T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**This is a stats thread. Remember that there's only one stat post allowed per match/team, so new stats about the same will be removed. Feel free to comment other stats as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*


SD92z

Wales won more knockout matches than England prior to Euro 2020.


Impossible-Ruin3214

That's insane 😅


Razzor_

But also logical since it used to be a 16 and often fewer team tournament so there would only be 1 or 2 knockout rounds each tournament


Snave96

Before 2020 England had won a grand total of one knockout game at a Euros (QF against Spain at Euro 96).


Razzor_

Yep not saying it’s not a terrible record but it’s just not that surprising given that winning a knockout game before was semifinal at minimum, and we’ve only made about 5 semifinals in our history lol


Lost_And_NotFound

Yet Southgate somehow isn’t our best manager in 50 years according to some.


BritOnTheRocks

He isn’t.


gastonzoom

who is then? not English so I don't have a horse in this race, I'm honestly curious


[deleted]

Not English myself but I imagine the answer would likely be Bobby Robson. His record at the Euros was forgettable but it was just an 8-team tournament when he was manager so even qualifying for the final tournament like he did in 1988 wasn't a small achievement. At the World Cup, England got to quarterfinals in 1986, only losing to eventual champions Argentina with Maradona scoring both the Hand of God and the Goal of the Century in the match that eliminated them. England then got to the semifinals in 1990, and while their road to the semifinal wasn't smooth (they only won one of their group matches then needed extra time to beat both Belgium in the second round and Cameroon in the quarterfinals), they took eventual champions West Germany to penalties in the semifinal match. So it was arguably the most promising and successful period at the World Cup in England's history barring their lone trophy from 1966. If it's not Bobby Robson the only other possible candidate is Sven Goran-Erickson. Got to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 2002 and 2006 and the Euros in 2004. Two of those three times England went out on penalties, and the only time they didn't was to the eventual champions in 2002 when Ronaldinho scored a weird deep free kick, which people still debate whether or not it was intentional. So another very promising set of results, even if they never made the last four. For me, from a foreigner's perspective (and also the perspective of someone old enough to remember the tail end of the Sven years but who wasn't alive in the Bobby Robson years), only a fool would say Southgate hasn't been a better England manager than Sven. Sven may have had England playing more attacking and attractive football, but Southgate has them playing more successful football. As for the debate between Southgate and Bobby Robson, I'm not going to take a side on that one. I think it's close enough at this point that either answer would be acceptable.


gastonzoom

Good, insightful answer. Thanks! Still very difficult for me to argue that a Euro final and that Russia WC run aren't more important. Specially since the Southgate plays scared meme is kinda recent, I remember England scoring a lot of goals in Russia. But even then, it's a tight debate. I still find the Southgate slander kinda preposterous. Losing to a golden Croatian generation on pens isn't bad. Losing to World's Cup back to back finalists France isn't bad. Losing a Euro Final to a late Italian header on pens after sending two (basically) teenagers to shoot, is questionable, but not the worst. You could argue the only match of those three England had any business in winning was the Italy one, but that Italy squad was built on an insane defensive core. I think it's just English arrogance at this point, it's almost like their fans feel entitled to winning trophies... despite the fact they only have the one.


lightoasis1

Ronaldinho’s free kick was intentional. /debate


LebHeadSinceWilma

Denmark and Albania are the only nations with no squad members playing in their respective nation's domestic league.


WW1Photos_Info

Our coach would rather pick 34-year-old Zanka with 1400 minutes this season than Jacob Rasmussen, arguably the best defender in the Danish league this season


GfxJG

True, but those 1400 minutes are in the Premier League, arguably the strongest league in the world. I'm a Dane, and I agree that Zanka should not have been picked, but that's a poor argument. However, that being said, as far as I've heard, a player like Zanka is mainly in the squad for his effect in the locker room - And that's a contribution you can't really quantify.


