Euro 2024 has come and gone, making memories that will last a lifetime — and bringing new players and teams to the fore. While Spain were the champions, plenty of other players and teams made a huge impact.
Every tournament has its standout moments, goals, players and teams. But just who was the best player at this summer’s European Championship? Who scored the goal of the tournament? Which team were the most enjoyable to watch and which side were the worst? And what non-footballing thing was the most enjoyable part of the Euro experience?
Here, The Athletic’s Carl Anka, Oliver Kay, Charlotte Harpur, Jacob Whitehead, Sebastian Stafford-Bloor and James Horncastle took a look back at the tournament and picked out their highlights and lowlights.
Player of the tournament
Anka: Nico Williams has been a tremendous variable in Spain’s attacking play. The winger has the technical skill, body intelligence and playmaking finesse to execute pretty much any pass he wants from out wide. He’s tremendous. There’s understandably a huge queue of clubs wanting his signature.
Kay: Nico Williams. Lamine Yamal took more of the limelight at times — understandably given he only turned 17 the day before the final — but Williams was the most decisive, incisive attacking player in the tournament. Their combination for the opening goal in the final illustrated the cutting edge that set this Spain team apart from other recent vintages.
Williams and Yamal celebrate winning the final (Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images)
Harpur: Rodri. The deep-lying midfielder who makes Spain tick, pulling the strings and allowing the other contenders listed here to flourish. His positioning makes him so efficient and his impact at this tournament reminds me of Keira Walsh for the Lionesses during their victorious Euro 2022 campaign.
Whitehead: Rodri. He’s the reason it looks so easy for everybody else — although he has been ably assisted by Fabian Ruiz, one of Spain’s best three performers in every game without ever grabbing the headlines. But Rodri is on his own plane — he soaks up weaknesses.
Stafford-Bloor: Rodri. It would be an easier sell had he not had to have been replaced in the final, but that he suffered his injury blocking a goal-bound shot said plenty. Would such a young, exuberant Spain have looked so secure without Rodri’s match craft? Almost certainly not.
Horncastle: Quite striking, isn’t it, how we’ve gone for different Spanish players. Lamine Yamal is the obvious pick. We’ve written about his majestic strike in the semi-final against France, but his cross for Ruiz’s equaliser against Georgia was so good that Ruiz looked offside. In fact, he was a mile on. The ball was that good.
The player I didn’t know before but I definitely do now…
Anka: Ferdi Kadioglu’s runs from left-back helped Turkey’s rollicking romp through the tournament. The 24-year-old plies his trade for Fenerbahce in the Super Lig. Let’s see what Jose Mourinho makes of him this season.
Kay: Georges Mikautadze was a revelation for Georgia. Quick, skilful, two-footed, intelligent… and he’s just signed for Metz, in Ligue 2, after a miserable spell at Ajax. Maybe he’s one of those players who will fall off the radar again now the tournament is over, but there is clearly untapped potential there.
Harpur: Napoli fans will tut, but Georgia’s No 7 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. He ran without fear even though he must have felt the defenders’ breath on his back. His balance when dribbling was supreme, he stayed composed, drew fouls and relieved pressure. His opener against Portugal was a class finish, too.
Whitehead: Regular Serie A watchers will laugh at me (I’m sorry, there are only so many hours in the day), but I have loved watching Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka in every Slovakia match. Outside of Rodri, he was the outstanding No 6 at the tournament — I love his work rate, his tempo-setting, and the little crablike shuffle he does on the edge of the opposition box.
Lobotka impressed for Slovakia (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
Stafford-Bloor: Yamal, silly as that sounds. I knew who he was, of course, and had seen the same highlights as everyone else, but I’d — foolishly — assumed he was over-hyped. His goal against France might be among the finest semi-final moments in the tournament’s history.
Horncastle: Mert Gunok. Other goalkeepers made more saves — Giorgi Mamardashvili and Gianluigi Donnarumma, for instance. Jan Oblak and Diogo Costa stopped penalties in big moments. But Gunok’s denial of Christoph Baumgartner in stoppage time against Austria to prevent extra time drew hyperbolic comparisons with Gordon Banks on Pele. It wasn’t that good, but it was the goalkeeping moment of the tournament.
Goal of the tournament
Anka: When Jude Bellingham scored his bicycle kick against Slovakia, I leapt out of my seat in a bar and ran to the screen to see his celebration. I looked to my left a moment later and realised a young boy had done the same. Over extra time, he told me he was a Barcelona fan but loves Bellingham because “he’s like a superhero”.
Kay: Recency bias and subjectivity bias point to Yamal’s stunner in the semi-final, but there were some brilliant goals in the group stage and I just loved the way Mert Muldur struck that volley in Turkey’s 3-1 win over Georgia.
Harpur: Yamal, in the flesh. France were giving him too much space, but I thought it was too far out to result in any immediate danger. How wrong was I? Someone manipulated time, slowing it down as Yamal cocked his leg and then hit fast forward. Before you knew it, my Spanish colleague Pol Ballus was on his feet and the teenager was running to the bench.
