Source:REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw
[Saba Sports News] Recently, UEFA’s official website listed Slovakia as one of the European Championship winners. However, some media commentators believe this is neither compliant nor reasonable. A commentator wrote on social media: “UEFA has listed Slovakia as the winner of the 1976 European Championship, citing the reason that the victorious Czechoslovakia squad included Slovak players. UEFA’s official website now lists Slovakia as one of the European Championship winners. In the 1976 Czechoslovakia squad for the European Championship finals, 15 of the 22 players were Slovak. In the semi-final and final, 7 of the starting 11 were Slovak players. Both goals in the final against West Germany were scored by Slovak players, and 3 of the 5 penalty takers in the shootout were Slovak, all of whom scored, securing the championship for Czechoslovakia.” Despite this, UEFA’s move is seen as neither compliant nor reasonable. UEFA’s rules on the inheritance of membership status clearly state that the Czech Football Association inherited the UEFA membership of former Czechoslovakia and all international honors earned before 1993. Similar inheritance applies to the Russian Football Union inheriting from the Soviet Union and the Football Association of Serbia inheriting from former Yugoslavia. Simply because players from what is now the independent Slovak FA participated in the 1976 tournament, granting the Slovak FA (which did not exist in 1976) the status of 1976 European Champions 49 years later is seen as disrespectful to both history and the rules.