UEFA Euro 2012 in October 2011, the nine group winners qualified automatically, along with the highest ranked second placed team. The remaining eight-second placed teams contested two-legged play-offs, and the four winners qualified for the finals. Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated at the previous tournament in 2008. England and Denmark made their return to the Euro, having last participated in 2004, while Republic of Ireland returned after a twenty-four-year absence to make their second appearance at a European Championship. One of the co-hosts, Ukraine, made their debut as an independent nation (before 1992 Ukraine participated as part of the Soviet Union). With
UEFA Euro 2016 Final 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. The official match ball for the knockout phase and final was the Adidas Fracas, provided by German sports equipment company Adidas. The ball was announced during the tournament, and was official launched 20 June. This was the first time a match ball was not used exclusively for the final, and the first time multiple balls