Euro 2024: Greatest shocks from previous European Championships – BBC Sport

France were the reigning World Cup champion and expected to sweep aside a Switzerland side that had already lost 3-0 to Italy before scraping through to the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams in the group phase.

The French team led 3-1 with nine minutes to go after Karim Benzema’s double and a goal from Paul Pogba. But Haris Seferovic scored his second goal of the game and Mario Gavranovic equalised in the 90th minute to take the match to extra time.

No further goals meant a penalty shootout and Kylian Mbappe’s effort was saved by Yann Sommer as the Swiss advanced, although they then lost on penalties to Spain in the quarter-finals.

Arguably Wales’ greatest moment in tournament football came at Euro 2016 when they defeated a Belgium side ranked second in the world to move into the semi-finals.

Radja Nainggolan put Belgium ahead after 13 minutes, but Ashley Williams equalised for Wales.

Hal Robson-Kanu scored a sensational second, producing a superb bit of skill to get away from Belgium defenders, before Sam Vokes added a late third.

Chris Coleman’s side were then beaten by eventual winners Portugal in the semi-finals.

England, under Roy Hodgson, suffered one of their most embarrassing defeats in tournament football when they were beaten by Iceland at Euro 2016.

Wayne Rooney gave the Three Lions the perfect start with a fourth-minute penalty, only for Ragnar Sigurdsson to bundle in an equaliser two minues later. England keeper Joe Hart was at fault for what proved to be the winner, as he let Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s shot through his hands in the 18th minute.

Hodgson resigned as England boss after the final whistle, while Iceland went on to lose 5-2 to France in the quarter-finals.

Northern Ireland have only qualified for one European Championship and that came at Euro 2016 in France.

When the draw was made, Northern Ireland were in pot four and the lowest-ranked team in the competition. But Michael O’Neill’s side gained an excellent 2-0 win over Ukraine, thanks to goals from Gareth McAuley and Niall McGinn, for their only victory.

The success saw Northern Ireland finish third in their group and took them into the last 16, where they were beaten 1-0 by Wales.

Euro 2004 started and finished with Greece beating Portugal, with the final going down as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.

The competition was held in Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo, then of Manchester United, expected to guide his team to the title. After losing 2-1 to Greece in the opening match of the tournament, Portugal recovered and beat Russia and Spain and then eliminated England and the Netherlands to set up a re-match against a well-organised Greece side.

Angelos Charisteas headed in from a corner as Greece became European champions for the only time.

The only match on our list that ended in a draw, but it was still a huge shock.

Latvia gained their first ever point in a tournament as they played out a goalless draw with a Germany team that had reached the final of the World Cup only two years earlier.

The Latvians had two good penalty appeals turned down before Miroslav Klose missed a headed chance late on for Rudi Voller’s side. Germany then lost 2-1 to the Czech Republic and were eliminated, with Voller resigning shortly afterwards.

Italy were expected to do well at Euro 1996 in England after reaching the final of the 1994 World Cup, where they lost on penalties to Brazil.

At Anfield, Pavel Nedved put the Czech Republic ahead, Enrico Chiesa equalised before Radek Bejbl scored the goal to seal the victory. It proved a vital win as they advanced out of the group on their head-to-head record with Italy, who were eliminated.

The Czechs reached the final, but were beaten 2-1 by Germany, with Oliver Bierhoff scoring a golden goal winner in extra time.

Denmark were not even supposed to be in Euro 1992, but went on to win it.

The Danes replaced Yugoslavia, who dropped out of the tournament because of ongoing conflicts that would lead to the dissolution of the country.

Denmark finished above France and England in the group stage and then edged past the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-final. Goals from John Jensen and Kim Vilfort gave them a 2-0 win in the final against Germany.

England came into Euro 1992 on the back of their best performance at a World Cup since winning it in 1966 when they reached the semi-finals of Italia 90.

Bobby Robson had been replaced as manager by Graham Taylor and England needed to beat hosts Sweden in their final group game to move into the last four.

David Platt gave England an early lead, but goals from Jan Eriksson and Tomas Brolin gave Sweden the win as they topped the group. They would go on to lose 3-2 to Germany in the semi-final.

Euro 1988 was the first tournament the Republic of Ireland had qualified for and they were managed by Jack Charlton, who was part of England’s World Cup-winning side in 1966.

Ray Houghton headed in the only goal of the game in the sixth minute as England suffered the first of three defeats in the group phase.

This proved to be the Republic’s only points of the tournament as they too failed to make it out of the group.