History Of The European Championship: 1964

For the 1964 Championship, all but three of the then 32 UEFA registered nations entered the competition, the final stages of which were due to take place in Spain.

The Soviet Union qualified once again - they impressed in their group - and they won their semi-final against surprise qualifiers Denmark 3-0. Hungary played and lost to the hosts, which set up a Spain v Soviet Union Final in Madrid.

General Franco allowed the game against the Soviets to go ahead (he had refused to allow Spain to play the USSR four years earlier) and in heavy rain the hosts won 2-1 in front of a crowd of 79,000.

Pereda opened the scoring after six minutes but two minutes later the defending champions were level, Khusainov finishing off a well-worked team goal. Spain made sure of the match when Marcelino’s diving header flew past Yashin with seven minutes left on the clock.