UEFA Euro 2000 final

UEFA Euro 2000 final
	The final took place at De Kuip (pictured in 2014) in Rotterdam.
Event	UEFA Euro 2000
	After golden goal extra time
Date	2 July 2000
Venue	De Kuip, Rotterdam
Man of the Match	Francesco Totti (Italy)
Referee	Anders Frisk (Sweden)
Attendance	48,100
Weather	Mostly cloudy; 20 °C (68 °F); 68% humidity
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The UEFA Euro 2000 final was the final match of Euro 2000, the eleventh European Football Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at De Kuip in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 2 July 2000 and was contested between France and Italy. France were drawn in Group D alongside the Netherlands, Denmark and the Czech Republic. France ended the group stage as runners-up to the Netherlands, and defeated Spain in the quarter-finals before progressing to the final with a victory over Portugal in the semi-final after a golden goal from Zinedine Zidane. Italy were allocated to Group B alongside Turkey, Belgium and Sweden and won the group. In the quarter-final they defeated Romania before a semi-final penalty shoot-out victory over the Netherlands saw them progress to the final.

The final took place in front of 48,100 spectators and was refereed by the Swedish official Anders Frisk. In the fifth minute, Thierry Henry struck a half-volley which hit the Italy goalpost and the first half ended goalless. In the 56th minute, Italy took the lead: Francesco Totti back-heeled the ball to Gianluca Pessotto whose cross beat both Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly, allowing Marco Delvecchio to score from close range. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, France's goalkeeper Fabien Barthez took a long free kick which was headed on by David Trezeguet to Sylvain Wiltord who controlled the ball with his chest before striking it through Alessandro Nesta's legs and past Italy goalkeeper Francesco Toldo into the far corner to make it 1–1. Two minutes before the interval in extra time, Demetrio Albertini mis-controlled a pass, allowing Pires to take the ball and cross for Trezeguet who half-volleyed it into the top corner, a golden goal for France who won their second European Championship 2–1.

Notwithstanding Italy’s defeat, Francesco Totti was named as UEFA's man of the match while Zinedine Zidane received the player of tournament accolade. Six players from each of Italy and France were selected for UEFA's squad of the tournament. In winning the final, France became the first World Cup champions to also win the European Championship title.

^ "Weather History for Rotterdam, Netherlands". Weather Underground. 2 July 2000. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

[1] "Weather History for Rotterdam, Netherlands". Weather Underground. 2 July 2000. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

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