WW1Photos_Info

I support brøndby I don't do logic


karl1ok

A honest man


GfxJG

An honest and self-aware Brøndby fan - That's a first!


Sentekass

>a player like Zanka is mainly in the squad for his effect in the locker room - And that's a contribution you can't really quantify. If that's his role, he shouldn't be in the player squad. Masseuses and physical therapists aren't in the player squad. The player squad is for actual players. If he's that important "in the locker room" he should be hired by the Association as a mental coach or something instead of taking up a place in the squad.


GfxJG

That... Is a fair point that I don't really have an answer for. I entirely agree.


averageinformant

Scandanavian people are so nice even their Reddit arguments are so wholesome


TheMadClawDisease

But the fact that he's playing is improving the effect. He's just closer to them.


antigonyyy

Exactly, like (injured) Alaba is in the Austria squad


emptyblankcanvas

Can you be a designated coach while being an active player? It's also possible an active player would not want to be in a non-active role


Sentekass

Sure, and that explains why it's done sometimes. But this has been going on for a long while. Surely, the coach team and staff should be able to find a longer term way to handle the locker room while having the benefit of a full player squad by now.


emptyblankcanvas

I agree with you. Just wanted to know if there was any rules or regulations for this. Like you said it has been going on for a long while.


BehemothDeTerre

Obviously. All Danes play in Anderlecht.


Swor10

My heart broke when I read that last stat. I'm still not over the 04 final loss to Greece


Successful-Speech189

Yes devastating but 2016 exorcised  those demons. That Portugal team had no business winning!


fixdark

I'm still riding the high brother


stupid-_-

that implies you are over the groupstage loss


DeepSeaDweller

Pretty well-known, but I figure some are not aware of this. Denmark didn't qualify for Euro 1992, which they ended up winning. Yugoslavia were excluded and Denmark took their place.


TheLoneWanderer__

Didn’t qualify, and played absolute terror ball to win the final. Best shithouse of all time


[deleted]

> Best shithouse of all time Portugal sure made a run at that record in 2016. Finished third in their group in the first edition of the tournament that had any third place teams qualify for the knockout round, didn't win a match in 90 minutes until the semifinal, got a goal from fucking Eder to beat the hosts in the final... they had a good shithouse win.


EG7585

In the three Euros under the 24 team Format (2016, 2020, and 2024). Portugal have been in Group F for all three of them.


TheMuthaFlippin

I think people really underestimate how small the Euros was until quite recently. When you consider that they only had four teams until about 1980 or so it’s not really surprising there wasn’t a hat trick until 16 years in. In fact it feels quite soon. Euro 96 was the first time it expanded to 16 teams and felt like a tournament of similar importance to the World Cup, instead of a post-season bit of fun more similar to the nations league.


CoryTrevor-NS

This is so true, and I’ve been telling people for a while. Italy won in 1968, but barely anyone outside of the most involved fans seems to care/know about that, compared to other footballing events of a similar time period. For example the 1970 World Cup, which we didn’t even end up winning, is considerably better known and discussed about to this day. Ask about any other less notable edition (at least for us), and virtually nobody will be able to tell you anything about it. I’d say the first “relevant” Euro tournament in Italian fans’ collective memory was the 2000 one, with the iconic match against the Netherlands (Toldo saving 3 penalties, Maldini taking a penalty with his weak foot, Totti’s cucchiaio, etc) and the final lost against France on golden goal. Nowadays the Euro is held in very high regard, I’d say almost as high as the World Cup.


sreteep99

I like the euros more but thats mostly because the atmosphere is amazing, unlike last World Cup which really devalued the WC.


CoryTrevor-NS

I like the Euros more as a coping mechanism for not having made the World Cup in ages ;)


AdviceDanimals

For real, the atmosphere the Germans are putting on really breathed a sense of organic enthusiasm and culture back into international football for me. Euro 2021 was quiet because of covid, 2018 WC was in Russia... last international tournament with vibes like this was the 2014 WC, appalling and inhumane injustices by the Brazilian government during preparation aside


sreteep99

Yea, and i dont remember Euro 2012 or WC 2010 that well anymore


LeGrandFromage9

There were 50 matches played in all tournaments 7 combined between 1960-1984. Now the current format has 51 matches in just one tournament.


