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UEFA European Championship top goalscorers

Men's UEFA European Championship top goalscorers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A total of 946 goals have been scored in games at the men's 17 final tournaments of the UEFA European Championship, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs.[1] Since the first goal scored by Yugoslav player Milan Galić at the 1960 European Nations' Cup, exactly 545 footballers have scored goals at the Euro tournaments,[2] of whom 39 have scored four or more.

Cristiano Ronaldo is UEFA European Championship top scorer with 14 goals.

Since in the beginning tournaments were contested between four teams and only two games were played, top goalscorers of the first three editions have scored only two goals.[3] This was bettered in 1972, when West Germany's Gerd Müller scored four goals. Four years later this was matched by his compatriot Dieter Müller and finally in 1984 France's Michel Platini have scored record 9 goals in just 5 games.[4] His record stood for more than three decades until Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 10th goal for Portugal at the UEFA Euro 2020.[5] He has later improved his tally and stands at 14 goals in 30 appearances at the European Championship tournaments — also record.[6] The top 39 goalscorers have represented 15 nations, with 7 players scoring for Germany or West Germany, 5 for France, and 4 for Netherlands. In total, only 6 of them have scored at tournaments with maximum of 8 teams (prior to UEFA Euro 1996).

More information Goals, ≥10 ...
Numbers of goalscorers[2]
Goals≥10987654321Total
Nos. of players 1104981650101355545
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Platini holds the record for the most goals scored in a single tournament, with 9 goals in 1984.[7] The players that came closest were Antoine Griezmann in 2016 (with 6 goals) and Marco van Basten in 1988, Alan Shearer in 1996, Savo Milošević and Patrick Kluivert in 2000, Milan Baroš in 2004, and Ronaldo and Patrik Schick in 2020 (all with 5 goals). Across the 17 tournaments of the Euro, 37 players have been credited with the most tournament goals, with Ronaldo the only one to achieve this feat twice (in 2012 and 2020). Twelve of them scored at least four goals in a tournament, while Portugal's Nuno Gomes (2000), England's Wayne Rooney, Netherlands' Ruud van Nistelrooy (both in 2004), Belgium's Romelu Lukaku, England's Harry Kane, France's Karim Benzema and Sweden's Emil Forsberg (all in 2020) are the only footballers to score at least 4 goals without being the top goalscorer. These 37 players represented 16 nations, the most (six) Germany or West Germany. Four played for Yugoslavia, the Netherlands and Spain.

Of all the players who have played in the UEFA European Championship tournaments, only three have achieved an average of two goals per game played: Hungary's Dezső Novák and West Germany's: Gerd Müller and Dieter Müller — although Novák have appeared in only one Euro game.

Overall top goalscorers

Table key
Player Denotes player still active at international level
‡ Denotes national top scorer (or joint top scorer) at the Euro
[ ] Denotes tournaments where the player was part of the squad, but did not play in a match
( ) Denotes tournaments where the player played in a match, but did not score a goal
Year Denotes tournaments where the player's team won the title
T Denotes tournaments where the player was top scorer
Denotes the overall tournament record
More information Rank, Player ...
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Timeline

More information Key ...
Key
Goal set a new record
Goal equalled the existing record
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More information Goals, Date ...
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Top goalscorers for each tournament

Since 2008, if there is more than one player with the same number of goals, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has contributed the most assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.[3] Between the years 1960 and 2008, the Golden Boot award went to each of the top goalscorers of the UEFA European Championship tournaments. At Euro 2020, there was a new physical and digital trophy presented to the tournament's top scorer. It was commissioned by Alipay, the Chinese company sponsoring the award. "Sculpted in the shape of the Chinese character '支' (pronounced zhi, and meaning 'payment' as well as 'support'), the barefooted player on the trophy reflects the egalitarian footballing ideal that success on the pitch comes regardless of background or status," according to UEFA.[24]

More information † ...
Key
† Denotes the record for the most goals in a single tournament
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Goalscorers in final matches

  • Bold indicates winning final
  • Parentheses indicates no goals scored

See also

Notes

  1. At Euro 1988, Klinsmann made four appearances and scored one goal for West Germany.
  2. At Euro 1992, Völler made one appearance for Germany.
  3. UEFA Euro 1968 final was decided over two matches.

References

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