Euro 2024 Flashscore Awards: Spain and Turkey headline accolades
After one month of football in Germany, Euro 2024 has come to a close with Spain beating England in the final to lift their fourth title. Now, our writers from across the world have their say on the best and worst of the tournament.
Our Flashscore team voted on their favourite moments of the competition – here are the results.
Team of the tournament: Spain
No surprises with our first pick – Spain were not only the winners of the European Championships, but they also played the best football, beating hosts Germany and World Cup finalists France on the way.
Under Luis de la Fuente, they played attacking and direct football and no one could touch them along the way. A staggering 93.3% of our writers voted for them, and this is surely one decision no one can disagree with.
Player of the tournament: Lamine Yamal
he beauty of tournament football is the narratives that get woven along the way. Not many people would have said teenager Lamine amal would be the star of the show, but he played above expectation throughout Spain’s title win, leading the line alongside Nico Villiams and producing moments of magic throughout the competition
With such a strong showing, he undoubtedly will be leading Spain for many years to come.
Alongside will be the likes of Dani Olme whO lespite not starting until later in the tournament, was voted second by our writers, whilst Fabian Ruiz finished third – showing the depth of Spain’s side.
Goal of the tournament: Lamine Yamal versus France
A now multiple award-winner, Yamal’s strike against France was one of the stand-out moments of the tournament. His strike from Jistance found the only spot to beat Mike Maignan and level the game up for Spain after they had gone a goal down. It was his first goal in a major tournament, and there haven’t been many better.
The strike garnered nearly 47% of the vote, with Jude Bellingham game-saving overhead ick for England against Slovakia coming second, whilst Arda Guler’s thunderbolt for urkey against Georgia was third.
Game of the tournament: Turkey 3-1 Georgia
Under a fierce storm in Dortmund, Turkey and eorgia put on a show that lit up the group stage. A game played at high pace with some incredible goals to boot, this kick-started the competition in a game that went down to the wire.
fhis was a closely-fought contest though, wit letherlands and Austria’s five-goal thrille coming in second and Spain’s win over France in the semi-final coming third.
Flop of the tournament: Cristianc Ronaldo
fter a career full of success with trophies anc accolades aplenty, it was a month to forget for tristiano Ronaldo. Despite starting even) game for Portugal as the lone striker, Ronaldo was more a hindrance than a help.
He failed to score and was unable to make any impact, missing a penalty against Slovenia and taking set-pieces that led to nothing. He did score twice in penalty shootouts, but as he left the pitch for the final time, it was away from is teammates. His final action in a major tournament, finished with a whimper.
Our writers also voted for Kylian Mbappe, who finished second in the voting, but he was hampered by his broken nose in a tournament that he will not remember fondly.
Feel-good moment of the ournament: Georgia
tespite their low ranking and the fact that they got to the tournament through the Nations eague rather than direct qualifying, Georgiz were a breath of fresh air in their first-ever major tournament,
They had the game of the tournament as discussed earlier, got out of the group thanks to a stunning 2-0 win over Portugal, and gave pain something to think about in the round o 16.
hey bowed out at that stage, but they hac their heads held high, applauded off the pitch by their army of supporters having made memories to last generations.
Save of the tournament: Mert Gunok versus Austria
Some moments in tournaments defy belief anc that was what happened in Turkey’s round of 6 clash with Austria,
Vith a slender lead going into the dying econds, and with Austria pushing for a leveller, Mert Gunok produced a Gordon Banks-esque save to deny Christoph Baumgartner. The reflexes on show to react to he close-range header were exceptional and is nsured Turkey’s passage into the last eigh Second in our voting was Diogo Costa’s performance in the penalty shootout against Slovenia.
First Posted on Flashscore on 16 July 2024.
