Before the tournament started there were newspaper reports of troublesome behaviour by some members of the England squad in a pre-tournament trip to Hong Kong. Paul Gascoigne, especially, was always in the headlines. At the start of the tournament, Germany were the favourites to win it at 4-1, Italy were 5-1, Holland were 11-2,  France were 6-1, England were 7-1, Spain were 8-1 and Portugal were 10-1.
 

The results in the England's group A were:

England 1 (Shearer 23) Switzerland 1 (Turkyilmaz 83 pen)
Holland 0 Scotland 0
Holland 2 Switzerland 0
England 2 (Shearer 53, Gascoigne 79) Scotland 0
Scotland 1 Switzerland 0
England 4 (Shearer 23 pen, 57, Sheringham 51,62) Holland 1 (Kluivert 78)
 

With 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw, England won their group with 7 points. Holland qualified second on 4 points (with a goal difference of -1 and 3 goals scored in the group) beating Scotland into third place (with a goal difference of -1 and 1 goal scored). Scotland went out of the competition, along with Switzerland, who came 4th on 1 point.

The England team against Switzerland was David Seaman, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce, Darren Anderton, Paul Ince, Paul Gascoigne (sub David Platt 74), Steve McManaman, Teddy Sheringham (Nick Barmby 68), Alan Shearer

In the game against Switzerland,. England dominated the first half but only scored once - Shearer ended his personal goal drought by receiving a defence splitting pass from Paul Ince and hitting a powerful shot just inside the near post. In the 82nd minute however, a penalty was given for a Stuart Pearce handball and Turkyilmaz scored for Switzerland from the penalty spot to make it 1-1.

The England team against Scotland was David Seaman, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce (sub Jamie Redknapp 45, sub Sol Campbell 85), Darren Anderton, Paul Ince (Steve Stone 79), Paul Gascoigne, Steve McManaman, Teddy Sheringham, Alan Shearer

In the game against Scotland, Alan Shearer scored again with a diving header in the 53rd minute to make it 1-0. In the 76th minute, Scotland were awarded a penalty for a Tony Adams sliding tackle on Gordon Durie - David Seaman pushed Gary McAllister's penalty over the bar. Paul Gascoigne had a great second half and scored an amazing goal after 79 minutes - from the left wing, he went between the Scottish defence - just inside the penalty area he flicked the ball over the head of the the last Scotland defender, Colin Hendry, and then volleyed it into the net.

The England team against Holland was David Seaman, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce, Darren Anderton, Paul Gascoigne, Paul Ince (David Platt 67), Steve McManaman, Teddy Sheringham (Robbie Fowler 75), Alan Shearer (Nick Barmby 75)

The game against Holland was one of England's tremendous games. Holland were one of the favourites and had won the European championships in 1988. By the end of the game, the whole of the country was celebrating and believing that at home, England could go all the way and lift the cup.

                      
Ince is tripped as he flicks the ball on - penalty            Sheringham heads in for 2-0

England started well and after 23 minutes, McManaman received a ball and ran up the right wing - he waited for Ince to arrive and passed to him just inside the box - Ince cleverly flicked the ball in front with his right heel and Blind fouled him - Shearer took the penalty and hit the ball hard and accurate to the goalkeeper's right to make it 1-0

The second goal came after 51 minutes - a good cross by McManaman was well defended by Reizinger who cleared the ball over his own crossbar - Gascoigne took the corner and Sheringham headed the ball in at the far post - Holland only had a player at the near post for the corner.
 

                                
Sheringham passes to Shearer to make it 3-0                   Sheringham gets to the ball first 4-0    
 

The third goal was the best of all - On 57 minutes, Gascoigne received the ball from McManaman before passing a Dutch defender on the left wing - he passed the ball back to Sheringham who unselfishly passed across the box to an unmarked Shearer (who has his hand up in the photo above) - Shearer blasted the ball into the back of the net unchallenged.

