Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel Euro 1988

This was the third European Championships and took place across the year of 1988. The first match kicked off on... and the final match ended on... It was hosted between Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia.

Every eligible European team would compete. Even regional nations or provinces could compete if they had fulfilled the requirements. This allowed nations such as the Faroe Islands or Gibraltar to take part. Furthermore, the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia, and Soviet Union would play as it's constituent countries. Partially recognised countries were technically allowed to compete, but were forced to be placed into separate groups as nations who did not recognise them.

The following chart shows each participating countries' national teams by Liedjes Federal ranking at the time of drawing the groups on 1st September 1983. Despite their large populations, the nations of Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Moldova were placed at the bottom due to their terrible record and statistics. Belarus, having only formed a national team in July 1983, had played 3 games. A 5-0 loss against Russia on 8th August 1983, then a 7-0 loss against Serbia on 16th August 1983, and a 13-0 loss against Hungary on 29th August 1983 led them to place badly. Moldova, having only formed their national team around the same time, recorded a 17-0 loss against Croatia in their international debut. Guernsey's best result in the previous 4 years had been a 4-0 loss to Wales, and a 5-1 loss to Belgium. In this tournament, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Moldova would debut at a major international tournament. Germany, despite previously ranking well, was excluded from the top 10 due to failing to qualify for the previous World Cup. This placed them in a lower bracket despite being statistically a better team, which caused many criticism. The only major nation not to participate is East Germany, and the autonomous state within Czechoslovakia, Slovakia.

All 16 of these World Cup qualifiers will then play the Knockout Stage. Assigned onto a bracket board, it will be a single elimination knockout game that can go to penalties. A third-place playoff will be played with the final declaring the Champions of Europe until the next Euro tournament in 1988.

Group 1
This group would consist of six countries only. This group would consist of 2 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, and 1 rank S country.

Matches would be played in Frankfurt,  Mainz, and  Vienna, with matchdays on 16th January, 13th February, 26th March, 7th May, and 25th June.

Group 2
This group would consist of 2 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, and 1 rank S country, and 1 rank L country.

Matches would be played in Zurich,  Innsbruck, and  Graz, with matchdays on 17th January, 14th February, 27th March, 8th May, 26th June, and 14th August.

Group 3
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 2 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, and 1 rank S country, and 1 rank L country.

Matches would be played in Bern,  Stuttgart, and  Augsburg, with matchdays on 18th January, 15th February, 28th March, 16th May, 27th June, and 15th August.

Group 4
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 2 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, and 2 rank S country.

Matches would be played in Geneva,  Freiburg,  Lausanne, with matchdays on 19th January, 16th February, 29th March, 24th May, 28th June, and 23rd August.

Group 5
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 2 rank X country, 2 rank W country, and 1 rank S country.

Matches would be played in Hamburg,  Lubeck, and  Kiel, with matchdays on 20th January, 24th February, 30th March, 25th May, 29th June, and 24th August.

Group 6
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 2 rank X country, 2 rank W country, and 1 rank L country.

Matches would be played in Berlin,  Leipzig, and  Dresden, with matchdays on 21st January, 25th February, 31st March, 26th May, 30th June, and 25th August.

Group 7
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, 2 rank S country and 1 rank L country.

Matches would be played in Dortmund,  Essen, and  Dusseldorf, with matchdays on 23rd January, 6th February, 19th March, 14th May, 2nd July, and 6th August.

Group 8
This group would consist of 1 rank Z countries, 1 rank Y country, 1 rank X country, 1 rank W country, 2 rank S country and 1 rank L country.

Matches would be played in Vienna,  Salzburg,  Klagenfurt, with matchdays on 30th January, 6th March, 10th April, 5th June, 10th July, and 28th August.

Group A
Matches would be played in Berlin,  Dortmund, and  Munich, with matchdays on 1st September, 8th September, 15th September, 22nd September, and 29th September.

Group B
Matches would be played in Nuremburg,  Cologne, and  Bremen, with matchdays on 2nd September, 9th September, 16th September, 23rd September, and 30th September.

Group C
Matches would be played in Dusseldorf,  Frankfurt,  Hanover, with matchdays on 4th September, 11th September, 18th September, 25th September, and 2nd October.

Group D
Matches would be played in Vienna,  Bern, and  Zurich, with matchdays on 5th September, 12th September, 19th September, 26th September, and 3rd October.

Group Relegation
Matches would be played in Geneva,  Lucerne,  Graz, and  Innsbruck, with matchdays on 6th October, 9th October, 13th October, 16th October, 20th October, 23rd October, and 27th October.

Group Left
Matches would be played in Salzburg,  Villach,  Saint Polten,  Lausanne, and  Geneva, with matchdays on 10th November, 13th November, 17th November, 20th November, and 24th November. These were the Mondays and Thursdays of November.

Group Right
Matches would be played in Essen,  Saarbrucken,  Mainz,  Munster, and  Bielefeld, with matchdays on 11th November, 14th November, 18th November, 21st November, and 25th November. These were the Tuesdays and Fridays of November.

Knockouts
bold is a penalty victory, while a ; means they win after extra time.