Spain reclaimed their dominance in the European Championship by becoming the most successful side in the competition's history with a 2-1 final win over England. Emerging as winners in another major tournament final, La Roja have now claimed five international trophies since 2008 which is more than any other team in that period. By contrast, England’s 58-year wait for a major trophy continued suffering back-to-back Euro final heartbreak. This was also the first time that Spain won this fixture in the Euro Championship on the most remarkable occasion.
The 2024 Euro final was mainly dominated by Spain, although England did manage to cause some difficulties. After a goalless first half, the match sprang into life after a neat build-up allowed Lamine Yamal to place a perfect ball with Dani Olmo as a decoy for Nico Williams to put La Roja ahead in Berlin minutes into the second half. The Three Lions responded in the 70th minute through a fantastic finish from substitute Cole Palmer. The momentum, though, was always with Spain and they grabbed the winner through their impact-sub Mikel Oyarzabal four minutes to time.
Here are the records set in the Euro 2024 Final:
Spain 2-1 England
Spain have become the most successful side in the men’s European Championship with four titles, previously having shared the record with Germany (3). They have now won three of the last five Euro tournaments.
De la Fuente created a unique record of winning three Euro Championships with the same team across three age groups. He won the tournament with Spain’s U-19 side in 2015, U-21 in 2019 and the senior team this year.
La Roja has scored the most goals in a single edition of the competition with 15. However, they were second to host Germany (2.2) in goals scored per match with an average of 2.1 but scoring more than their expected XG of 12.9.
Aged 17 years and one day, Spain’s Lamine Yamal is the youngest player to feature in a World Cup or Euro final, surpassing Pele’s record from the 1958 World Cup (17 years 249 days). His four assists equal the most delivered in a single edition of a Euro Championship, the youngest to do so.
Netting the opener, Nico Williams became the second-youngest player to score in a European Championship final since Pietro Anastasi for Italy in 1968 just two days after his 22nd birthday. His goal was also the earliest scored in the second half of a Euro final.
Spain won all seven matches at Euro 2024, becoming the first European nation to win seven games at a major international tournament. De la Fuente’s side matched the record of Brazil at the 2002 World Cup.
Alvaro Morata has made the most appearence for his nation in European Championship history. The Euro 2024 final was his 17th match in the competition.
England became the first nation in Euro history to lose consecutive finals. In 2020, the Three Lions lost to Italy on penalties. Hence, Gareth Southgate became the first manager in the tournament to end on the losing side in two finals.
However, the 53-year-old became the third manager in charge of more than one Euro Championship final, following Helmut Schön (1972, 1976) and Berti Vogts with Germany (1992, 1996).
For the consecutive finals of the Euros, Harry Kane registered just one touch in the opposition box and made only one shot in the entire game.
Cole Palmer’s equaliser for England in just two minutes and 22 seconds after he came off the bench is the fastest goal scored by any substitute for the team in Euro history, second fastest in the final after Juan Mata’s sealer in Euro 2012.
Jude Bellingham became the youngest player in Euro and World Cup history to make 15 appearances across the two competitions, aged 21 years and 15 days. His teammate Bukayo Saka became the second youngest to do so in the same match aged 22 years and 313 days.
England has played more games at the European Championship with 45 without lifting the trophy than any other nation in the tournament's history.
For the first time in history, two teenagers Spain’s Yamal and England’s Kobbie Mainoo aged 19 featured in a Euro Championship final or a World Cup.
Spain’s national team and Spanish clubs have participated in 23 major continental and international finals against non-Spanish opponents in all competitions since 2002, winning on all occasions.
La Roja became just the second side to win the Euro title by maintaining a 100% winning record after France in 1984. They are also the first nation to win four different editions of the competition.
This is the first time the men's European Championship Player of the Tournament and Young Player of the Tournament has been won by players from the same nation, Rodri and Yamal respectively.
