The Four Nations Tournament (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Vier-Länder-Turnier'') was an invitational

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition between four national teams, organized by the German Football Association (DFB). The teams of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and Sweden competed against one another at

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

from 31 March to 2 April 1988, with Sweden the tournament winners.

Background

had been elected host country of the

1988 European Football Championship The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

finals, but because of the ongoing

division of Germany Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics * Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military * Division (military), a formation typically consisti ...

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

decided against using West Berlin as a venue for any of the matches at the finals. This was a compromise taken at the insistence of the

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. The DFB, led by

Hermann Neuberger Hermann Neuberger (12 December 1919 – 27 September 1992) was the seventh president of the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund'', DFB) from 1975 until his death in office in 1992. Career Neuberger, son of two teachers, gre ...

, accepted and thus West Germany secured the right to host the Championship. As compensation to West Berlin, whose Olympic Stadium would not be used at that tournament, a Four Nations Tournament was staged there over Easter 1988.

Tournament

The teams invited to the tournament, along with

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

runners-up

, were: *

, the reigning world champions *

* Sweden Two semi-finals were played, with the winners facing each other in the final, and the losers playing a third-place playoff. In the event of a draw after 90 minutes, there was no extra time but an immediate

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The first semi-final was between West Germany and Sweden and was of middling quality. After 90 minutes the scores were level at 1–1, and the Swedish side pulled through 4–2 on penalties. In the second semi, the Soviet Union beat Argentina 4–2 to reach the final. Lothar Matthaeus 2002

The third-place game was won by West Germany against Argentina, with

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

scoring the only goal of the game. The final was won by outsiders Sweden, 2–0, against the Soviet Union, making Sweden the tournament winners.

Reception

Although the tournament included exciting teams and world-class players, like Argentina with

Claudio Caniggia Claudio Paul Caniggia (; born 9 January 1967) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as forward or winger. Caniggia played 50 times for the Argentina national team. He appeared in three World Cups, and was a member of both ...

and

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

, as well as European Championship favorites the USSR (with star players

Oleh Protasov Oleh Valeriyovych Protasov ( uk, Олег Валерійович Протасов; born 4 February 1964) is a Ukrainian and Soviet former footballer who played as a striker. He was a key member of the Soviet Union national team throughout the ...

and

Rinat Dasayev Rinat Fayzrakhmanovich Dasayev (russian: Ринат Файзрахманович Дасаев, tt-Cyrl, Ринат Фәйзерахман улы Дасаев, translit=Rinat Fäyzerakhman uly Dasaev; born 13 June 1957) is a Russian football coa ...

), it didn't catch the public's imagination. The matches were often poorly-attended, the Argentine team's performance as world champions was disappointing, and the Germans, using the tournament as a dress rehearsal for their home Euro tournament, were average at best on the pitch. In the end the European Championships were an organizational success and very well-attended. West Germany eventually reached the semi-finals, the USSR were beaten finalists, but had been beaten in the Four Nations by Sweden, who had not even qualified.

Nasazzi's baton

In the course of this tournament, in the unofficial international football championship Nasazzi's Baton, the baton changed hands twice. Firstly on 31 March 1988, the Soviet Union won the baton from Argentina. But, two days later, the Swedish team took the baton from the Soviet team by winning the Four Nations Tournament final. To this day, the USSR's two-day tenure as holder of Nasazzi's baton remains the shortest single championship reign in the baton's history.

Results

Semi-finals

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Third-place playoff

Final

{{Football box , date = 2 April 1988 , team1 = {{fb-rt, SWE , score = 2–0 , team2 = {{fb, URS , report
Report
, goals1 = Eskilsson {{goal, 52
Holmqvist {{goal, 88 , stadium =

Olympiastadion Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to: * Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'') * Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...

, attendance = 25,000 , referee = Marcel Van Langenhove (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) , event = , time = , round = , score1 = , score2 = , goals2 =

External links

"A rightly forgotten Euro rehearsal"
Jörg Hausmann, 2008 ''(German)''

José Luis Pierrend
Match stats: W Germany v Sweden
''(German)''
Match stats: W Germany v Argentina
''(German)''

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1987–88 in German football 1988 in Swedish football 1987–88 in Argentine football 1988 in Soviet football 1980s in West Berlin March 1988 sports events in Europe April 1988 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in West Berlin