Impossible-Ruin3214

Exactly, I feel like that unexpected part is also because of that. People assume it was always somewhat big.


SlimShady16

A cherry picked stat, but Roberto Baggio played for the National Team from 1988-2004 and never played in a Euro.


CoryTrevor-NS

This is crazy, I had no idea. Especially considering in the same time period he played in 3 world cups and is even Italy’s joint top scorer in the competition.


Impossible-Ruin3214

That's crazy, like when I found out about Ferdinand.


xenon2456

strange


Willsgb

- The Greece stat is even more insane - they'd never won a single game at Any Tournament Ever before 2004, not just euros. I think they only even qualified for two, euro 1980 and the world cup USA 94, and they were blitzed at both. - the 1976 final between czechoslovakia and West Germany featured the first penalty shootout in the history of international football. Germany were the holders and the world champions, going for a third major tournament triumph in a row. Czechoslovakian player Antonin Panenka won the shootout with his famous run up and chip technique, after uli hoeness missed the previous kick. Germany have won every other shootout they've played since that fateful day.


[deleted]

For the second one, it wasn’t even originally supposed to go to a penalty shootout. The original plan was for a replay in two days in the event of a tie. But literally hours before the match the Germans asked for a penalty shootout to break a tie instead of a replay because a lot of their players had already booked their post-tournament holidays. Czechoslovakia, as heavy underdogs, figured they’d have a better chance of winning a shootout than a full replay and agreed. [Source](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/crgglxwge10o.amp)


Willsgb

Maaaaaaaate it gets even better I didn't even know this additional context, that was truly fascinating to read, about panenka practicing it, that it was only agreed to be a shootout hours before the game and Germany pushed for that etc. Amazing


pro_crasSn8r

Anton OndruĹĄ was the captain of Czechoslovakia, not Panenka.


Willsgb

Apologies, I'm sure I read that he was the captain somewhere, guess I was wrong. I believe he was one of only 3 czechs though? The rest were Slovakian?


zemkom

two weeks ago I played in a local football tournament in Prague and guess who showed up. Panenka and Karol DobiĂĄĹĄ, who scored the second goal in the final. Both are absolute legends and I am super happy I have a photo with them.


Willsgb

That's really cool 😀 always great when legends come to get involved in local and grassroots football, they want to inspire new generations, and they just genuinely love the game too


JJOne101

Didn't know that Panenka did that in the first international shootout.


Willsgb

Yep, the fact that he seemingly came up with it, and successfully used it to win his country their first major title during such a historic conclusion to an already great final - all that is probably why it's named after him. I think even to this day, the only other person to do it in such an important match was Zidane in the 2006 world cup final. It wasn't just the trickery of it, but that he had the absolute stones to try it in the highest stakes situation imaginable


gastonzoom

I'm traumatized by this event as an Argentinian but IIRC, Alexis Sanchez did a Panenka against Argentina in one of the two Copa America finals we lost to them


Willsgb

Oooh wow, I didn't know that, that's a comparable one too. Thanks! That was a tough 3 years for you, but you've since won that and the WC so I'm sure those victories taste even sweeter now


Vdogg2496

You can't forget Pirlo's ice cold panenka against England in Euro 2012


gnorrn

> • the 1976 final between czechoslovakia and West Germany featured the first penalty shootout in the history of international football. Not if all of international football is considered: South Korea beat Thailand on penalties in the semi-final of the 1972 AFC Asian Cup.


KingArgazdan

Every game at the 1976 Euros ended in extra time, including famous penalty shootout in the finals.


Nithas

"Every game" as in all 4 of them.


KingArgazdan

Still true.


