Also in this year: 1976
European Champion Clubs' Cup winners: FC Bayern München (1-0 v AS Saint-Etienne)
European Footballer of the Year: Franz Beckenbauer (FC Bayern München)
Eurovision Song Contest winner: Brotherhood of Man (United Kingdom) singing Save Your Kisses for Me
European Golden Boot winner: Sotiris Kaiafas (AC Omonia)
Nobel Peace Prize winner: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan (founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, United Kingdom)
Men's Olympic 100m champion: Hasely Crawford (Trinidad & Tobago) running 10.06 seconds
Formula 1 world champion: James Hunt (United Kingdom) driving a McLaren
Oscar for Best Picture: Rocky
Key events
European Footballer of the Year: Franz Beckenbauer (FC Bayern München)
Eurovision Song Contest winner: Brotherhood of Man (United Kingdom) singing Save Your Kisses for Me
European Golden Boot winner: Sotiris Kaiafas (AC Omonia)
Nobel Peace Prize winner: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan (founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, United Kingdom)
Men's Olympic 100m champion: Hasely Crawford (Trinidad & Tobago) running 10.06 seconds
Formula 1 world champion: James Hunt (United Kingdom) driving a McLaren
Oscar for Best Picture: Rocky
Key events
21 January – First commercial Concorde flight
26 June – The CN Tower is built in Toronto: the tallest free-standing structure open to the public
25 September – The Irish band U2 are formed after drummer Larry Mullen Jr posts a notice seeking members on the notice board of his Dublin school.
History
Top scorers
| 4 | Dieter Müller - West Germany |
| 3 | Jozef Moder - Czechoslovakia |
| 3 | Rob Rensenbrink - Netherlands |
| 2 | Danilo Popivoda - Yugoslavia |
| 2 | Dragan Džajić - Yugoslavia |
| 2 | Josip Katalinski - Yugoslavia |
| 2 | Ruud Geels - Netherlands |
Team of the Tournament
- Ivo Viktor »
- Ján Pivarnik »
- Ruud Krol »
- Jaroslav Pollák »
- Anton Ondruš »
- Franz Beckenbauer »
- Rainer Bonhof »
- Zdenek Nehoda »
- Dieter Müller »
- Antonín Panenka »
- Dragan Džajić »
As Antonín Panenka's lofted penalty glided through the air, the UEFA European Championship was about to be transformed forever. With that one outrageous piece of skill, the Czechoslovakia midfielder secured his nation the 1976 title and lifted the competition to a new level in the public consciousness. It was the perfect end to what had been an outstanding tournament served up by four excellent teams.
Hosts Yugoslavia welcomed Czechoslovakia, Johan Cruyff's brilliant Netherlands side and the holders and world champions from West Germany for a footballing festival held in Eastern Europe for the first time. Helmut Schön's men were favourites in the final against the Czechs but quickly went two goals down. But Dieter Müller and Bernd Hölzenbein levelled, giving Panenka his moment in the shoot-out. More >>