Yamal’s strike against France (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
Whitehead: There’s technical quality and there’s context. Yamal has been the story of the Euros and his perfect finish was its crowning moment. The best bit? The one second where Yamal starts running, knowing it is going in, before any of the other 21 players on the pitch move.
Stafford-Bloor: For the noise, Florian Wirtz’s equaliser against Spain in Stuttgart. No, the night did not end well, but that celebration will stay with me for a long time — and it spilt over into the pressbox, too, which you don’t see very often. All sorts went on.
Horncastle: I have a distorted opinion of this Euro. I was lucky enough to see Muldur and Arda Guler’s goals against Georgia in the flesh and Yamal’s curler against France. But Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th-minute equaliser for Italy against Croatia was a magnificent moment for the lateness of it, the jeopardy, and for Riccardo Calafiori’s marauding run forward.
Game of the tournament
Anka: I was on my feet and applauding both teams after the final whistle of Turkey 3-1 Georgia. Every now and then, you get a group stage match played with the intensity and drama of a quarter-final. Both teams were willing to throw haymakers at each other. Both sides were happy to shrug off getting hit by them, too.
Kay: I really should pick one of the games I went to, but no, Turkey vs Georgia in the group stage was one of those games you could not take your eyes off. There were a few of those — chaotic, breakneck speed, goals flying in from everywhere — but that was my favourite. Both teams brought a lot more to the party than some of those who went further.
Muldur, centre, celebrates after scoring against Georgia (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
Harpur: I want to pick a game I went to and, given I covered France, that leaves me with just one option: Spain versus France. France’s hopes were quashed by four minutes of a Spanish masterclass. The game was far from over at 2-1 though — it still kept you guessing.
Whitehead: I’m going to say Spain vs Germany in the quarter-finals. Turkey vs Georgia was electric, but this was a meeting of the best two sides I’ve seen in the tournament — it was enthralling throughout, with golden moments in Wirtz’s late equaliser and Mikel Merino’s winner.
Stafford-Bloor: England against the Netherlands. Recency bias, perhaps, but that had so much big-game tension and occasion to it and it came at the end of a fabulous day in Dortmund with the Dutch fans. And Ollie Watkins. I’m sure I’m not the only England fan who feels like they waited a lifetime to be on the right end of a moment like that.
Horncastle: I was at Turkey vs Georgia and it was wild. It was the game in which the Turkey fans were loudest. I have tinnitus from the whistles they made every time Georgia touched the ball. But I’m going to go for Spain vs France because of the turnaround, the quality of the Yamal and Olmo goals and the skill in tight spaces, even if it did peter out in the second half.
Turkey were a highlight of the tournament for many (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Team I most enjoyed watching
Anka: Georgia’s journey through the tournament will make for excellent montage material in the years to come. A counter-attacking tyro, full of courageous players willing to run and commit defenders.
Kay: Turkey. Every match was pure chaos: attacking football at great speed. Watching Kadioglu and Guler in particular was a joy. Watching Turkey play with such spirit, adventure and intensity felt like Euro 2008 again.
Harpur: Spain. I find their football mesmerising and almost therapeutic. They’ve played a fluid, exciting and attacking style which gets fans off their seats. Young bright individuals have produced moments of supreme quality, but Spain’s collective is greater than the sum of its parts.
Whitehead: Georgia. I’d watch Kvaratskhelia whenever he’s running, whether it’s running down the wing, running a bath, or running for political office.
Kvaratskhelia in full flow against Turkey (Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)
Stafford-Bloor: Germany. Those were great days. On reflection, I was watching a country fall back in love with its football team and so with every game won, the momentum around them grew more and more. The saxophone, Major Tom, the pink shirts; I already miss it.
Horncastle: Spain. I was in Gelsenkirchen for their game against Italy. It finished 1-0 but could easily have been 4-0 or 5-0 without Donnarumma. It was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen as a collective, but also for the number of times Williams ran over poor Giovanni Di Lorenzo. To use an Italian term, he asphalted him.
Team I least enjoyed watching
Anka: Every England game is anxiety-filled torment, but I found Poland, first without Robert Lewandowski, and then using him while half-fit, a difficult watch. I’m not sure how the Polish Football Association refresh things from here.
Kay: If you had asked me a week ago, I would have said England: stultifying performances made even less tolerable by emotional investment and the anxiety factor. But they eventually joined the party, so ultimately, the answer is France: so much talent, so little… joie de vivre. Didier Deschamps has done an excellent job as France coach, but this, from an early stage, seemed like a tournament too far.
Harpur: Scotland. My friend, who is a Scotland supporter, was on a date watching them play Hungary. I grimaced when they conceded in the 100th minute. She doesn’t cope with defeats well.
Steve Clarke consoles Scott McTominay after Scotland’s group-stage exit (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Whitehead: Portugal — because it was filled with such frustration. This team had so much potential to make a deep run and at times played brilliant football, but they had a waxwork of Cristiano Ronaldo yoked to their necks.
Stafford-Bloor: France. They barely deserved to beat Belgium and rarely has such a decadently talented team made the world feel so little. It’s strange to say a beaten semi-finalist left no impression on a tournament, but here we are.
