Heavy defeat would make us worst since 1980

Ireland may have nothing to play for in tonight’s closing Group C game against Italy but they certainly have something to fight against.

Lose by three or more goals to the Azzurri and the Republic will, officially, rank as the worst team to have competed at the continental classic since 1980 when Uefa first introduced the concept of a finals tournament with groups each of which contained four teams.

Nine sides have since finished the league phase of the tournament without a point to their name. Only twice, in Italy in 1980 and again in Sweden in 1992, have there been tournaments where at least one team didn’t get beaten three times.

Three of those eight teams share the unwanted honour of having the worst goal difference of minus-eight — Yugoslavia (1980), Denmark (2000) and Bulgaria (2004). That Denmark team, and Turkey in 1996, are the only two who failed to find the net.

1980: Greece and Spain both departed Italy with just one point to their name after their three matches but no side finished pointless.

1984: Yugoslavia wrapped up a miserable few weeks in France with a 5-0 loss to Belgium which followed losses to the hosts and eventual champions as well as Denmark.

Goal difference: F2 A10

1988: The last flicker of life in a once-feared Danish team was extinguished after a hat-trick of losses to West Germany, Italy and Spain – none of whom made the final.

Goal difference: F2 A7

England entered the tournament with high hopes but never recovered from a shock loss to Ireland in Stuttgart with the USSR and the Netherlands, both of whom contested the final, beating them 3-1.

Goal difference: F2 A7

1992: A second successive flop for England at the Euros but they at least finished with two points after a pair of draws, as did the Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly known as the USSR.

1996: Romania were never outclassed but they still found the going far too tough in a pot that included eventual semi-finalists France as well as Bulgaria and Spain.

Goal difference: F1 A4.

Turkey Like Romania, Turkey were hardly embarrassed in any one game but they failed to score or land a point in a group that contained Portugal, Croatia and Italy, none of whom even reached the semis.

Goal difference: F0 A5

2000: Denmark became the first and still only nation to lose all three games more than once with a trio of defeats to Holland, France and Czech Republic, failing to even score.

Goal difference: F0 A8

2004: Switzerland failed to fire at all despite being placed in a group containing France, England and Croatia, none of whom even troubled the semi-finals of the competition in Portugal F1 A6 Bulgaria endured a similarly fruitless spell in Iberia with three losses in an ordinary group containing Sweden, Denmark and Italy, all of whom fell in the last eight.

Goal difference: F1 A9

2008: Four years after claiming the title in Portugal, Greece followed it up with defeats to Spain – who succeeded them as champions – as well as Russia and Sweden.

Goal difference: F 1 A5