Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers
Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers are the finest players who had a major role in the first-ever UEFA European Championship in the world. We are going to list these players and give you s short description of each.
The first edition of the UEFA European Championship, contested every four years and organized by UEFA, was held in 1960. France hosted the first tournament which brought the Top goal scorers Euro 1960 to our attention. The Soviet Union won it after beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in extra time in Paris.
Henri Delaunay offered a continental championship for Europe to FIFA in 1927 while serving as general secretary of the French Football Federation (FFF), and he returned to the idea when he became the first General Secretary of UEFA following the continental body's creation in 1954.
He died in 1955, but his son Pierre was chosen secretary of the European Nations' Cup organizing committee the following year, and the new competition's trophy was dubbed the Henri Delaunay Cup in honor of his father's pioneering role. The entry cost for the first edition was only 200 Swiss Francs for teams.
The event was a knockout competition, with just 17 teams competing, including West Germany, Italy, and
England. The teams would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals, following which the last four teams would advance to the final tournament, the host of which would be determined once the teams were determined.
For political concerns, Spain, which was ruled by Franco, declined to travel to the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals.
The Soviets declined suggestions to play the tie in a one-legged format at a neutral venue. As a result of Spain's disqualification, three of the final four teams were from communist countries: USSR, Czechoslovakia, and SFR Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France.
In the semi-finals in Marseille, the Soviets warmed up a little playing against Czechoslovaks, winning 3–0. The other match ended in a nine-goal thriller, with Yugoslavia winning 5–4 after twice coming back from two deficits. For third place, Czechoslovakia defeated the demoralized French 2–0. Let's get to
Know the Top Scorers in UEFA Euro 1960.
Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers, the First-ever Players to Feature in UEFA European Championships
In front of a crowd of 17,966 at the Parc des Princes in Paris, the Soviet Union defeated Yugoslavia 2-1 in the 1960 European Nations' Cup final, with Viktor Ponedelnik netting the winner 23 minutes into extra time, one of the
Euro Top Goal Scorers.
Just before the break, Milan Galic put Yugoslavia ahead, but Slava Metreveli equalized for the reigning Olympic winners, and it took a series of brilliant stops from
Lev Yashinto keep the USSR in the game.
The final appeared to be destined for a rematch until Ponedelnik, a 23-year-old SKA Rostov-on-Don striker, scored the game-winning goal.
He later told UEFA.com: "The Soviet national team beca.me the first-ever European champions. No one can forget such moments of glory. As for myself, that 113th-minute winner was the most important of my whole career. That was the star moment of my life."
Gavriil Kachalin, who had previously led the USSR to Olympic football gold in 1956, led the team to EURO victory in 1960. He also led them to FIFA World Cup victories in 1958, 1962, and 1970, as well as winning the Soviet Supreme League in 1964 with Dinamo Tbilisi.
Igor Netto, a midfielder for Spartak Moskva, captained the Soviet Union to EURO victory in 1960, four years after spearheading their Olympic triumph in Melbourne, Australia.
At Spartak, he won five USSR titles and three domestic cups, but he is best recognized for an incredible gesture of sportsmanship at the 1962 World Cup when he advised the referee that a goal against Uruguay should be disallowed because the ball had entered the net from the wrong side.
Team-mate Ponedelnik told UEFA.com: "In everyday life, he was a shy and modest man, but he always had his say and argued his point to the end. It was not by chance that our national team's greatest moments are tied to his name."
Now, without further ado, let's start to Know the Top Scorers in UEFA Euro 1960.
Ante Zanetic (1 Goal)
Ante Zanetic was a Croatian professional footballer who played from 1936 to 2014 and was one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
He was a member of the Yugoslavian national football team for 15 years, and he played in the 1960 European Nations' Cup as well as the 1960 Olympic team.
He also played for the PR Croatian national team in a friendly match against Indonesia.
Zanetic later left Yugoslavia to pursue a career in football in western Europe.
In 1961, while the Hajduk Split club was in Germany, he left the team and relocated to Belgium, where he played for Club Brugge K.V. and Racing White.
After that, he moved to Australia and in 2014, he passed away, one of the Top goal scorers Euro 1960.
Maryan Wisniewski (1 Goal)
He is of Polish descent and one of the
Top goal scorers Euro 1960.
Wisniewski was born in the French town of Calonne-Ricouart.
He was a member of the France national football team from 1958 to 1962, earning 33 caps and scoring 12 goals.
He also played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, where France placed third.
At the age of 18 years and 2 months, he made his international debut on 3 April 1955, making him the youngest player to play for France.
Jonathan Wisniewski, his great-nephew, is a current professional rugby union player for Grenoble.
