The UEFA Euro 1996 Final was the final match of Euro 1996, the tenth European Football Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 30 June 1996 and was contested by the Czech Republic and Germany. Both sides were drawn in UEFA Euro 1996 Group C alongside Italy and Russia. Germany won the group and defeated Croatia in the quarter-finals before progressing to the final with a victory over England in the semi-final after a penalty shoot-out. The Czech Republic finished the group stage as runners-up to Germany. They beat Portugal in the quarter-finals before overcoming France in the semi-finals following a penalty shoot-out. The final took place in front of 73,611 spectators, and was refereed by Pierluigi Pairetto. Germany controlled the early stages of the match but the first opportunities to score fell to the Czech Republic with both Karel Poborský and Patrik Berger missing the target. In the 34th minute Germany almost took the lead when a volley from Stefan Kuntz beat the Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Kouba but was cleared by Karel Rada, and the half ended goalless. In the 58th minute, the Czech Republic were awarded a penalty. Poborský was brought down by Matthias Sammer, and the referee awarded the spot kick which Berger scored with a shot that went under Andreas Köpke. In the 73rd minute, second-half substitute Oliver Bierhoff scored with a header from a Christian Ziege cross. The full-time score was 1–1, sending the match into extra time: the golden goal rule applied such that the first team to score in the additional period would immediately win the game. In the 95th minute, Klinsmann passed to Bierhoff who turned and scored. After confirming with the linesman that Kuntz was not offside, the referee blew to indicate the end of the match with Germany winning 2–1 and securing their third European Championship title. Background UEFA Euro 1996 was the tenth 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 England, between 8 and 30 June 1996. The sixteen qualified teams were divided into four groups of four with each team playing one another once. The winners of each group then faced the runners-up from other groups in quarter-finals, the winners progressing