Hosts: France
Winners: USSR

The first tournament was won in extra-time by USSR, who came from behind to win 2-1 against Yugoslavia, surprise finalists after scoring three late goals in four minutes to down France 5-4 in the semi-finals.

The Soviets comfortably won in their semi-final, 3-0 against Czechoslovakia, who went on to take third place from the hosts.

The four finalists were whittled down from only 17 entrants, which did not include Sweden, who lost to Brazil in the 1958 World Cup final, nor West Germany, England or Italy.

Czechoslovakia came through a preliminary round against the Republic of Ireland to the final 16, where teams played home-and-away knockout ties over nearly two years until the semi-finals.

After a last 16 round of few surprises, General Franco of Spain forfeited the match for his national side against the USSR as he refused entry to their ideologically-opposed last-eight opponents.

The eastern Europeans seized their chance as they comfortably won their semi-final in Marseille, but the other semi-final was much more dramatic.

In a nine-goal thriller, Yugoslavia recovered 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to triumph 5-4 against a France side without Just Fontaine, thanks to two goals from match-winner Drazan Jerkovic, who went on to jointly-win the 1962 World Cup golden boot award.

The Paris final was played in front of nearly 18,000 on July 10.

Yugoslavia dominated most of the game and took the lead with Milan Galic's deflected effort four minutes before half-time.

But legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin kept Russia in the hunt and Slava Metreveli equalised four minutes after the break, taking the game to extra-time.

A header from Victor Ponedelnik seven minutes before the end sealed the game and inaugural title for Russia.

Ponedelnik later said: "There are matches and goals which are really special - a climax of a player's sporting life. That was the star moment of my life."