{
  "id": "womens-euro-1997",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "UEFA Women's EURO 1997 (champions - Germany)",
  "summary": "Germany beat Italy 2-0 at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo to retain the title - having first had to survive a play-off to reach the finals at all. They finished behind Norway in qualifying, losing 3-1 at home, and only got there by beating Iceland 7-0 on aggregate. It was the first edition with an eight-team final tournament.",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "womens-euro",
    "uefa",
    "tournaments",
    "finals"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "counted_in",
      "target": "womens-euro-titles-by-country"
    },
    {
      "rel": "preceded",
      "target": "womens-euro-2005"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who won Women's Euro 1997?",
    "Did the holders have to qualify for Women's Euro 1997?",
    "When did the Women's Euro become an eight-team tournament?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "Germany beat Italy 2-0 in the Women's EURO 1997 final at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Sandra Minnert scoring on 22 minutes and Birgit Prinz - then 19, and scoring in her second consecutive final - on 49. It was Germany's fourth final and they had won all of them.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-every-final",
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "The holders reached the finals only through a play-off. In qualifying Group 1 Germany finished below Norway, who opened with a competition-record 17-0 win against Slovakia and beat Germany 3-1 in Germany. Germany then went through the second-placed play-off round, beating Iceland 7-0 on aggregate.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "1997 brought the competition's most radical change of format to that point: an eight-team final tournament, with the 33 entrants split into two divisions - the top 16 in four groups of four playing for qualification, and the other 17 competing for promotion. Only group winners were assured of progress, and the runners-up and third-placed teams played off for the four remaining places.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "Sweden and Norway co-hosted the finals, one group in each country. Spain reached the semi-finals on goal difference after France, three points ahead of them before the last day, lost 3-0 to Sweden while Spain edged Russia 1-0. In the other group both Scandinavian sides went out: Italy beat world champions Norway 2-0 and Germany beat Denmark 2-0 on the same day.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.93
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "In the semi-finals Germany won 1-0 at Sweden in Karlstad through Bettina Wiegmann's goal six minutes from time, and Italy beat Spain 2-0 in Lillestrom, leading by half-time through Silvia Florini and Carolina Morace, with Spain's reply coming in the 88th minute.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.93
    },
    {
      "id": "c6",
      "text": "Norway, who had reached five straight semi-finals in the competition, were eliminated in the group stage of this one despite opening it with a 5-0 win over Denmark.",
      "sources": [
        "uefa-weuro-1997-review"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [],
  "faqs": [],
  "evidence_tier": "primary",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "industry_observation",
    "source_types": [
      "industry_observation"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": true,
  "winning_edge": "UEFA's own headline for 1997 is \"German reign goes on\", which hides the edition's real story: the reigning champions did not qualify directly. They finished behind Norway, lost 3-1 at home to them, and needed a 7-0 aggregate play-off win over Iceland just to reach a tournament they then won. The same review carries the format change that made that play-off possible - the first eight-team finals, with 33 entrants split into two divisions - and the fact that Norway, world champions and semi-finalists in the five previous editions, went out in the group.",
  "confidence": 0.94,
  "last_verified": "2026-08-09",
  "canonical_url": "https://futbolatlas.app/k/womens-euro-1997",
  "api_url": "https://futbolatlas.app/api/k/womens-euro-1997.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "UEFA Women's EURO 1997 (champions - Germany)",
    "description": "Germany beat Italy 2-0 at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo to retain the title - having first had to survive a play-off to reach the finals at all. They finished behind Norway in qualifying, losing 3-1 at home, and only got there by beating Iceland 7-0 on aggregate. It was the first edition with an eight-team final tournament.",
    "url": "https://futbolatlas.app/k/womens-euro-1997",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-08-09",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Who has won Women's EURO? Champions, teams, players, scorers and venues for every final (UEFA, 27 Jul 2025)",
        "url": "https://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/news/0276-1574551cc7a7-6f3161f07484-1000--who-has-won-women-s-euro-champions-teams-players-scorers-a/"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "1997 - German reign goes on (UEFA, 12 Jul 1997, by Paul Saffer)",
        "url": "https://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/news/014b-0e1089060ac9-5a3a96498565-1000--1997-german-reign-goes-on/"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "UEFA Women's EURO 1997 (champions - Germany)"
  }
}