Game Changers: Antonin Panenka and Czechoslovakia at Euro ‘76

When the European Championships kicked off in the summer of 1976, circumstances could not have been much different to how they are today. While Euro 2016 is contested by 24 teams from across the continent, Euro '76 featured just four. Of those teams, two – West Germany and the Netherlands – were from what contemporaries would have called "the West". The tournament wasn't held in the West, however. For the first and only time in the competition's history, the host nation was a communist power.

Euro '76 took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the other side of a divided Europe. While Yugoslavia was not behind the Iron Curtain, per se, and had managed to preserve its independence from the Soviet Union, it was still a communist dictatorship and still very much part of the East. An associate member of Soviet economic bloc Comecon, Yugoslavia had close ties to the USSR and its satellite states, even if it refused to bow to ideological and political diktats from Moscow. That said, the country was also seen as a bridge between East and West at the heart of the Cold War.

With independence from the USSR came near-constant tension and, accordingly, Yugoslavia maintained relatively cordial relations with the rest of Europe. That is how the Yugoslavs ended up hosting a major tournament, and that is how the European Championships made their first and only trip to the red half of the continent. Marshal Tito's strongman state had pulled off a major coup in winning the right to host the Euros, while the West saw it as a symbolic opportunity for conciliation and diplomacy. Nonetheless, there was no doubt that the Western powers wanted to win the competition. Like any other major sporting event during the Cold War era, Euro '76 represented a chance to score a propaganda victory on the international stage.

The decision to host the tournament in Zagreb and Belgrade wasn't purely political, of course. Yugoslavia were a formidable footballing nation at the time, and had twice finished runners-up at the European Championships in the 1960s. West Germany and the Netherlands were equally formidable, with the former going into Euro '76 as reigning champions. The only team that didn't look up to scratch was Czechoslovakia, a side assembled in the shadow of the guard towers, fences and minefields that formed Europe's dividing line.

The Czechoslovaks certainly hadn't been given an easy route to qualification, and had been forced to overcome several formidable obstacles on their way to the finals. Drawn in a group with England, Portugal and Cyprus, they would have to clinch top spot if they were to progress to the play-offs for the four-team tournament. Despite losing 3-0 to Don Revie's England in their first qualifier at Wembley, they soon built up a serious head of steam.

A 4-0 victory over Cyprus followed, as did a 5-0 thrashing of Portugal. In the Cyprus match, a young midfielder by the name of Antonin Panenka announced himself with a superb hat-trick. Next up, the Czechoslovaks faced a return qualifier against group leaders England in Bratislava. Having gone behind to an early goal from Mick Channon, they hit back through Zdeněk Nehoda and Dušan Galis, then held on to record a historic win.

That result saw them qualify for the play-offs at England's expense, and condemn the Three Lions to half a decade in the international wilderness. Nonetheless, few expected the Czechoslovaks to get past the play-off stage, where they were second only to surprise qualifiers Wales in their underdog status. When they were pitted against the power of the Soviet Union, their elimination seemed practically guaranteed. The USSR had never failed to qualify for the finals of the European Championships, while their political influence made them a force to be reckoned with off the pitch as well as on it.

While Yugoslavia might have maintained a certain distance from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia could claim no such privilege. It was a direct satellite of the USSR and had been invaded as recently as 1968, when the government's refusal to bow to Soviet-sanctioned dogma saw half a million troops occupy the country and put an end to the period of liberal reform known as 'The Prague Spring'. Czechoslovaks found themselves on the frontline of the Cold War, with the affluent towns of neighbouring Austria and West Germany visible from the chain-link fences and barbed wire dugouts that guarded the national border.

It was of serious significance to be drawn against the Soviet Union in the play-offs. This represented a chance for the satellite state to take on its overlord, and face the repressive force of the USSR on the level ground of the football pitch.

While the suppression of 'The Prague Spring' had been met with non-violent resistance and peaceful defiance from a large section of the population, the Soviets had not been kind to Czechoslovakia during the occupation. Memories of imprisonment, torture and political crackdown were fresh in the memory come 1976 and, as such, many people were desperate to see the USSR chastened on the international stage. The national team didn't let themselves down and – in a show of fresh insubordination – beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in the first leg in Bratislava. In the totalitarian political climate of the Eastern Bloc, even defiance on the football field must have felt like a dangerous game.

