The UEFA Euro 1988 Final was the final match of UEFA Euro 1988, the eighth UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany, on 25 June 1988 and was contested by the Netherlands and the Soviet Union. The Netherlands and the Soviet Union were both drawn in UEFA Euro 1988 Group 2, alongside the Republic of Ireland and England. The Soviet Union finished on top of the group and defeated Italy to qualify for their fourth European Championship final. The Netherlands ended the group stage in second place and beat West Germany in their semi-final to progress to their first European Championship final. The final was played in front of 72,308 spectators and was refereed by Michel Vautrot from France. In the 32nd minute, the Netherlands took the lead. Rinat Dasayev, the Soviet Union goalkeeper, conceded a corner when he punched Ruud Gullit's free kick over the crossbar and although Erwin Koeman's set piece was headed away, he passed the ball into the penalty area. Marco van Basten nodded it on and Gullit scored with a header. Eight minutes into the second half, the Netherlands doubled their lead. Adri van Tiggelen dispossessed Hennadiy Lytovchenko and passed to Arnold Mühren who was making an overlapping run down the left wing. He played in a high cross to the far side of the box which found Van Basten who struck the ball on the volley from a tight angle: it dipped under the crossbar to make it 2–0. The Netherlands then conceded a penalty kick when Sergey Gotsmanov was fouled by the goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen. Igor Belanov took the penalty kick but Van Breukelen dived the right way and the ball struck his knee. The match ended 2–0 and the Netherlands won their first UEFA European Championship title. Background UEFA Euro 1988 was the eighth edition of the UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA's football competition for national teams. Qualifying rounds were played on a home-and-away round-robin tournament basis prior to the final tournament taking place in West Germany, between 10 and 25 June 1988. There, the eight qualified teams were divided into two groups of four with each team playing one another once. The winners of each group then faced the runners-up from the other group in the semi-finals, the winners progressing to the final. In the previous