The initial format saw early rounds played as home-and-away matches on a knockout basis until the semi-finals, which were then played in a host country. Given the effort that Henri Delaunay of the French Football Federation had put into UEFA's birth and European football, it was appropriate that the final phase of the first European Nations' Cup in 1960 should be held in France. The trophy itself is still named after him.
The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre Delaunay was the person in charge of making the trophy. Since the first tournament it has been awarded for the winning team to keep for four years, until the next tournament.
For the 2008 tournament, the trophy was slightly remodelled making it larger. The trophy, which is made of sterling silver, now weighs 8 kilograms and is 60 centimeters tall. A small figure juggling a ball on the back of the original was removed, as was the marble plinth. The silver base of the trophy had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plinth have now been engraved on the back of the trophy.