June 20, 1976: The Panenka Penalty

June 20, 1976: The Final of the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship is held at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia -- now the Rajko Mitić Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. This was the only time UEFA the Union of European Football Associations, ever held a tournament, or the Final of a club tournament, in a Communist country. (It has since held them in former Communist countries.)

England did not qualify. Nor did France, nor Italy. Under the format then in place, only 4 teams did, including Yugoslavia, who did so only because they were the hosts, although they usually had a good team. In one Semifinal, Czechoslovakia beat the Netherlands, 3-1. In the other, West Germany, who had won the last 2 major tournaments, the 1974 World Cup and Euro 72, beat Yugoslavia, 4-2. Both games went to extra time.

The Final also went to extra time. Czechoslovakia led, 2-0 after just 25 minutes, but West Germany came back, and the game ended, 2-2. So it went to penalty kicks. Stereotypically, Germany usually win those. With the Czechs up, 4-3, Ivo Viktor, goalkeeper for Dukla Prague was ready to try to stop Bayern Munich star Uli Hoeneß, but he missed his shot completely, sending it over the crossbar.

It was now up to Antonín Panenka to face the best goalie in the world at the time, Bayern's Josef "Sepp" Maier. Taking a short and stuttering run-up, he gently struck the ball in an arcing parabola up the middle, while Maier had already dived and was resting on his knees. The Czechs had won, 5-3.

It remains the only major tournament ever won by either a united Czechoslovakia, or by the Czech Republic (a.k.a. Czechia) or Slovakia separately, although they reached the Final of the 1962 World Cup, and finished 3rd at Euro 1980.

Such a penalty attempt has been known as a "Panenka" ever since, but a stuttering run-up is almost a giveaway that this is what the player is going to do, and it gets stopped more than most shots.

A midfielder, Antonín Panenka played for Bohemians Prague from 1967 to 1981, never winning a major trophy -- except Euro 76 for his country. He then went to Rapid Wien, and helped the Vienna club win the Austrian Bundesliga in 1982 and '83; and the Austrian Cup in 1983, '84 and '85. He continued to play professionally until 1993, at age 44. He later served as team president for Bohemians. As of June 20, 2022, he is still alive.

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June 20, 1976 was a Sunday. Juliano Belletti, of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winners, was born that day. So was Carlos Lee, the Panamanian-born All-Star left fielder for the Houston Astros.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Dock Ellis outpitched Ken Brett. The Yankees scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning, including 2 on a bases-loaded single by Thurman Munson.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 9-2 at Shea Stadium. Ed Halicki was the winning pitcher, as the Giants tagged Jon Matlack for 5 runs before the Mets even came to bat, and never looked back. Halicki even went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs in his own cause.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Jim Kaat outpitched Don Gullett. Mike Schmidt went 3-for-5. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-0at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Dick Ruthven pitched a 4-hit shutout. Darrel Chaney went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Astros scored 5 runs in the top of the 8th. Willie Stargell went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-8 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Royals scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning, but the Tribe came right back with 8 runs in the top of the 4th. Rico Carty went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. George Brett went 2-for-5.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Mark Fidrych outpitched Bill Singer. Rod Carew went 1-for-5.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Willie McCovey hit his 461st career home run for the Padres. Dave Winfield went 1-fo-r3 with a walk. Lou Brock went 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and 2 RBIs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 2-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Mike Cuellar pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Gaylord Perry -- screwball over spitball. Brooks Robinson, in his last full season, went 2-for-4. Reggie Jackson, in his only season with the O's, went 0-for-3.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rick Burleson singled Bobby Darwin home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. Carl Yastrzemski entered the game late, and went 0-for-1 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5 at the Oakland Coliseum. Don Baylor hit a home run for the A's. Robin Yount went 4-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs for the Brewers.

April 27, 1895: The 1st Meeting of European Football Champions

Sunderland A.F.C., English -- and British -- Champions of 1894-95

April 27, 1895: For the 1st time, the Champions of 2 different European soccer leagues meet. It was an All-British affair, played at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh, Scotland. The hosts, Scottish Champions Heart of Midlothian, a.k.a. "Hearts," took on the English Champions, Sunderland Association Football Club, from the North-East. Actually, it was an All-Scottish contest: Known as "The Team of All Talents," every one of Sunderland's players was Scottish. (The Wearside city is less than 60 miles from the England-Scotland "border.") Sunderland won, 5-3.

In 1897, the Challenge Cup was founded, competed for by teams from across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which included not just the entirety of present-day Austria and Hungary, but all of present-day Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, and parts of present-day Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Italy. Vienna Cricket and Football Club won the 1st one. The tournament ran until 1911.

The Mitropa Cup was founded in 1927. As the name suggests -- "Mitropa" is an abbreviation of "Mitteleuropa," or "Middle Europe" -- it was played for by teams in Central Europe only. Sparta Prague won the 1st one. This tournament continued despite the rise of the European Cup and other tournaments, until 1992, when the European Cup became the Champions League.

In 1930, the Coupe des Nations was founded, held in Geneva, Switzerland, and was won by Újpest of Budapest, Hungary. But the Great Depression doomed this early effort at a continent-wide soccer championship tournament.

In 1949, with the Depression and World War II behind them, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy came together and founded the Latin Cup. Barcelona won the 1st one. This tournament did not long survive the establishment of the European Cup, being dissolved in 1957.

But the real key came in 1948, with the South American Championship of Champions, won by Vasco da Gama of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gabriel Hanot, editor of the French sports-themed newspaper L'Equipe, read about it, wanted such a tournament for Europe.

Once again, Hungary had a major role. After beating England badly, both home and away, and reaching the Final of the 1954 World Cup, Hungary's national team was established as a power. On December 13, 1954, a small measure of revenge was taken when England's titleholders, Wolverhampton Wanderers, beat Hungary's titleholders, Honvéd of Budapest, 3-2 in Wolverhampton, outside Birmingham. "Wolves" manager Stan Cullis called his team "Champions of the World."

Since the rest of Europe was sick of hearing England brag about their teams, both club and national, especially after their pathetic performances in the 1950 and '54 World Cups, the "football associations" of the various European countries finally listened to Hanot's request for a real European championship, to be played in the 1955-56 season, by each European country's 1954-55 Champions.

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April 27, 1895 was a Saturday. The only major professional sports league in progress at the time was baseball's National League, and these 3 games were played:

* The Chicago Colts beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at League Park in Cincinnati. The Colts became the Cubs in 1903.

* The Cleveland Spiders beat the Louisville Colonels, 4-3 at Eclipse Park in Louisville, Kentucky. Both teams were folded after the 1899 season.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at the 1893-97 version of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, which was later renamed Robison Field. The Browns became the Cardinals in 1900.