Ruud Gullit lifts the Henri Delaunay trophy 

After the excruciating elimination of 1984, the Federal Republic of Germany expected far greater things when at last they staged the tournament for the first time. After reaching their second successive FIFA World Cup Final, this time with the great Franz Beckenbauer as head coach, they strengthened the team with the likes of J?rgen Klinsmann, J?rgen Kohler and Thomas Berthold - and Rudi V?ller had recovered from injury. But even such a strong host country had some dangerous challengers lying in wait. 

Italy´s new manager had brought in several players from his successful Under-21 sides: Paolo Maldini, Riccardo Ferri, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini. The Soviet Union, more mature and with greater strength in depth, were something of a mirror image of their 1975 selves. Again built around a Dinamo Kiev side coached by Valerii Lobanovskyi, they´d been one of the revelations of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. 

As in 1980, England had qualified by drawing one of their qualifying matches and winning all the others, this time conceding only one goal, ten minutes from the end of their last game, the decider in Belgrade, which would have been a tense affair if England hadn´t taken a 4-0 lead in the first 24 minutes. With Peter Shilton in goal, Glenn Hoddle now established in midfield alongside the complementary Bryan Robson, Chris Waddle and John Barnes on the wings and Peter Beardsley to set up chances for Gary Lineker, anything seemed possible. 

As in the last major tournament to be held in the Federal Republic of Germany, the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the darkest horses of all came from the Netherlands, whose talents rivalled even Johan Cruyff and company: Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman, Gerald Vanenburg, the veteran Arnold M?hren. Importantly, they even had the same manager as in 1974. Their main worry was being drawn in the harder of the two groups, with England, the USSR - and a Republic of Ireland side who had only qualified thanks to Scotland´s very late goal in Bulgaria and were only expected to make up the numbers here, especially in their opening match, although their manager would have his own reasons for wanting to do well against England. 

1988년 독일에서 펼쳐졌던 8회 대회에서는 네덜란드의 '오렌지 3총사'가 가장 큰 화제가 됐다. 

루드 굴리트, 마르코 반 바스텐, 프랑크 레이카르트. 이 '오렌지 3총사'가 이끄는 네덜란드는 8강 조별예선을 2승 1패로 통과했다. 2조 2위를 기록한 네덜란드는 준결승에서 1조 1위를 차지한 홈팀 독일과 만났다. 네덜란드는 후반 중반 로타르 마테우스에게 선취골을 내주며 패색이 짙었다. 그러나 경기 막판 로날드 쾨만과 반 바스텐이 연속골을 작렬하며 기적같은 역전승을 일궈냈다. 

네덜란드의 결승 상대는 8강 조별예선에서 패배를 안겨줬던 (구)소련. 하지만 극적으로 독일을 꺾고 결승에 오른 네덜란드에게 두려운 상대는 아무도 없었다. 네덜란드는 굴리트와 반 바스텐이 연속골을 터뜨리며 시원한 설욕전과 함께 우승컵을 들어 올렸다. 
 
 우승 - 네덜란드 
 준우승 - (구)소련 
 4강 - 독일, 이탈리아 
 8강 - 덴마크, 스페인, 잉글랜드, 아일랜드 

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