19 Stats about the Euros

The UEFA European Championship finals are held every four years and provide avid football fans with entertainment across the summer months. I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing how the tournament unfolds. The competition’s history dates back to 1958 with the first finals competition being held in 1960 with the inaugural winners being the Soviet Union at the time. Last time around, 3 years ago (delayed a year because of COVID-19) England was agonisingly close to making history at Wembley until a Bukayo Saka missed a penalty in the shoot-out, broke English hearts and Italy was crowned the winners.

With the next European championship finals around the corner, and with the hopes of a nation lying in wait (come on England!), let’s take a deep dive into some of the key stats around the competition.

Firstly, how did we get here? Every four years the tournament comes around, there is a qualification process in which International teams across Europe split into 10 different groups, who attempt to qualify for the big summer event. This time was no different with Portugal and Spain shining brightest in the process.

Euro 2024 Qualification Stats

Official stats on this year’s qualifiers come from uefa.com.

• Portugal scored the most goals 36
• Portugal had the most assists 28
• Spain had the most possession and pass accuracy averaging 67% possession and 90.8% pass accuracy
• Wales most red cards 3
• Luxembourg had the most fouls committed and yellow cards with 163 and 37
• Most Goals in qualification – Romelu Lukaku for Belgium with 14

Next, we take a look at the history of the competition. This may indicate who is likely to take the trophy home. As it currently stands, a lot of eyes point towards England’s chances of winning the competition.

The form of Manchester City’s, Stockport raised, Phil Foden who recently won the Football Writer’s Association (FWA) Player of the Year gives England plenty of hope going into the tournament this summer.

History of the Finals

• Germany and Spain are the most successful teams winning it 3 times each
• Cristiano Ronaldo is the leading goalscorer of all time with 14 for Portugal
• Cristiano Ronaldo also leads the assists table of all time with 9
• France has hosted the most with 3 times and has won it twice
• Spain the only team to with the Euros back to back in 2008 & 2012

Germany who are hosting this year’s finals are favoured to do well, how they fare this summer remains to be seen but one thing we can be certain of is that the host nation usually does well. In the competition’s history, three nations that previously hosted the Euros have won the finals (Spain 1964, Italy 1968, France 1984) and a further three made it to the final on home soil (Belgium 1980, Portugal 2004 and France 2016) therefore Germany might be expecting big things this summer with the likes of Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and the evergreen Manual Neuer back from injury.

Stats on the home nation (Germany)

• Jurgen Klinsmann and Mario Gomez both have 5 goals and are leading goal scorers for Germany at Euro’s finals
• Worst loss at the finals – 1992 final vs Denmark – 2-0
• How many times have Germany won the Euros – 3
• Germany have scored a total of 78 goals at all Euro Championship finals
• Average price of Beer is €2-4 euros (for Pilsner or Helles)

Finally, arguably most importantly, how are we looking as a nation with the hopes of winning the tournament. As mentioned the likes of Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham who at the start of 2024 had an estimated £230m transfer value according to the CIES gives us a great chance but how have we fared previously?

Stats on Englands Euro Performance

• England all time Euro finals goal scorer is Alan Shearer on 7
• England top goal scorer in qualifying was Harry Kane with 8
• England best finish is 2nd at Euro 2021
• On 4 occasions they did not progress beyond the group stages 

You can see more stats on England’s Euro statistics here.

If you haven’t had the chance yet – check out Embryo’s work with Mystery Football’s ‘AI predictor on the Euro finals kits’  where we predicted before the official launch date the various kits of the nations participating. My personal favourite working on this was the French one.

If you’re looking to expand on more creative ways to outreach, boost your brand awareness, your keyword research, or simply discuss how we have grown Mystery Football, get in touch we have plenty of clients whose strategy we have aligned and delivered performance for.

Sources

• https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/statistics/teams/goals
• https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/statistics/teams/attacking
• https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/statistics/teams/distribution
• https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/statistics/teams/disciplinary/
• https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/top-scorer/
• https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/which-team-has-won-the-most-european-championship-titles
• https://www.90min.com/posts/european-championship-top-scorers-all-time-every-tournament
• https://www.statbunker.com/alltimestats/AllTimeCompetitionMostAssists
• https://www.topendsports.com/events/soccer/uefa-euros/hosts/index.htm
• https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/history/news/-how-well-have-the-holders-and-hosts-done-at-past-euros/
• https://www.uefa.com/euro2024/news/germany-all-their-euro-records-and-stats/
• https://www.uefa.com/euro2024/news/biggest-shocks-in-euro-history/
• https://www.topendsports.com/events/soccer/uefa-euros/winners.htm
• https://www.sportingnews.com/uk/football/news/germany-euros-record-all-time-results-european-championship
• https://originalberlintours.com/the-cost-of-enjoying-a-pint-in-berlin-exploring-the-beer-prices-in-the-german-capital
• https://fr.uefa.com/euro2024/news/euro-top-scorers-all-time-and-for-every-tournament/
• https://fbref.com/en/squads/1862c019/England-Men-Stats
• https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/04/how-far-have-england-got-in-the-euros-in-the-past-/