Maryan was one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
Jean Vincent (1 Goal)
Jean Vincent was a French international footballer and manager who lived from November 29, 1930, to August 13, 2013. He was one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
Vincent, who mostly played outside-left, had a brilliant club and international career, winning multiple trophies and reaching the 1958 World Cup semi-finals.
He played in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and the 1960 European Football Championship, earning 46 caps and scoring 22 goals for France.
He also played and netted in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and the 1960 European Football Championship. Vincent had a lot of success as a coach at
Nantes, where he led them to two league titles.
With a team that included Thomas Nkono and Roger Milla, he was named Cameroon's coach for the 1982 World Cup.
Cameroon performed magnificently and drew all three games, missing out on a place in the second round only on goals scored.
Keep reading to Know the Top Scorers in UEFA Euro 1960.
Ladislav Pavlovic (1 Goal)
Ladislav Pavlovic was a Slovak football player who lived from April 8, 1926, to January 28, 2013. He appeared in 14 matches for the Czechoslovakia national team, scoring two goals. He was one of the Euro Top Goal Scorers.
From 1920 to 1992, the Czechoslovakia national football team was the country's national football team.
The Czechoslovak Football Association was in charge of the team, which qualified for eight World Cups and three European Championships.
It was in second place in two World Cups, in 1934 and 1962, and won the European Championship in 1976.
The team was in UEFA qualifying Group 4 for the 1994 World Cup at the time of Czechoslovakia's disintegration at the end of 1992.
Czechoslovakia lost 2–0 to the Republic of Ireland in the first-ever UEFA European Championship qualifying match on April 5, 1959, but advanced 4–2 on aggregate.
The country advanced to the four-team finals in France after victories over
Denmark(7–3 aggregate) and Romania (5–0 aggregate).
It lost 3–0 to the Soviet Union in the semi-final but won 2–0 against the hosts at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille to finish third.
Ladislav Pavlovic took part in the Euro 1960 tournament, appearing in five games and scoring a goal in a match against France.
Pavlovic scored 164 league goals in 345 games, largely for Tatran Presov (1950-1953, 1956-1965/66: 150 goals) and briefly for CH Bratislava (1954-1955: 14 goals).
Slava Metreveli (1 Goal)
Slava Kalistratovich Metreveli was a Soviet and Georgian football player and manager who lived from 30 May 1936 to 7 January 1998. Slava was one of the
Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
Metreveli played for
Torpedo Moscow(1956–1962) and Dinamo Tbilisi (1963–1971) throughout most of his career.
Metreveli was a member of the Soviet Union national team and competed in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, 1966 FIFA World Cup, 1970 FIFA World Cup, and the 1960 European Nations' Cup, where the Soviet Union won gold.
Metreveli scored in the final of the latter, which Yugoslavia won 2–1. He was one of the Euro Top Goal Scorers.
Only twice, in 1974 and 1978, did the Soviet Union fail to qualify for the World Cup, but they did attend seven finals tournaments in total. Their best finish was fourth in 1966 when they lost 2–1 in the semifinals against West Germany.
The Soviet Union qualified for five European Championships, winning the first one in 1960 by defeating Yugoslavia 2–1 in the final.
They finished second three times (1964, 1972, and 1988), and fourth once (1968), when they were pushed to the third-place playoff match after drawing with Italy in the semi-final due to a coin toss loss.
In addition, the Soviet Union national team competed in a number of Olympic events, winning gold medals in 1956 and 1988.
Despite FIFA's prohibition in 1958 against having any national team players in Olympic competitions, the Soviet team continued to compete in them (players in the Olympics were required to be amateurs at the time, Soviets effectively bent the rules by listing their best players in the military).
Tomislav Knez (1 Goal)
Tomislav Knez (born June 9, 1938, in Banja Luka) is a former Yugoslav footballer and one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
He played for
Borac Banja Luka, NK Dinamo Zagreb, SV Schwechat, SK Rapid Wien, Kapfenberger SV, and SV Gussing during his club career.
He was a member of the Yugoslav national football team for 14 years and competed in the European Nations' Cup in 1960.
Yugoslav was a winner in an international competition. The team was banned from international competition in 1992 as part of a UN sanction during the Yugoslav wars.
When the boycott was ended in 1994, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia national football team took its place.
Serbia's national football team inherited Yugoslavia's place in FIFA and UEFA and is regarded as the only successor of Yugoslavia (and of Serbia and Montenegro) by both organizations.
Vlastimil Bubnik (1 Goal)
Vlastimil Bubnik was a Czech ice hockey and football player who was alive from 18 March 1931 until 6 January 2015.
Bubnik played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga after being born in Kelc, Czechoslovakia.
He was a member of the HC Brno and Kralovo Pole teams. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, he also earned a bronze medal.
