The European Football Championship begins in Germany on June 14th. Until then, we’ll be looking back at the most exciting and bizarre European Championship moments in a new series – and let one picture do the talking in each episode.
The sky over Belgrade is pitch black; night has long since spread over the Red Star Stadium. Only he, Uli Hoeneß from FC Bayern, is brightly lit in this photo. He is in the foreground with great disappointment and shock in his gestures and facial expressions after a missed penalty, which could result in a defeat for his own team. He already suspects that. He grabs his head with both hands and runs his fingers through his blonde hair. Immediately, when he looks around, he sees the Czechoslovakians cheering – with all the gestures of offensive joy: arms thrown up, expressions of happiness because of a triumph in the air. And despair among his German teammates.
Franz Beckenbauer, the captain’s armband on his left arm, walks through the center circle with his arms crossed behind him, thinking – is there anything else that can be done? Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, number 4, has turned away from the right edge of the picture. He brings his hands to his head. Was that it now?
Hoeneß, world champion, European champion, 24 years young, with horror in his eyes, moves away from the scene of his failure in shock. He just missed a penalty in the European Championship final against Czechoslovakia (CSSR).
Germany and the CSSR played the final of a four-way tournament on June 20, 1976. In the semi-finals, the two finalists prevailed in extra time, Germany against the hosts Yugoslavia (4:2) and the CSSR against the Netherlands (3:1). Cologne’s Dieter Müller scored three times for Germany in his first international match. In the final, the German world champions were 0-2 behind, as they were in the semi-finals. Müller scored again and at the very last second the recently deceased Bernd Hölzenbein scored with a header from a corner from Rainer Bonhof, 2-2. That’s how it stood after the end of extra time.
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According to UEFA rules, this final should be repeated two days later at the same location. However, following a request from the DFB, the statutes were adjusted at short notice before the final: Therefore, for the first time, a penalty shootout was used in a major national tournament.
The Germans had not previously completed any special training from the penalty spot, unlike the Czechoslovakians. It was therefore difficult for national coach Helmut Schön to nominate five shooters. Bonhof, Heinz Flohe and Hannes Bongartz quickly agreed, but then things got complicated. Hoeneß later writes an essay about his missed shot, which appears in the clever volume Head ball appears, published in 1982 by Paul Breitner and Bernd Schroeder: “Who were the last two victims? Franz Beckenbauer didn’t want to – and I didn’t want to. I can’t cope with the nervous game with the goalkeeper anymore.”
He is completely exhausted, physically and mentally, writes Hoeneß. Instead, Sepp Maier, the goalkeeper, wants to shoot. According to Hoeneß, Beckenbauer intervenes: “Before he shoots, I’d rather do it.” For Hoeneß it is clear: a fourth shooter has been found – Beckenbauer. He should be the fifth German player to shoot. But it still takes someone who has the courage. According to Hoeneß, assistant coach Jupp Derwall then said to him: “Then the young Dieter Müller has to shoot.” That works. Hoeneß signals: I take responsibility and shoot.
Marián Masný scores for CSSR, Bonhof equalizes. The second pair of shooters, Zdeněk Nehoda and Flohe, also scored. This also applies to Anton Ondruš and Bongartz. Ladislav Jurkemik presents again for the CSSR, 4:3. Now it’s Hoeneß’s turn: “I made the long journey from the center circle to the penalty spot. I stepped away in a way that can only happen in a concert hall. I walked alone to the white dot, with Sahara all around me.”
The right corner is taboo for him, he tells himself, as he has to push with his inside as a right-footer, which requires concentration. He doesn’t have that anymore. He says to himself: “So you thunder the ball into the left corner with your inside instep.”
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Start-up. Shot. “I looked after the ball and saw it rising higher and higher. Like a space rocket from Cape Kennedy, it hurtled towards the clouds. Out of reach. No goalkeeper could reach it, no one could hold it, it was flying so high. It’s just in the goal “This ball didn’t land.” Hoeneß describes how things became empty around him. “I stumbled back. I felt the comforting arms, heard words of pity and thought Franz Beckenbauer was quite original: ‘Thank God you missed, then at least I don’t have to shoot anymore.'”
The national coach Helmut Schön later wrote in his memoirs that he had not made any accusations against Hoeneß. And then he criticizes him: “If anything, one thing could have been criticized: that he didn’t take the penalty as usual.”
After Hoeneß it’s Antonín Panenka’s turn. A rascal with a mustache from the Bohemians Prague. He brakes before the shot, Sepp Maier jumps into the left corner he sees. And Panenka spoons the ball elegantly into the middle. The Panenka lift is still known today – whenever someone lobs a penalty into the middle, it is called a Panenka. It’s 5:3, the CSSR are European champions.
Since that shot into the Belgrade night sky, a German national team has not lost a penalty shootout.
The European Football Championship begins in Germany on June 14th. Until then, we’ll be looking back at the most exciting and bizarre European Championship moments in a new series – and let one picture do the talking in each episode.
The sky over Belgrade is pitch black; night has long since spread over the Red Star Stadium. Only he, Uli Hoeneß from FC Bayern, is brightly lit in this photo. He is in the foreground with great disappointment and shock in his gestures and facial expressions after a missed penalty, which could result in a defeat for his own team. He already suspects that. He grabs his head with both hands and runs his fingers through his blonde hair. Immediately, when he looks around, he also sees the Czechoslovakians cheering – with all the gestures of offensive joy: arms thrown up, expressions of happiness because of a triumph in the air. And despair among his German teammates.