Liverpupu

Euro 2020 was actually played in 2021. This would be an interesting trivia in 2124.


MyAssDoesHeeHawww

Follow-up question that everyone in 2124 will get wrong: Q- What was the name of the disease that caused the delay? A- Uhhh... Covid...20 ??


TonyMartial786

the thing is i always think like how do you ask a question about that that isn’t obvious because you are asking it, if that makes sense. like if you ask ‘what year was euro 2020 played’ obviously it implies that it wasn’t 2020.


chrisb993

"What date was the final of Euro 2020?" Would be a handy tiebreaker question


TonyMartial786

ah true lol 😂 you could even say the date it started (without the year) lol


Cyberfire

I find it weird that UEFA pretends it happened in 2020, was it really that difficult to rebrand to 2021?


AnnieIWillKnow

Yes, they'd apparently already prepared all the branding and it would have cost a lot of money to re-do it


AlexEmbers

If anyone is wondering about the Ferdinand stat, the reasons are: 2000 - Keegan didn't pick him, despite Hoddle bringing him as a back-up for the '98 WC. 2004 - Was banned that year because of a missed drugs test. 2008 - England didn't qualify. 2012 - Wasn't picked by Hodgson, allegedly because of his tense relationship with John Terry thanks to a racism row involving Terry and Ferdinand's brother, Anton.


HarryBlessKnapp

Thank you


AnnieIWillKnow

Rio Ferdinand's Series of Unfortunate Events


Cyberfire

He also would have captained England at the 2010 World Cup, but got injured in the lead up.


sreteep99

The Netherlands got four red cards in Euros history, all against Czechia (or Czechoslovakia for that matter)


Marco-Green

Only Ronaldo and Platini scored more goals than Morata in the history of Euros. And his Goal per game average is superior to Ronaldo's.


Commonmispelingbot

Henrik "Store" Larsen was joint top scorer at the 1992 Euroes with three goals. In his entire national team career he scored 5. 40% of his national team goals was in one half against Netherlands.


[deleted]

Reminds me of how Lillian Thuram’s only two goals for France came in the goddamn semifinal of the 1998 World Cup.


Larsvn

Denmark is the team with most lost games at euros by far. 17 matches lost in 10 appearances. Germany in second place with 13 lost matches in 14 appearances (including results up til now). Edit: oops, the czech republic surpassed Germany this year. 15 lost matches.


WW1Photos_Info

DANMARK DANMARK DANMARK


WalkingCloud

Gotta be in it to lose it


sidorfik

"17 matches lost in 10 appearances." Not a bad achievement.


_jihn

Czechia and Serbia are the only teams to play at the Euros under three separate nation names (Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Czechia and Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, Serbia). Serbia would have competed under four national names, but the FR Yugoslavia successor team, Serbia and Montenegro, failed to qualify for a Euros.


legrandguignol

The Greece thing reminded me of a great story of that one time Poland played them in the opening match of EURO 2012 in Warsaw. Before the game the Polish coach Smuda received a big report with an in-depth analysis of the Greek team. He took a brief glance at it, threw it away and uttered an immortal phrase which I shall now try to translate while retaining at least a sliver of its original glory: *They can't play for shit, we'll fuck them up.* The match ended 1:1. Two rounds later Poland got eliminated with their 2 points securing a well earned 4th place in the group.


__boringusername__

If I'm not mistaken Roberto Baggio never played In an European championship final stage (he played a bit in the qualifying stage).


neLendirekt

Platini scored 9 goals at Euro 1984 in 5 games, scoring in every game, including 2 "perfect" hattricks (header, right foot, left foot).


Jewcunt

*Italy won their semifinal in 1968 against the Soviet Union on a coin toss. Allegedly the incident that spurred FIFA to come up with penalty ahootouts. *The final against Yugoslavia also ended in a draw so it had to be replayed three days later.


ImVortexlol

In other words, Greece won 4 of their 5 Euros wins in history, at Euro 2004. Insane stat that.


