Also in this year: 1996
European Champion Clubs' Cup winners: Juventus (1-1 aet, 4-2 pens v AFC Ajax)
European Footballer of the Year: Ronaldo (PSV Eindhoven/FC Barcelona)
Eurovision Song Contest winner: Eimear Quinn (Republic of Ireland) singing 'The Voice'
ESM Golden Shoe winner: Zviad Endeladze (FC Margveti Zestafoni)
Nobel Peace Prize winner: Bishop Carlos Belo & José Ramos-Horta (for work towards peace in East Timor)
Men's Olympic 100m champion: Donovan Bailey (Canada) running a world record 9.84
Formula One world champion: Damon Hill (United Kingdom) driving a Williams
Oscar for Best Picture: The English Patient
Key events
European Footballer of the Year: Ronaldo (PSV Eindhoven/FC Barcelona)
Eurovision Song Contest winner: Eimear Quinn (Republic of Ireland) singing 'The Voice'
ESM Golden Shoe winner: Zviad Endeladze (FC Margveti Zestafoni)
Nobel Peace Prize winner: Bishop Carlos Belo & José Ramos-Horta (for work towards peace in East Timor)
Men's Olympic 100m champion: Donovan Bailey (Canada) running a world record 9.84
Formula One world champion: Damon Hill (United Kingdom) driving a Williams
Oscar for Best Picture: The English Patient
Key events
8 January – Former French president François Mitterrand dies aged 79
5 July – Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland
15 November – Tomb Raider is released for the PC, Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, spawning a series of sequels and movies.
History
Top scorers
| 5 | Alan Shearer - England |
| 3 | Brian Laudrup - Denmark |
| 3 | Davor Šuker - Croatia |
| 3 | Hristo Stoitchkov - Bulgaria |
| 3 | Jürgen Klinsmann - Germany |
| 2 | Matthias Sammer - Germany |
| 2 | Oliver Bierhoff - Germany |
| 2 | Pier Luigi Casiraghi - Italy |
| 2 | Teddy Sheringham - England |
Team of the Tournament
- Andreas Köpke »
- Laurent Blanc »
- Marcel Desailly »
- Matthias Sammer »
- Paolo Maldini »
- Paul Gascoigne »
- Karel Poborský »
- Dieter Eilts »
- Alan Shearer »
- Hristo Stoitchkov »
- Davor Šuker »
Mascot
Where better to stage the biggest UEFA European Championship finals to date than in the country which gave the world the game? Sixteen nations converged on England in the summer of 1996, but while the people celebrated football "coming home" it was their old rivals Germany who took the spoils after knocking out the hosts in a semi-final penalty shoot-out before overcoming the Czech Republic.
More than 76,000 spectators streamed into Wembley stadium to see Germany contest their fifth continental final. Their last had ended in a shock loss to Denmark 1992 and a repeat looked feasible when Patrik Berger's penalty gave the Czech Republic the lead. But Germany coach Berti Vogts sent on Oliver Bierhoff and, after heading an equaliser, he struck once more four minutes into extra time. More >>