The Czechoslovaks weren't to be deterred, however. In the intimidating atmosphere of Kiev's Olympic Stadium, with a crowd of 76,495 in attendance, they held on for a 2-2 draw and dumped the Soviet Union out of the competition. Thousands of people witnessed Czechoslovakia – a vassal state at the corner of the USSR's vast fiefdom – embarrass their iron-fisted masters on home soil. Back in Prague, the mood was one of total elation.

Czechoslovakia had defeated the Soviet Union, and were now set to oppose the great footballing powers of the West. The team travelled to Yugoslavia knowing that they would have to face a Netherlands side that included Wim Jansen, Rob Resenbrink and the seemingly invincible Johan Cruyff in the semi-final. On a wet, humid night in Zagreb, the Czechoslovaks went toe to toe with some of the best players on the planet. Bloodied, bruised and spattered with mud, they emerged 3-1 winners after a gruelling 120 minutes of football.

The Dutch had certainly been hampered by the weather, but were also guilty of underestimating their opponents. While the rain had scuppered their attempts to play Total Football, the attitude of Cruyff and co. towards their Czechoslovak counterparts had been practically dismissive. The referee on the night was a Welshman by the name of Clive Thomas and, speaking to BBC Sport just over three decades after the game, he said: "I had the impression as the second half wore on that the Dutch thought they were bigger than the game."

Ultimately, that arrogance cost them dearly. Having cancelled out Anton Ondrus' opener late on in regulation time, the Netherlands went on to concede twice in the final minutes of the game. It was a fiery encounter, with Johan Neeskens and Wim van Hanegem sent off for the losers and Czechoslovak midfielder Jaroslav Pollák also shown red. It was Czechoslovakia who were still standing by the end of the slugging match, however, and it was Czechoslovakia who would now face an all-conquering West Germany in the final.

The culmination of the tournament took place in the Crvena Zvezda Stadium in Belgrade, and the game was an absolute thriller. Czechoslovakia opened the scoring after only eight minutes, and doubled their lead not long afterwards. West Germany then hit back almost immediately, before equalising just prior to the final whistle with a robust header from Eintracht Frankfurt prodigy Bernd Hölzenbein. Though they could well have collapsed after that late setback, the Czechoslovaks clung on through a tense period of extra time.

The match went to a penalty shootout, with Czechoslovakia taking the first spot kick. Four successful penalties later, and Uli Hoeneß stepped up for the Germans. He sent his effort sailing high over the crossbar, before hiding his face in complete despair. Still, it wasn't quite over. Not until Antonin Panenka strode up to the spot, anyway.

Having played a crucial role in qualifying, Panenka had been the orchestrator of much of Czechoslovakia's subsequent success. Though he hadn't managed to get on the scoresheet at the finals, his performances at the attacking tip of the midfield were behind many of the team's lightning-quick goals. He was already an icon of Euro '76 when he stepped up to take that penalty, but he was about to change the face of the game itself.

Facing Bayern Munich keeper Sepp Maier, Panenka feigned as if to shoot towards the bottom corner. Maier dived to his left, at which point Panenka impudently chipped the ball down the middle of the goal. Against probably the best goalkeeper at the tournament, in the biggest game of his career, Panenka showed almost impossible audacity to score the winning spot kick for Czechoslovakia. As he raised his arms towards the heavens and charged back towards his ecstatic teammates, the penalty which now bears his name was born.

Whenever anyone has used the same technique since, it has been an imitation of Panenka. Some of the best footballers on the planet have mimicked that moment, all in homage to the moustachioed Czech. When Andrea Pirlo knocked England out of Euro 2012 with a dinked spot kick, he had Panenka to thank. The penalty that decided Euro '76 was an example of true artistry and imagination, and its legacy will live on for as long as football is played.

If Panenka's penalty changed the sport forever, Czechoslovakia's triumph changed Europe in a subtle but significant way. Hemmed in by two vast, geopolitical empires, the winners of Euro '76 refused to be cowed by the might of either East or West. Czechoslovakia defied the totalitarian Soviets, but they also defied the arrogance of their free-market foes. In doing so, they carved out their own identity and, much like Panenka, proved themselves spirited, daring and, more than anything, unafraid.

@W_F_Magee