The 2006 World Cup quarter-final between England and Portugal took place in the Schalke Arena. The “Three Lions” lost in dramatic fashion on penalties. Do you still know?

The Veltins-Arena is one of the ten venues for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. Three group matches and one round of 16 match will be played at the FC Schalke 04 stadium. The Schalke Arena was already used as a venue for the last major tournament in Germany, the 2006 World Cup.

Four preliminary round matches and one quarter-final took place there. On July 1, 2006, England and Portugal faced each other in the quarter-finals. 52,000 spectators in Gelsenkirchen saw a historic and dramatic defeat for England, and one of the most popular players of all time played his last World Cup match.

It was a rematch of the 2004 European Championship quarter-final, when the Portuguese won on penalties. History was to repeat itself, as the southern Europeans once again came out on top – again from the spot. England thus equaled Italy’s record of three defeats in three penalty shoot-outs.

No goals were scored in either regular time or extra time. However, England’s star striker Wayne Rooney provided a negative highlight. The England striker tried to free himself from a duel with Ricardo Carvalho and kicked the Portuguese right in front of referee Horacio Elizondo. The referee did not hesitate for long and showed the red card (62′).

The penalty shoot-out therefore had to decide the match. Both teams initially missed twice from the spot. Jamie Carragher then scored for England, but the referee had not yet cleared the ball. On the replay, Portugal keeper Ricardo, who saved three penalties and became the match winner, deflected the ball onto the crossbar. Cristiano Ronaldo then converted the decisive penalty.

The bitter end for the team, which was coached by the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson at the time. It was superstar David Beckham’s last appearance on the World Cup stage. Just one day after the elimination, Beckham, who had to be substituted against Portugal due to injury, stepped down as team captain. Although he celebrated his comeback in 2007 and continued to play for his country until 2009, he never again took part in a major tournament.

And England’s black streak in penalty shoot-outs? It continued at Euro 2012, when the 1966 world champions were defeated by Italy in the quarter-finals. The curse was only broken in the last 16 of the 2018 World Cup: England eliminated Colombia on penalties. However, the next drama followed at the last European Championship with defeat in the final against Italy. Once again, the Three Lions failed to score from the spot