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The course of Euro 2000

The 2000 European Championship was the first to be played in two countries. While the Belgians failed to get out of the group, the Netherlands, featuring, among others, de Boer brothers, Kluivert, Davids, Cocu, Bergkamp and van der Sar, won the first three games, and the country went into a real orange frenzy.

Very interesting was Group A, whose strength is evidenced by the fact that England and Germany did not make it to the next round. Instead, Portugal, with Luís Figo, Nuno Gomes and Rui Costa in the lineup, and Romania, with Gheorghe Hagi ending his career, gained promotion.

However, the Romanians' adventure ended as soon as they exited the group, as in the quarterfinals they came up against the superbly disposed Italians, who won 2–0 after goals by Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi. Infamously, Gheorghe Hagi said goodbye to the tournament and his entire national team career, as he received two yellow cards in the second half (the second for attempting to force a penalty kick) and was ejected from the field.

France and Portugal also advanced to the semifinals, and the Dutch national team continued its march, crushing Yugoslavia 6–1 in the quarterfinal. However, the Dutch hopes of winning a second European championship title ended in the semifinals, where they lost after penalty kicks to Italy. France became the second finalist after Zinedine Zidane's golden goal in overtime against Portugal.

In the final played at De Kuip in Rotterdam, the Italians led for a long time, but the French managed to equalize in added time and go into overtime. In overtime, the golden goal was scored by David Trezeguet, giving Les Bleus their second European championship title.