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Football is an ever-evolving sport incorporating new rules, new formats and young blood eager to make their mark on the beautiful game. The fact that this summer’s Euros in France will be the first to involve a ‘Last 16’ phase only heightens such a sentiment, as UEFA look to hand more opportunities for excitement and success to a larger pool of nations.
Amidst these rapid changes and fresh faces remains a host of records and achievements engraved in time, borderline-impossible to break. Here’s a look at five records in the European Championships that will probably never be bettered.
#1 Fewest Number of Goals Conceded in a Single Finals Tournament – Spain – 1
In 2012, the most recent edition of the prestigious European Championships, the Spaniards cemented their place in the history books, becoming the first nation to win the Euros back-to-back, following victory in 2008. Iniesta, Casillas and co. were fresh from bulldozing a myriad of sides at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when they rolled into Ukraine and Poland to defend their European crown two years later.
They would be joined by Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia in Group C, the former (Italy) being the only side in the entire tournament to breach the Spanish defence, courtesy of Antonio Di Natale’s cool finish in the opening round of fixtures. After demolishing Ireland and easing past Croatia, Spain went on to dispatch France and Portugal before asserting their revenge over the Azzurri in the final.
While the nation’s clockwork midfield and free-flowing attacks captured the imagination of football fans, it was their defence that played the most crucial role. They conceded just 1 goal in the 2012 European Championships, the smallest tally of goals conceded by a team in a final Euro tournament and one which is incredibly unlikely to ever be broken, given the developing emphasis teams are placing on attacking football in the modern era.
#2 Most Minutes Played in the Final Tournament Overall – Edwin Van der Sar – 1535 minutes
Even with veteran shot-stoppers Shay Given and Gianluigi Buffon sure to make appearances at this summer’s tournament, the record held by the second most decorated goalkeeper of all time, Edwin Van der Sar, looks unthreatened. Only Frenchman Lilian Thuram has played as many matches in the tournament as the Dutchman (16), but his minutes total still falls short.
To put the feat into perspective, if an individual player were to see their team lift the trophy in Paris next month, having played every minute of the group phase (nearly 300 minutes), as well as having seen each knockout round go to extra time, playing all the way through (840 minutes), that would still fall just under six hours short of Van der Sar’s total.
While goal-scoring and tight defences take a lot to surpass, merely showing up for a load of games should be a relatively easy record to shatter, right? Well, given the increased rotation we’re seeing by squads in major tournaments and the inconsistency sides are showing between championships, it’s practically unthinkable to envisage another individual from the new generation elapsing Edwin.
#3 Most Goals Scored in the Final Tournament – Michel Platini – 9
Fantasy football enthusiasts may well squeam when I say that their main forward will struggle to score two-thirds of the above tally, never mind excel it. Robert Lewandowski, Oliver Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thomas Müller would all be quick to toss their name into the ring as the apprentice that could dethrone Platini from holding this record, but it’d be a short-sighted challenge.
The first hurdle arises in actually getting the game time to convert so many goals; Lewandowski will find this aspect especially tough. As for the rest, rotation and replacement could prove the main culprits in minimising their chances; many of the favourites for the Golden Boot come from teams with flexible front-lines, unlikely to have the opportunity to play every minute.
Defences naturally tighten in major tournaments and, while players can crack under pressure to commit the occasional blunder, it’s rare that we see a cataclysm like Germany’s 7-1 mauling of Brazil in the 2014 World Cup.
Teams are more cautious and take far fewer risks at the back. Platini was a revolutionary of his time, spearheading the French midfield to inconceivable honours and it takes a player of this character to come anywhere close to matching 9 goals. Lewandowski’s qualifying tally (13) was heralded as phenomenal and that was over a course of 18 matches against mediocre opposition, not teams of typical Euro pedigree.
#4 Fewest total number of goals in a tournament (since 1980) – 27
So this magical number refers to the lowest number of goals scored in an entire tournament by every team combined – pretty pathetic right? The superb statisticians among you would be quick to point out that this number was in fact lower in the 1968 Euros, when only 7 goals were recorded as a whole, but back then the tournament was only in its third edition and was taken part in by only four sides, so it’s not really surprising.
What would be astonishing though is if we ever saw so few goals scored in a tournament ever again, especially with the expansion of teams and inclusion of more rounds this time around. Games are less likely to fizzle out into stalemates with the new format meaning teams will go for points, knowing a win could pave a path to the last sixteen while the abolition of goalkeepers being able to pick up pass-backs long ago has assured us that playing it around the back is a thing of the past.
The highest number of goals in a tournament for those interested actually came in the UEFA Euro 2000, when Belgium and the Netherlands shared hosting duties, when the net bulged on 80 occasions. That record is far from making this list though; I’d go as far as saying it’ll be beaten in France this summer. Scoring as few as 27 though? You can back that to be surpassed in the group stage, then again there were only eight sides competing in 1980.
#5 Most goals per match in a tournament – 1976 – 4.75
Imagine every game in France being edged out 3-2 or seeing Les Bleus or Die Mannschaft shipping five passed frail opposition each match; inconceivable right? Well, the reality is, very few would argue that we will see this record beaten any time soon.
Progression is up for grabs right until the last group game from now on, so no sides will be bowing out by conceding a load, because there’s nearly always going to be something to play for. Many would argue, on the other hand, that this record is a little unfair and won’t be surpassed because it was set in a tournament taken part in by only four teams.
The championship in Yugoslavia opened with the semi-finals, where the host nation lost 4-2 to West Germany after extra time and Czechoslovakia navigated their way into the final with a 3-1 defeat of the Netherlands.
There’s ten goals already. Czechoslovakia eventually won on penalties in the final after a 2-2 draw with the West Germans, while the Netherlands won the third-place play-off 3-2, leaving the hosts to finish last place and a goals per match average superior to anything we’ve ever seen before or most likely will ever see again.
