The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Italy. The knock-out format was abandoned for the third edition of the tournament. The qualifying phase now took the form of a group round, followed by quater-finals that consisted of a home- and away game, resulting in four countries progressing to the actual tournament. The home country clinched the title, but the Italians made hard work of it. It took them a coin toss in the semi-final against the Soviet Union and a replay in the final against Yugoslavia. England achieved their best ever result at a European Championship by finishing third.

Final Italy 1-1 Yugoslavia (Replay: 2-0) 3rd place play-off England 2-0 Soviet Union Semi-finals
Soviet Union	0-0	Italy	England	0-1	Yugoslavia
(Italy progressed on a coin toss)
Quater-finals (Not part of the final tournament)
Bulgaria - Italy 3-2 0-2 (3-4) Hungary - Soviet Union 2-0 0-3 (2-3) England - Spain 1-0 2-1 (3-1) France - Yugoslavia 1-1 1-5 (2-6) Euro 1964 • European Championship • Euro 1972