Opinions on whether Euro 2024 was spectacular and whether it brought unforgettable football will always be divided, but one thing is certain - it will be remembered as a championship of records.
During the tournament, which Spain won by defeating England in the grand final (2:1), about 30 records were broken, and it seems that some of them will "live" for a long time.
Where there are records, of course there is the Spanish child prodigy - a teenager who turned 17 the day before the final.
Wunderkind from Matara
It is of course about Laminu Jamalu, to the boy who pushed the boundaries of a major competition such as the European Championship. The maestro who grew up in Matar, a small town 30 kilometers north of Barcelona, set three records.
When he ran onto the field of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin for the duel with Croatia on June 15, he was 16 years and 338 days old and thus became the youngest player to ever play at the Euros.
Twenty days later, with a Eurogoal against France in the Munich semi-final, he wrote himself into the history books as the youngest scorer at the European championships (16 years and 362 days), only to return to Berlin at the age of 17 years and one day when he played in the grand final against England and thus becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a Euro Cup match.
Modric, Ronaldo, Pepe...
When it comes to age records, they are on the other side of Jamal Luka Modrić and two Portuguese - Cristiano Ronaldo i Pepe.
The "Wizard" from Croatia with a goal against Italy at the age of 38 years and 289 days promoted himself as the oldest scorer in the continental championship.
Portugal did not have a championship to remember, even less so for Cristiano Ronaldo, but one of the best football players of all time, even after Germany, remains memorable numbers.
Thus, he became the only player who played six European championships, has the most matches in tournaments (30), and with 14 goals he is still the best scorer of the Euros of all time.
There is also his teammate Pepe as the oldest football player who played at the Euro - on the day "Selesao" was eliminated by France in the quarter-finals, he was 41 years and 130 days old.
La roha i manšaft
The host of the Euro and the new champion are symbols of this competition throughout history, and during the previous 30 days they only improved their records.
Spain is now the only team that has won the European Championship four times, leaving Germany on the eternal list with three trophies, and one of its records perhaps best describes how much this team was a real team.
Tako Luis de la Fuente he can boast that he had as many as 10 different scorers at the Euros - they guessed for "La rohu" Alvaro Morata, Dani Carvajal, Dani Olmo, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres, Lamin Jamal, Mikel Merino, Mikel Ojarzabal, Nico Williams i Rodri. The previous record with nine scorers was held by France in 2000.
Including the previous championship, Spain scored at least one goal in 12 games in a row, breaking the record held by England, which began in 2012.
Although the "manchaft" did not have a successful championship, the records still stand next to the name of this country, so Germany played the 14th European Championship in a row - a number that is closest to Spain and Russia, that is, the Soviet Union with 12 appearances each.
The Germans also hold the Euro record with the most games played (58) and most games won (30), as well as with the most goals scored (89), and it is Spain who follows them in two categories with 28 championship wins and 83 goals.
The losers are England and Denmark
There were also those who broke records in a negative sense, and the just-defeated finalist England is leading the way...
In addition to still being a selection that has never won the Euro, "proud Albion" is also the only team that was among the top four at the European Championship four times, without being the champion in the end - in 1968, 1996, 2020 and 2024.
Until now, it held that "record" together with Yugoslavia, which was in the semi-finals in 1960, 1968 and 1976, with the fact that then a total of four national teams participated in the final tournaments.
England also extended the "record" for the number of matches played on Eer without winning the title - 45.
When it comes to defeats, the "record" is held by the champion from 1992 - Denmark has so far lost 18 matches at European championships, the most of all.
The fastest goal and other records
The fastest goal in the history of European championships was scored in Germany, and it was scored after 23 seconds of the match with Italy by an Albanian Nedim Bajrami.
A little later, the fastest goal in history scored in the knockout phase of the Euros arrived, and he took care of that Merih demiral from Turkey when he shook Austria's net after 57 seconds.
Italy is the team with the most draws (19) in the history of the championship, while Portugal holds the record for the number of consecutive places in the knockout phase, where they found themselves each time from 1996 to 2024.
On Sunday, the curtain came down on the 17th European Championship, and all the mentioned numbers remain to tell the story of an unforgettable summer in Germany.
Bonus video:
