Two surprise teams came through the qualifying rounds. Both lost their first match. One eventually went all the way. 

Czechoslovakia's Antonin Panenka, scorer of the winning penalty, kisses the trophy in celebration 

A win over Austria and two against Hungary sent Wales through for the first and only time. John Toshack´s height caused its usual problems up front, Leighton James was one of the most dangerous wingers in Europe, and a hard-working midfield scored a number of important goals, four of them from the veteran Arfon Griffiths. But they conceded a goal in the first minute of their quarter-final in Zagreb, missed a penalty and had a player sent off in the return, and were eliminated by Yugoslavia´s latest crop of talent. 

Meanwhile nothing had been expected of Czechoslovakia, especially after they lost their opening game 3-0 at Wembley, the ill-fated Don Revie´s first match as England manager. The Czechoslovaks also fell behind in the return, but their svelte little winger Marian Masny made two goals in quick succession to send them through to the quarter-finals, where they caused an even bigger upset by eliminating the Soviet Union, based this time on the brilliant Dinamo Kiev squad who had won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and provided the European Footballer of the Year in the flying Oleg Blokhin. Czechoslovakia won 2-0 at home and led 2-1 away before going through 4-2 on aggregate. 

Even so, even after beating two of the favourites, they were still regarded as the least likely of the semi-finalists. Yugoslavia were at home, and above all the two finalists from the previous FIFA World Cup were expected to meet again. The Federal Republic of Germany were without Gerd M?ller and G?nter Netzer, but Uli Hoeness and Herbert Wimmer were still there, Berti Vogts was back, and Franz Beckenbauer was at his imperious best. Two first-half goals sent them through comfortably at Spain´s expense. 

The Dutch were still ruled by Johan Cruyff and his world-class lieutenants: Wim Suurbier, Ruud Krol, Wim Rijsbergen, Johnny Rep, Johan Neeskens and Rob Rensenbrink. They thrashed Belgium 5-0 and 2-1 in the quarter-finals and fully expected to exact revenge for 1974 
 

1976년 5회 대회는 동유럽에서 펼쳐졌다는 점에서 그 의미가 남다르다. 경제적인 낙후와 더불어 축구에서도 경쟁력을 잃어갈 기미를 보이던 동유럽에게는 희망의 대회로서 인식되어졌다. 

대회전 많은 사람들은 전성기를 맞이하고 있던 '전차군단' 독일과 '토탈사커' 네덜란드의 우승에 초점을 맞추고 있었다. 하지만 대회의 뚜껑을 열자 동유럽세가 만만치 않은 전력을 선보이며 우승컵의 주인공이 됐다. 

우승의 주인공이 된 팀은 '저력의 팀' 체코. 체코는 네덜란드와의 준결승전에서 예상을 뒤엎고 3-1로 승리하며 결승에 올랐다. 체코는 독일과의 결승에서 2-2로 정규시간을 마친 다음, 승부차기에서 5-3으로 승리하며 감격의 우승축배를 들었다. 
 
 우승 - 체코 
 준우승 - 독일 
 3위 - 네덜란드 
 4위 - 유고슬라비아 

스포츠서울닷컴