European Championship 1980
With the growing success of the World Cup in mind, UEFA decided to expand the 1980 tournament to eight teams. For the first time the host nation, in this case Italy, was decided in advance and exempt from the qualifying competition. The eight finalists were drawn into two groups and played on a round-robin basis, with the group winners contesting the final. The runners-up met to decide third place.
The format led to some meaningless games while defensive tactics produced a lot of tedious matches. Attendances were very poor when Italy were not playing and hooliganism became an issue after clashes between English and Belgian supporters.
Research by Franc Forjan suggests that UEFA banned the appearance of manufacturers' logos and those teams supplied by Adidas resorted to covering these with masking tape. The Greek team disregarded the ruling and had to pay a fine after the tournament.
