Its beginning Euro 2024 in Germany This is the best scoring start in the history of the competition in terms of average goals per game since the edition was played Belgium and the Netherlands in the year 2000, almost a quarter of a century ago.
The last goal was scored almost at the end of Francisco Conceicao within Portugal-Czech Republic to give victory to the Portuguese team, he left the account to start Florian Wirtz in the 10th minute of Germany-Scotland inaugural last Friday, with 34 goals in 12 games on the first day, stopping the average at a whopping 2.83 goals per game. These figures remained close to the mark of three goals per game established on the first day of Euro 2000.
The next bar was set by five goals per game in the edition of Yugoslavia 76which will end in resolving the historic punishment of Antonin Panenka that is why Czechoslovakia win the title.
Since group stages before qualification began to be introduced, with their successive expansion of both teams and rounds, the Euro 2000 It has been the most prolific in terms of goals per game at the opening of the championship, where the rivalry of Portugal 3-England 2 and Yugoslavia 3-Slovenia 3 stood and 24 goals were scored in 8 games.
However, there are two facts to highlight from that mid-70s edition when compared to the 2.83 goals per game in the current competition.
On the one hand, the Euro 1976 It was the last played in the final four-way format, in which the tournament was created in 1960, accessed after overcoming the qualifying phase and a previous round of quarterfinals with a round trip, making the first five editions had only one opening day of two games.
And on the other hand, in two semi-finals in 1976, Czechoslovakia-Netherlands and West Germany-Yugoslaviaten goals were scored -five in each game-, four of which went up on the scoreboard in extra time where both games were decided (3-1 in the first and 4-2 in the second).
That is, with regard to data limited to goals at the end of 90 minutes, the average will drop to three per game: exactly the same as in Euro 2000after which the beginning of the scoring of the current championship is left.
The current average score is the fifth best in Euro Cup history on start days. The record in this section is still held by the first of all Euro Cups: the one held France in 1960, when the semifinals of France-Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia-Soviet Union produced a total of 12 goals, which translates to an average of 6 per match.
In the national team’s sixteen championships Old continent that took place – the current one is the seventeenth -, up to four different formats were tested, which changed as more teams were added in the final phase of the same.
From the first four members in the semifinals and final, it evolved to eight teams distributed in two groups, then to sixteen in four groups of four squads, ending with the current twenty-four participants grouped in six groups of four.
Until now, since expansions have taken place in the tournament, the registration of Belgium and the Netherlands 2000, closely followed by the start of the competition Poland and Ukraine 2012, when 20 goals were scored in 8 duels, featuring Russia 4-Czech Republic 1 as the highest scoring confrontation, raising the average to 2.5, and the last edition, the 2020 multi-venue, was postponed to 2021 due to covid pandemic. 19, averaging 2.33 points after collecting 28 hits in 12 matches, with Netherlands 3-Ukraine 2 contributing the most to the total.
At the diametrically opposite pole of statistics is the beginning of Italian Euro Cup 1968, when only one goal was scored in the two semi-finals (0.5 goals per game) between Italy and the Soviet Union on the one hand and Yugoslavia and England on the other. Only Balkan Dragan Džajić scored between the two disputes. One, the one involving the hostess, was fixed on throwing a coin in the air whose fate fell for the transalpines.
Surprisingly, the second European Cup with the worst record in terms of starting scoring will also take place in the ‘land of the boot’. At Italy 1980, the first to introduce a group stage before the qualifying rounds for the title, just four goals lit up the scoreboard in the first four games that made up the opening day.
31 scoring leaders after the first day of Euro 2024
Has 1 goal: Nedim Bajrami (Albania); Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz (1p), Jamal Musiala, Emre Can and Nicklas Fullkrug (Germany); Christian Eriksen (Denmark); Ivan Schranz (Slovakia); Erik Janza (Slovenia); Álvaro Morata, Dani Carvajal and Fabián Ruiz (Spain); Georges Mikautadze (Georgia); Barnabás Varga (Hungary); Jude Bellingham (England); Alesandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barela (Italy); Wout Weghorst and Cody Gakpo (Netherlands); Adam Open (Poland); Francisco Conceicao (Portugal); Lukas Provod (Czech Republic); Nicolau Stanciu, Razvan Marin and Dragus (Romania); Kwadwo Duah, Michel Aebischer and Breel Embolo (Switzerland); Mert Muldur, Arda Güler and Kerem Akturkoglu (Turkey);
On your own doorstep: Antonio Rudiger (Germany, against Scotland); Maximilam Wöber (Austria, against France) and Robin Hranac (Czech Republic, against Portugal).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