On 62 minutes, England were 4-0 up. Anderton had a speculative long range shot from outside the box - the Dutch goalkeeper, Van der Sar, saved but the ball came loose - Sheringham got there first putting the ball to the goalkeepers right and into the net. On 78 minutes the substitute Kluivert brought the score-line back to 4-1 by running through the England defence, receiving a good pass from Bergkamp, and firing into the net through Seaman's legs - that goal was good enough to put Holland through to the quarter finals at the expense of Scotland (on goals scored as goal difference was equal) - the night belonged to England though who qualified top of the group.

The other group's in the first phase finished as (teams in bold went through):

Group B
France 7 points (won 2, drew 1) - beat Romania 1-0 and Bulgaria 3-1, drew with Spain 1-1
Spain 5 points (won 1, drew 2)-  beat Romania 2-1, drew with Bulgaria 1-1 and France 1-1
Bulgaria 4 points (won 1, drew 1) - beat Romania1-0, drew with Spain 1-1
Romania 0 points

Group C
Germany 7 points (won 2, drew 1) - beat Czech's 2-0, Russia 3-0, drew with Italy 0-0
Czech Republic 4 points (won 1, drew 1, lost 1) - beat Italy 2-1, drew with Russia 3-3
Italy 4 points (won 1, drew 1, lost 1) -  beat Russia 1-0, drew with Germany 0-0: 3rd as lost to Czech's
Russia 1 point (drew 1, lost 2) - drew with Czech's 3-3

Group D
Portugal 7 points (won 2, drew 1) - beat Turkey 1-0, Croatia 3-0, drew with Denmark 1-1
Croatia 6 points (won 2, lost 1) - beat Turkey 1-0, Denmark 3-0
Denmark 4 points (won 1, drew 1, lost 1) - beat Turkey 3-0, drew with Portugal 1-1
Turkey 0 points

In the quarter final the results were:

England 0 Spain 0 (after extra time, England won 4-2 on penalties)
France 0 Holland 0 (after extra time, France won 5-4 on penalties)
Germany 2 Croatia 1
Czech Republic 1 Portugal 0

The England team against Spain was David Seaman, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce, Darren Anderton (Steve Stone 110), David Platt, Paul Gascoigne, Steve McManaman (Nick Barmby 110), Teddy Sheringham (Robbie Fowler 110), Alan Shearer

In the game against Spain, England won 4-2 on penalties after this match, with two great keepers on show, ended 0-0 after extra time. Shearer, Platt, Pearce and Gascoigne all scored their penalty for England while Hierro missed and Nadal had his penalty saved by Seaman. Stuart Pearce was especially happy with his penalty after missing the one in the World Cup 1990 semi final.

In the semi final Germany beat England on 6-5 on penalties (1-1 after extra time) while the Czech's beat France on 6-5 on penalties too (0-0 after extra time)

The England team against Germany was David Seaman, Gareth Southgate, Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, Darren Anderton, David Platt, Paul Ince, Paul Gascoigne, Steve McManaman, Teddy Sheringham, Alan Shearer 

In the semi final, England scored after 3 minutes. Gascoigne's corner was headed on at the near post by Tony Adams and Alan Shearer then headed the ball in for his 5th goal of the championships. In the 16th minute Germany levelled the game with a Helmer cross on the left wing which enabled Kuntz to get behind Pearce and make it 1-1. In extra time, Darren Anderton first hit the post and then Kuntz put the ball in the England net for Germany - however, this potential golden goal was ruled out because of a push on Adams. In the 98th minute, Gascoigne was less than a foot away from scoring when he slid in to try and reach a Shearer cross from the right but the game went to penalties.

In the penalty shootout Shearer, Platt, Pearce, Gascoigne and Sheringham scored for England - with the penalty score at 5-5 Southgate's penalty was saved by the German keeper Koepke - Germany scored all their penalties and went through to the final.

Southgate with Terry Venables (England Manager) after his penalty miss

 

In the final Germany beat the Czech Republic 2-1 to win the Euro 96 competition. Berger scored for the Czech's with a 57th minute penalty but substitute Bierhoff replied on 73 minutes to make it 1-1 at full time - he then scored again 5 minutes into extra time for a golden goal to end the game. German captain Klinsmann collected the trophy from the Queen.