In 1997, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Until Finland's Teemu Selanne surpassed him at the 2010 Winter Olympics, he was tied for the all-time Olympic scoring lead with Canada's Harry Watson and Russia's Valeri Kharlamov.
He was a member of RH Brno during his football career. He made 103 appearances in the Czechoslovak First League over nine seasons, netting 32 goals.
In five seasons in the second level, he also scored 40 goals. From 1957 to 1960, he was a member of the Czechoslovakia national football team, earning 11 caps and scoring four goals.
He also played in the European Nations' Cup in 1960 and was one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers. In 2015, he passed away.
Viktor Ponedelnik (2 Goals)
Viktor Vladimirovich Ponedelnik (May 22, 1937 – December 5, 2020) was a Soviet and Russian player and manager who represented the Soviet Union at the international level. He was one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
He began playing for Rostselmash, a local team, in 1956. He joined SKA Rostov-on-Don in 1958 and was invited to play for the Soviet national team.
Ponedelnik scored the game-winning goal in extra time in the final game against Yugoslavia in the 1960 European Championship, the Soviet Union's lone major title.
He retired in 1966 after gaining weight and having appendix surgery. In 29 games for his country, he scored 20 (according to some estimates, 21) goals.
Ponedelnik later worked as a coach, sports journalist, editor of a sports publication, and counsellor to the Russian Federation's President.
Later, he worked as a journalist, editor, and editor-in-chief for the weekly Football magazine.
For his contributions to Soviet and Russian sport, he earned various accolades. He had three children and four grandchildren, and he was married.
A memorial showing a young Ponedelnik holding the cup was unveiled on August 28, 2015, at the Olimp-2 stadium in Rostov-on-Don.
Drazan Jerkovic (2 Goals)
Drazan Jerkovic (6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a professional football manager and player in Yugoslavia and Croatia.
He played for
Dinamo Zagreband AA La Gantoise during his professional career, which lasted from 1954 until 1966.
He is one of the well-known
Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
Jerkovic was a member of Dinamo Zagreb from 1954 to 1965. He was forced to quit early, at the peak of his career, due to severe injuries.
He won the league title in 1958 and the league cup in 1960 and 1965 with Dinamo. He scored 300 goals in 315 appearances for Dinamo.
Between 1960 and 1964, he represented Yugoslavia at the international level, scoring 11 goals in 21 games.
He competed in the European Championship in 1960 and the FIFA World Cup in 1962.
He scored two goals against France in the UEFA Euro 1960 semifinal, which Yugoslavia won (5–4).
Yugoslavia finished second after losing to USSR in the final (1–2; AET).
Valentin Ivanov (2 Goals)
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov (19 November 1934 – 8 November 2011) was a Soviet-Russian footballer who played as a forward or winger.
He was a co-leading scorer in the 1962 World Cup and one of the Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
He scored 26 goals in 59 appearances for the Soviet Union. He is the third-highest goalscorer in Soviet national football history, behind only Oleg Blokhin and Oleg Protasov.
Ivanov, one of Russia's best players, was known for his speed, dribbling ability, and technical ability.
Ivanov was voted the tournament's top scorer, along with five other players, for his four goals in the 1962 World Cup; he had scored two goals in the 1958 edition.
He spent most of his club career with
Torpedo Moscow, where he scored 124 goals in 286 games in the Soviet Championship, which is the 9th greatest record in the league's history.
Francois Heutte (2 Goals)
Milan Galic (March 8, 1938 – September 13, 2014) was a Serbian professional football striker. He was one of the
Euro 1960 Top Goal Scorers.
Galic played for four clubs throughout his active career: Proleter Zrenjanin, Partizan, Standard Liege, and Reims.
He also played for Yugoslavia on the international level collecting 51 caps and scoring 37 goals, second only to Stjepan Bobek's 38 goals in the national team's history.
Galic served for the Football Association of Yugoslavia after his playing career ended.
He made his international debut for Yugoslavia on May 31, 1959, producing the game's first goal in a 2–0 home win over Bulgaria.
Galic was a member of the runner-up team in the 1960 European Nations Cup. With two goals, he was the tournament's joint-top scorer. Galic won the gold medal for Yugoslavia at the 1960 Summer Olympics the next year.
With seven goals, he was the tournament's leading scorer, netting the game's first goal in a 3–1 victory over Denmark in the final.
Galic later represented his country at the 1962 FIFA World Cup, when he scored three goals as the side ended in the fourth position.
Galic passed away in 2014 at the age of 76. Mica Orlovic, Franjo Mihalic, and Borisav Pisic are all buried at the Belgrade New Cemetery's Alley of Distinguished Citizens.
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