EURO 2016: Portugal The 15 European Football Champions

The UEFA European Championship (known informally as the Euros) is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), 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 the1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form "UEFA Euro [year]"; this format has since been retroactively applied to earlier tournaments.

Prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations (which qualify automatically) 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.

At full-time, Ronaldo, shirtless by this stage, celebrated before finding his top and leading his team onto the podium to lift the trophy.

He embraced Ferguson, watching on in the stadium as a proud father, while wearing a smile where there had been only misery hours earlier.

Camera catches touching moment when boy consoles fan

"I have been looking for this for a long time, since 2004," Ronaldo told reporters.

"I asked God for another chance at this because we deserved it. Today I was unfortunate, I was injured but I always believed that these players, together with the strategy, would be strong enough to beat France.

"This is one of the happiest moments in my career. I always said I'd like to win something with Portugal."

What awaits the three-time World Player of the Year now is unknown -- but for all his achievements, and there are many -- that night in Paris will take some beating.