The 6th European Football Championships were hosted by Italy and in 1980, the finals were expanded to 8 teams. 7 teams had to qualify to join Italy in finals who automatically qualified as the host nation. The additional teams also meant a change in format. There were 2 groups of 4 teams who all played each other once. The group winners would go straight into the final and the runner's-up into a 3rd place play-off. There were no semi-finals.
1980 Tournament Statistics
Leading Scorer (finals only)
3 goals: Klaus Allofs (West Germany)
2 goals: Horst Hrubesch (West Germany), Zdenek Nehoda (Czechoslovakia), Kees Kist (Netherlands)
Results
Group A
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Points | GD |
| West Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | +2 |
| Czechoslovakia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | +1 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Greece | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | -3 |
Group B
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Points | GD |
| Belgium | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | +1 |
| Italy | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | +1 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Spain | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | -2 |
| 3rd Place Play-off | Italy | 1-1 Czechoslovakia won 9-8 on penalties |
Czechoslovakia |
| Final | West Germany | 2-1 | Belgium |
Portugal
Turkey
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Croatia
Germany
Austria
Poland
Netherlands
Italy
Romania
France
Spain
Russia
Sweden
Greece