Even without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo for the vast majority of the final, Portugal did enough to beat France and claim Euro 2016, their first major international trophy. In doing so, they became the 10th team to win the tournament and the first new winner since 2004, when Greece did to Portugal what the latter did to France to create heartbreak for the hosts.
However, Portugal's historic triumph wasn't the only record that was broken in the tournament. While Renato Sanches becoming Portugal's youngest goal scorer in a major tournament and Tomas Rosicky becoming the oldest Czech Republic player to appear in the Euros were records that were created, there were some all-time records that were broken as well.
Here are 5 all-time European Championship records that were broken:
Oldest player at a European Championship
Prior to the tournament, Germany's Lothar Matthaus would have been resigned to the fact that his record of being the oldest player to play in a European Championship game is going to be broken after 16 years. And so it turned out as Hungary's Gabor Kiraly took the record as he played a part in his country's journey to the Round of 16.
Prior to the tournament, it was going to be a battle between two 40-year-old goalkeepers in Republic of Ireland's Shay Given and Hungary's Gabor Kiraly. However, the former didn't play any part in the tournament and remained on the substitutes bench while Hungary's first-choice goalkeeper started every game until the Round of 16 clash against Belgium.
Kiraly also became the first 40-year-old to play in the tournament's history, beating the previous record of 39 years and 91 days set by Matthaus, when he took part in Euro 2000.
Smallest nation to win a European Championship game
The expansion of the European Championship to 24 teams meant that nations who wouldn't have otherwise had an opportunity to qualify did. One of them though, weren't Iceland, as they stormed through their qualifying group, beat Netherlands home and away and took their rightful place in Euro 2016, making them the smallest nation to appear in the tournament, beating the record previously held by Netherlands.
With a population of 330,000, Iceland weren't expected to pull up any trees in the tournament, especially in a group containing Portugal and Austria, one of the tournament's dark horses. Instead they surprised everyone by finishing ahead of Portugal and caused the biggest upset of the tournament by beating England in the Round of 16. In the process, they also became the smallest team to win a European Championship group game and knock-out clash.
While Iceland may qualify for the tournament once again, their record is something that might never be broken.
Youngest European Championship winner
Going into the tournament, all eyes were on Renato Sanches, who, despite only being 18, had already secured a big-money move to Bayern Munich. Although he only made his debut for Benfica in October 2015, he has already claimed a European Championship medal and became the youngest player to do so.
The 18-year-old broke two records when he started in the UEFA Euro 2016 final for Portugal against France. One of which was held by his teammate and captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who held the previous record for youngest player to take part in a Euro final, when he took part in Greece’s win over Portugal in 2004, when he was only 19 years and 150 days old.
Sanches, who was 18 years 328 days, on the day Portugal lifted the cup became the youngest finalist and also the youngest winner of the tournament, beating Pietro Anastasi’s record of 20 years and 63 for Italy and became the first teenager to win the tournament as well.
European Championship with most goals
With 24 teams and an extra 20 games as a result of the expansion, this Euro was expected to break the all-time record of most goals in a European Championship. And Euro 2016 did not disappoint as it saw an incredible 108 goals scored in the tournament with an average of 2.12 goals per game across the 51 matches.
The previous record was held by Euro 2000, a tournament which was also held in France, in which the hosts reached the final, just like they did in Euro 2016. But unlike in 2000, France lost in the final and had to be content with the second-most goals by a team in a Euro, equalling their own record of 13. A goal was scored every 44 minutes in Euro 2016 and that meant that Euro 2000's record of 85 goals.
However, the caveat is that more games was played in this Euro compared to any previous edition. It was a four-team tournament that kicked off the inaugural edition of the Euro in 1960 before it became a 16-team tournament in 1996 and 24 in 2016.
Most appearances in European Championship
Aside from becoming the European Championship's most prolific goal scorer with 9 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo also holds the record for being the player with the most appearances at the Euros and even become his country's all-time most capped player and the first player to play in three Euro semi-finals.
The previous record for most appearances at the Euro was jointly held by former France defender Lilian Thuram and legendary Netherlands goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar who both played 16 games at the Euros. By virtue of playing in the final group game against Hungary, Ronaldo held the record with 17 games.
By the end of the tournament, that number went up to 21 as he broke records aplenty on his way to his first international tournament victory. Seeing as no player has played more than 16 games or three semi-finals, it looks as though this record might yet remain for a while longer.
Aside from equalling the record for most goals in Euro history, Ronaldo also created a slew of other records as well. He became the first player to score in four different editions of the European Championship (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016) and has more Euro goals than any other Portuguese player, beating Nuno Gomes' record of 6 goals.
