The 1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round was the first round of the qualifying competition for the

1960 European Nations' Cup The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the inaugural tournament of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Par ...

. The tie was played over two legs, home and away, in April and May 1959 and was contested by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, as they were randomly selected to play each other. The winner on aggregate would advance to the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. The first leg was played on 5 April 1959, and won by the Republic of Ireland 2–0. Czechoslovakia won the return leg 4–0 on 10 May 1959, and therefore Czechoslovakia won 4–2 on aggregate. As winners, Czechoslovakia entered the round of 16 with the fifteen nations that had received a bye. Because some of the matches of the round of 16 had already taken place when the matches of the preliminary round did, Republic of Ireland vs Czechoslovakia was not actually the first ever European Championship match (

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

was), nor was the Republic of Ireland the first team to ever be eliminated from a European Championship (

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

was).

Summary

Matches

First leg details

Second leg details

Goalscorers

References

* * *

External links

1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round
{{Czechoslovakia national football team matches

Preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying This article describes the qualifying procedure for the 1960 European Nations' Cup, the inaugural edition of the European Nations' Cup tournament, now known as the UEFA European Championship. Qualified teams Format The qualification was a k ...

Republic of Ireland v Czechoslovakia (1960 European Nations' Cup qualifying) UEFA Euro 1960 qualifying UEFA Euro 1960 qualifying European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round Czechoslovakia at the 1960 European Nations' Cup

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Sports competitions in Bratislava