Claim: Cristiano Ronaldo plays in international football.

The UEFA European Championship -LRB- known informally as the Euros -RRB- is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men 's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations -LRB- UEFA -RRB- , determining the continental champion of Europe . Held every four years since 1960 , in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments , it was originally called the UEFA European Nations ' Cup , changing to the current name in 1968 . Starting with the 1996 tournament , specific championships are often referred to in the form `` UEFA Euro -LSB- year -RSB- '' ; this format has since been retroactively applied to earlier tournaments .   Prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations -LRB- which qualify automatically -RRB- compete in a qualifying process . The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup , but are not obliged to do so .   The 15 European Championship tournaments have been won by ten different national teams : Germany and Spain each have won three titles , France has two titles , and Soviet Union , Italy , Czechoslovakia , Netherlands , Denmark , Greece and Portugal have won one title each . To date , Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles , doing so in 2008 and 2012 . It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup . The Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million .   The most recent championship , hosted by France in 2016 , was won by Portugal , who beat France 1 -- 0 at the final in Saint-Denis after extra time .