The European Championships 2008 will be remembered as the tournament where football rediscovered its soul.

Germany and Russia were the great over-achievers, Spain at last fulfilled their potential, Portugal flattered but deceived, Holland surprised and delighted but eventually disappointed, while France departed as the saddest of flops.

The group games vied with each other for sheer drama. There was Holland's destruction of France, inspired by Wesley Sneijder; there was David Villa's one-man demolition of Russia to establish Spain as genuine contenders; there was Croatia's marvellous victory over Germany.

Then there was Turkey, gloriously teetering on the brink against Switzerland, the Czechs and most famously Croatia before three times landing the latest of victory blows - only themselves to fall victim in identical circumstances to Germany in the semi-final.

Euro 2008 will also be remembered as the tournament of the midfielder: they have been the stars for once, not the strikers.

Spain epitomised this; Arsene Wenger described their midfield as "very versatile - they all look alike and all have the same skill, subtlety and technical quality".

Perhaps that was Spain's strength: their opponents didn't know who to mark as Xavi, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta buzzed around, though there was no mistaking the imperious majesty of Marcos Senna in the holding role.

There are many people who believe Senna should not be playing in this tournament at all, for until two years ago he was Brazilian. The ease with which citizenship is now granted to talented South Americans is an issue that FIFA and UEFA must urgently address.

Would Spain have gone so far without Senna? Perhaps, because Luis Aragones certainly had midfield riches in abundance to choose from.

For the other finalists, Germany, their strength too was in midfield. Joachim Low's master stroke was to play Lukas Podolski as a converted left-winger rather than an out-and-out forward, a move that paid off in spades while Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger were the other dominant figures.

They were the good of Euro 2008, and there was very little bad or ugly, perhaps only a notorious section of far-right Croatia fans who sullied the tournament by raising a racist banner.

Apart from that exception Euro 2008 was a delight: the hosts were friendly - even the naturally-reserved Swiss - the fans good-humoured, the football overwhelmingly positive.

Of course some figures will have departed with the reputations diminished. Worryingly for Chelsea, that includes their new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose Portugal side missed a big opportunity to repair the damage of the defeat on home territory in the final four years ago.

In 2004, despite having arguably the best defence in Europe, Portugal were unable to cope with Greece's set-pieces and again they were found lacking in the same area as Germany sought out their vulnerability. Given the players he has had under his command in three tournaments now, Scolari is in danger of appearing a serial under-achiever.

It was a case of out with the old as France's adherence to experienced but old legs led to disaster, while Italy's reliance on Andrea Pirlo was cruelly exposed when he was suspended against Spain and Roberto Donadoni's risk-free strategy came to grief in the penalty shoot-out.

The other disappointment was predictable, which was that hosts Austria and Switzerland would struggle to perform above their usual level.

Unfortunately that proved to be the case. Unfortunate because the overall atmosphere suffered: it was friendly and polite but quite noticeably not as ebullient as in Germany two years ago.

In two tournaments time England almost certainly will be involved, and probably a couple of the other home nations too, as UEFA are set to boost the number of finalists from 16 to 24.

The expansion is to be regretted however as it will disrupt the simple but effective balance of 16 teams. In the future, half the countries in Europe will make it to the finals, raising the spectre of dreary and predictable qualifying groups followed by an equally-unexciting group phase of the finals where only the worst eight countries drop out.

Perhaps Euro 2008 will also be remembered as one of the last European Championships where a smaller number of participants promoted a quality and simplicity that gave rise to a joyful expression of the greatest game.