Horncastle: England and France were my shouts. It feels like a lifetime ago, but Scotland’s 5-1 defeat in the opening game against Germany was deflating, as was the defeat to Hungary in the 100th minute. They’re my “least enjoyed” for the simple fact I spent more time watching their fans. Scotland could have played like Brazil and I wouldn’t have noticed as the action was in the stands, on the streets and in the airports. The supporters were magnificent.
Best non-football thing about Euro 2024
Anka: Apfelwein, a more potent relative to cider that is popular in Frankfurt. A bartender told me he would prefer it if I drank it standing up so my body could properly acknowledge its strength.
Kay: After the weirdness of pandemic football in the last Euros and an atmosphere that was barely less sterile in Qatar at the World Cup, this has felt like a real festival with the fans at the heart of it, as should always be the case.
Harpur: When the team you cover gets knocked out, the fatigue crash hits like a tonne of bricks. So there is nothing like another adrenaline kick of jumping into the Isar river in Munich, floating down the rapids on your back, looking up at the glorious sunshine and singing at the top of your voice ‘Football’s coming home’, much to the locals’ bemusement.
The Isar river in Munich (Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images)
Whitehead: Eiscafes. I love the culture of 60-year-olds in business suits holding meetings while eating giant strawberry sundaes.
Stafford-Bloor: E-scooters. Oh, how people laughed at me for using them before the tournament. Game changer, right? Can I also show some love for the volunteers, many of whom worked extremely hard under difficult circumstances and were really a joy to deal with.
Horncastle: The weaponisation of food in the culture wars: Albanians snapping spaghetti in front of Italians. Turks telling Austrians that a kebab is better than a schnitzel.
Worst non-football thing about Euro 2024
Anka: Yikes, those German trains were not as efficient or inexpensive as initially predicted.
Kay: I’ve always felt I like red meat, potatoes, bread and beer as much as the next person. But after four and a half weeks here, I will revise that and add “as long as the next person is not German”.
Harpur: The complete lack of diversity of journalists among written media.
Whitehead: Saying goodbye to Lina’s Coffee in Dusseldorf after two weeks, the location for 90 per cent of my writing, which still holds my heart.
Stafford-Bloor: The deficit between the organisational standard for Bundesliga games and what was often experienced outside stadiums. Why not stick with what has been proven to work? Watching stewards outside the Stuttgart fan zone confiscate fans’ sunscreen and water on the day of Germany-Spain was a low point, too.
Horncastle: UEFA insisted on giving DJs sets as part of the pre-match build-up. At Turkey-Netherlands, for instance, did the governing body really not trust fans to create an atmosphere? The game was in Berlin. If people really wanted to listen to techno, the districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain have some of the best clubs in the world.
When music and football collide
Who will win Euro 2028?
Anka: Portugal should have all the tools to win it if they can kindly ask two individuals to power down.
Kay: Against my better judgement, I’ll say England. They’ll have home advantage and, although it’s dangerous to look too far ahead, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Adam Wharton, Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and others should all still be around. There will be more where they came from.
Harpur: No idea, four years feels like an eternity. Euro 2025 is just around the corner and that could be a repeat final of the 2023 World Cup and Euro 2024.
Palmer, Wharton and Bellingham give England hope for the future (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Whitehead: Germany. There was a lot I liked about them, Julian Nagelsmann seems to be building an excellent culture, and both Jamal Musiala and Wirtz will be in their prime. Plus, it’s about time Germany win another tournament.
Stafford-Bloor: Germany. The talent is the talent and they will certainly be strong, but there’s a mood building, too.
Horncastle: Spain — Yamal will still only be 20.
My Euro 2024 combined XI
Anka (4-3-3): Giorgi Mamardashvili; Otar Kakabadze, Marc Guehi, Antonio Rudiger, Ferdi Kadioglu; Xavi Simons, Rodri, N’Golo Kante; Bukayo Saka, Niclas Fullkrug, Nico Williams.
Kay (4-3-3): Giorgi Mamardashvili; Joshua Kimmich, William Saliba, Antonio Rudiger, Marc Cucurella; Arda Guler, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams.
Harpur (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan; Jules Kounde, William Saliba, Virgil van Dijk, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo; Lamine Yamal, Jamal Musiala, Nico Williams.
Whitehead (5-4-1): Angus Gunn; Anthony Ralston, Ryan Porteous, Jack Hendry, Kieran Tierney, Andy Robertson; John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie; Che Adams.
Stafford-Bloor (4-2-3-1): Mert Gunok; Joshua Kimmich, Antonio Rudiger, Virgil van Dijk, Ferdi Kadioglu; Toni Kroos, Rodri; Lamine Yamal, Arda Guler, Bukayo Saka; Jamal Musiala.
Horncastle (4-3-3): Mert Gunok; Ferdi Kadioglu, Riccardo Calafiori, William Saliba, Mert Muldur; Rodri, Nicolas Seiwald, Fabian Ruiz; Nico Williams, Arda Guler, Lamine Yamal.
(Top photos: Getty Images)