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"Football is a very simple game: you play for 120 minutes, and then Germany wins in a penalty shootout," former England national team striker Gary Lineker once said. Is such a statement based on facts? Looking at the history of European Championships, it becomes clear that it is not always the case, writes "Uefa.com". In the final of the 1976 Continental Championship, all Antonín Panenka had to do was score a penalty and Czechoslovakia would have beaten West Germany. Before that, representing the world champions, Uli Hoeneß sent the ball well over the goal, and the Czechoslovaks were leading 4-3 and could have become unbeatable. The 27-year-old footballer placed the ball on the mark and backed away over ten meters. He ran up and let it be understood that he would try to direct the ball into the right corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Sepp Maier expected that, but Panenka appeared clever and with a soft shot sent the ball into the middle of the goal, securing an impressive victory for his team. It was the first penalty shootout in major tournaments. It was a good omen for Czechoslovakia: four years later, representatives of this country won another shootout at the European Championship for the third-place match, defeating Italy 9-8. The fatal mistake was made by the Italian Fulvio Collovati. In the 1996 continental championship, under the name of the Czech Republic, they won in the semifinals against France with a score of 6-5. So the Czech result - three penalty shootouts, three victories, 20 successful shots, and not a single error - is absolutely the best. It is common to think that in a penalty shootout, the Germans are unbeatable, and indeed since 1976 they have won five series, but only once - at the European Championship. It happened in 1996, in the famous semifinal against England. However, like England, Spain, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Italy, the Germans have experienced both the taste of victory and defeat. Portugal and Turkey are countries that have won penalty shootouts once, and Croatia and Sweden will have to wait for their first victories. Penalty shootouts in European Championships: 1976, final Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany, penalties - 5-3 1980, third-place match Czechoslovakia 1-1 Italy, penalties 9-8 1984, semifinal Denmark 1-1 Spain, penalties 4-5 1992, semifinal Netherlands 2-2 Denmark, penalties 4-5 1996, quarterfinal Spain 0-0 England, penalties 2-4 1996, quarterfinal France 0-0 Netherlands, penalties 5-4 1996, semifinal Germany 1-1 England, penalties 6-5 1996, semifinal France 0-0 Czech Republic, penalties 5-6 2000, semifinal Italy 0-0 Netherlands, penalties 3-1 2004, quarterfinal Portugal 2-2 England, penalties 6-5 2004, quarterfinal Sweden 0-0 Netherlands, penalties 4-5 2008, quarterfinal Croatia 1-1 Turkey, penalties 1-3 2008, quarterfinal Spain 0-0 Italy, penalties 4-2"
