The European Championships of 2024 have been a thrilling tournament so far, with numerous goals scored in the group stage and a close race for the Golden Boot. No player has yet scored more than two goals, keeping the competition wide open. Many teams have had multiple players find the back of the net in their first three matches, such as Spain with four different scorers and Germany with six players on the scoresheet, including two who scored two goals each.
One standout statistic from Euro 2024 is the number of own goals that have been scored. Across 16 editions of the men’s European Championship prior to this summer’s tournament in Germany, only 20 own goals had been scored. In the last Euro held in 2021, 11 of those 20 own goals were scored. At Euro 2024, seven own goals have already been scored in the group stage alone, putting the record in jeopardy. The tournament is quickly gaining notoriety for own goals.
Some notable own goals from the group stage include Antonio Rudiger of Germany scoring against Scotland and Klaus Gjasula of Albania scoring against Croatia. It is interesting to note that there were no own goals scored for two decades between 1976 and 1996. For England, Glen Johnson is the only player to have scored an own goal at the Euros in 2012 against Sweden while Simon Kjaer of Denmark benefited from an own goal by Kai Havertz at Euro 2020 semi-finals to help England advance to final match.
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