96 gripped the nation's imagination in a way no sports event had done in the home of the game since England hosted the world Cup 30 years ago.
The ideal finals to the Championship would have been England winning as they did in
Instead, millions of distraught English men. women and children suffered the agonies of seeing their team lose to Germany on a penalty shoot out in the semifinals or a major championship for the second time in six years.
In Italy in 1990 the Germans knocked England out of the World Cup on penalties and they did the same again at Wembley on the night of June 26.
Berti Vogts' team then went on to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the final at Wembley four days later, courtesy of a controversial sudden death golden i'oal. scored by Oliver Bierhoff our minutes into extra time.
it was the first time a major title had been decided in such a
wav and while it gave Germany a deserved third European title, the debate still rages about the best way to decide matches level after 90 minutes in championship football.
OFF TO A GOOD STARf,
BUT KNOCKOUT DISAPPOINTING
For while the opening group stage of Euro '96 was peppered with bright, flowing games, the knockout section was a disappointment with two of the four quarter-finals decided by penalties as well as both semifinals.
The sports governing bodies have yet to find a fairer way of concluding games and. until they do. major championships are likely to be settled in this unsatisfactory manner.
Still, not all Englishmen were disappointed this summer England striker Alan Shearer ended Euro ‘96 as the tournament s top striker with five goals and a month later moved from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United for a world record fee of 15 million sterling 25 million dollars.
BOSMAN RULING A WATERSHED
Plenty of overseas players — taking full advantage of the December 1995 Bosman ruling which allowed players to become free agents at the end of their contracts and did away with restrictions on the number
of foreign players in any one team— flocked to England.
Top Italians swarmed in the Fabrizio Ravanelli moving to unfashionable Middlesbrough and his former Juventus team mate Gianluca Vialli going to Chelsea as did Gianfranco Zola ol Parma.
The barriers on cross border transfers crumbled In 1996 as a result of the Bosman ruling and the year will be seen as a watershed in the history of European soccer.
SIGNIFICANT YEAR FOR AFRICA
While Euro '96 dominated much of European football, the year was also a significant one for Africa with the South Africans hosting and winning their Continental Championship in January
Nigeria then stunned most observers by winning the Olympic soccer title, while Liberian George Weah of AC Milan inherited Diego Maradona's crown and mantle of the best player in the world.
FOOTBALL TRAGEDIES
But the year was not without tragedy and 81 fans were killed in October before the start of a World Cup qualifying game between Guatemala and Costa Rica.
The disaster was chillingly similar to the Hillsborough tragedy of 1989 when 96 fans were crushed to death in an overcrowded, fenced-in section of terracing in Sheffield. Eng-land
That led FIFA, world soccer's governing body, to call for the removal of all perimeter fencing — a possible problem for the 1998 World Cup organisers as fencing is required by law in France
Another tragedy left nine dead following a stampede at a World Cup qualifier between Zambia and Sudan In I Aisaka in
OTHER EVENTS
At club level Juventus were crowned European champions for the first time in 10 years and went on to win the World Club Cup against South Amen can champions River Plate in Tokyo.
Manchester United created history in England by becoming the first < lub to win a second league and cup double, in Spain Atletico Madrid also achieved a
double
Wlnle the lasting memory of 1996 may well be that of Ger-iii.in captain Juergen Klinsmann lifting the European Championship trophy high above nis head in June, at least two other images made a deep impression.
The sight and sounds of orange-bedecked Dutch brass bands brought vigour and colour to the stadiums of Euro '96.
Soccer may be more sleek and sophisticated than ever before but the Dutch brass bands and the Scottish fans shoed it is still the game of the people.