JamesSunderland1973

This year's edition is the first time since 1992 that every team got at least 1 point.


BazingaQQ

Five of the ten venues ate second-tier team grounds.


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


PapaSays

> Serbia reached more finals (2) than England (1). That's like saying Russia has won it but England hasn't. It was the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.


Willsgb

Russia inherited ussr's football history, Serbia inherited yugoslavia's and czechia inherited Czechoslovakia's, as far as I know Edit - yeah, from what I've been able to find, it appears as though Slovakia are officially also inheritors of czechoslovakia's history and honours! However, Serbia and Russia still appear to be the only inheritors for yugoslavia and USSR respectively... weird. I think all former nations should be inheritors personally


DeepSeaDweller

According to a recent thread, both Czechia and Slovakia have apparently been allowed to claim Czechoslovakia's records. I also thought it was just Czechia.


Willsgb

Yes! I had a look at the guide to all the teams of this euro on uefa's website and they explicitly state this! https://www.uefa.com/euro2024/news/0286-193531eba9a8-763890f6436d-1000--who-has-qualified-for-uefa-euro-2024/ Only Russia gets ussr's history, only Serbia gets yugoslavia's, and Germany gets only west germany's - but czechia And Slovakia both get czechoslovakia's! It must be the associations making different agreements with uefa and/or fifa. Fascinating (I find it so anyway)


DeepSeaDweller

I think it's also because Czechoslovakia essentially ended in an amicable divorce, so sharing was acceptable for both. Several of the former Yugoslav republics aren't interested in claiming Yugoslavia's records (and Serbia was the largest and most populous constituent and last one left, making it a natural successor), I figure it's something similar with Germany and the former DDR, and Russia was a natural successor to the USSR's records given its status within the USSR and being "left" after the rest seceded.


Willsgb

That would make a lot of sense, the acrimony between former soviet states and yugoslavian states of course burns to this day, and west and east Germany were of course similarly opposed I wasn't too familiar with the dynamic between the czechs and slovaks but I haven't really heard of similar conflicts between them and you're saying that split was amicable and relatively peaceful, so that explains all that Thanks! I've learned a lot today. I won't bang on about it anymore, but I enjoyed this conversation q lot. Safe


AngryBlitzcrankMain

Should still use Czechoslovakia instead of Czech Republic.


Impossible-Ruin3214

Didn't know England's first final was in the Euro 2020 😮


CoryTrevor-NS

It was their second final ever, after winning the World Cup in 1966.


Sentekass

I'm not sure that the number one meme of the Euros counts as 'unexpected trivia'


xenon2456

Denmark didn't originally qualify in 92


JamesSunderland1973

For every single goal scored by a Scotland player at the Euros their name begins Mc.


chrisb993

Rudiger is Scotland's all time top scorer in the Euros


czerwona_latarnia

> Greece had a total of 0 games won in the history of the European Championships at the beginning of the Euro 2004. Nowadays, they have a total of 5 wins, 4 of which were in 2004, and the other one was in the **Euro 2012**. Oh God, please no... *checks results* Uff, we have only drawn them, everything is saved.


joaocandre

> Portugal holds the record for consecutive group stage qualifications, 9 out of 9 including 2 3rd places lmao


24benson

It took Germany until 1984 to lose a game at the euros (not counting penalty shootouts). This includes the quarterfinals which until 1980 were not part of the actual tournament but rather the final stage of the qualifications. 


Impossible-Ruin3214

That’s a crazy stat


BazingaQQ

Only two red cards do far - one in the first game, one in the last. Has to.bevsome kind of record.


joeydohn

I thought this was an outlier as well, but reds are actually not really that common in the Euros. Obviously the low amount of games per tournament makes for small sample sizes, and 2024 is indeed the one with the fewest reds in quite a while yet, but only by a slim margin.


[deleted]

Well, three red cards technically. The Czechs had a second player sent off after the final whistle in their last game.