UEFA Euro 2016 final

The UEFA Euro 2016 final was the final match of UEFA Euro 2016, the fifteenth edition of the European Championship, UEFA's quadrennial competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 10 July 2016, and was contested between Portugal and hosts France.

The 24-team tournament began with a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Portugal finished third in Group F, with draws against Iceland, Austria and Hungary. Portugal then defeated Croatia in the last 16, Poland in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out, and progressed to the final after beating Wales 2–0 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, France finished as winners of Group A, beating Romania and Albania before drawing with Switzerland. In the knockout stage, France defeated the Republic of Ireland in the last 16, Iceland in the quarter-finals, and progressed to the final after beating Germany 2–0 in the semi-finals.

The final took place in front of 75,868 spectators, and was refereed by English official Mark Clattenburg. Following a goalless 90 minutes which saw Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo depart the match through injury, Portugal then took the lead in the 108th minute through substitute Eder, after his low shot from 25 yards (23 m) beat France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. This would prove to be the contest's only goal, as Portugal won 1–0 to claim their first major tournament title.

In winning the final, Portugal became the tenth different nation to win the European Championship, twelve years after losing their first final, at home in the 2004 tournament. France became the second host team to lose the final, after Portugal, and suffered their first defeat at a major tournament hosted in the country since the 1960 European Nations' Cup third place play-off against Czechoslovakia. This was the fifth European Championship final to end in a draw after 90 minutes of play, and the second whose winners were decided by extra time, after the inaugural final in 1960. As the winners, Portugal gained entry into their first FIFA Confederations Cup, which was played in Russia in 2017.

UEFA Euro 2016 was the fifteenth edition of the European Football Championship, UEFA's football competition for national teams, held between 10 June and 10 July 2016 in France. Qualifying rounds were held between September 2014 and November 2015, in which 53 teams were divided into nine groups of five or six, playing each other on a home-and-away round-robin tournament basis. The top two teams in each group, along with France, the host team, qualified for the finals, as did Turkey who had the best third-place record. The remaining four places were determined via two-legged play-offs involving the other eight third-placed teams. In the final tournament, the 24 teams were divided into six groups of four with each team playing each other once within the group. The two top teams from each group along with the four best third-placed sides advanced to a knock-out phase.

France had previously played in two European Championship finals, winning as tournament hosts against Spain in 1984, and via a golden goal against Italy in the Netherlands in 2000. Portugal had played in one prior final, losing to Greece in their own country in 2004. The two teams had previously met 24 times, their first encounter taking place in 1926 when France won 4–2 in Toulouse. Before the final, France had won eighteen of those meetings, Portugal five, and with one draw. Portugal's last victory was in a 1975 friendly in France, after which France won all ten of the subsequent meetings. All three of their previous competitive meetings – in the semi-finals of Euro 1984, Euro 2000, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup – had been French victories. At the start of the tournament, Portugal were listed in eighth place in the FIFA World Rankings, while France were seventeenth.

The final was held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. The announcement of the venue was made by UEFA, along with the full tournament schedule, on 25 April 2014, following a meeting held in Paris. The French capital had hosted the finals of two previous European Championships, in 1960 and 1984, both at the Parc des Princes. A UEFA Category Four stadium, the Stade de France is the sixth-largest stadium in Europe and was the largest venue of Euro 2016, with a maximum capacity for the tournament of 80,000. The final was the seventh match played in the stadium at Euro 2016, which included the tournament's opening game between France and Romania.

After qualifying for Euro 2016 as winners of Group I with seven wins and a defeat in their eight matches, Portugal were drawn in Group F for the finals tournament. Their first group game was against Iceland at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne on 14 June. Gylfi Sigurðsson had two early chances to put Iceland ahead but both shots were saved by Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patrício, before Nani gave Portugal the lead in the 31st minute after a cross from André Gomes. Five minutes into the second half, Iceland equalised when Birkir Bjarnason scored from a Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson cross that had been missed by Portugal's Vieirinha. Despite having the majority of the possession and more shots throughout the match, Portugal were unable to retake the lead and the game ended 1–1. Portugal's second opponents were Austria at the Parc des Princes four days later. The first half ended goalless, but late in the second half, Portugal were awarded a penalty kick. Cristiano Ronaldo, who became his country's most-capped player in that game, was fouled in Austria's penalty area by defender Martin Hinteregger but missed the penalty, striking the foot of the goalpost. He also had a header disallowed for offside and the match ended 0–0.