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However, who could have thought another battle was underway? While the CONMEBOL Copa America remains ongoing in the United States, we are referring to the battle of the big five leagues at Euro 2024!
The Premier League claims to be the best in the world. But how much impact have players in English top-flight football had on the ongoing European championship?
Ligue 1 considers itself the League of Talents. But how many promising players from Ligue 1 have contributed to their country’s advancement at this edition of the European Championship?
Meanwhile, the Bundesliga has often been labelled as the ‘farmers league’ by English football fans.
That is until recently, when Bayer Leverkusen, cheekily called ‘Neverkusen’, erased a history-long domestic drought with a maiden title last season, ending Bayern’s 11-year title reign.
Could the outcome of today’s exercise shut English fans up for good? Or is the Bundesliga’s performance at Euro 2024 truly subpar?
We will take a look at goals, assists, cautions, and red cards in our ranking, categorised by players, countries, and the big five leagues.
At what time have the most goals been scored? Which league has the most assists, and which team has the worst disciplinary record in Euro 2024? These are just a few of the questions we will answer in today’s discussion.
Own goals
‘You have got to shoot; otherwise, you can’t score,’ is a well-known quote from three-time Ballon d’Or winner and Netherlands legend Johan Cruyff.
However, a handful of players have scored at the wrong end of the pitch. While the European Championship Golden Boot race remains open, so far, 10 own goals have been scored at Euro 2024.
Antonio Rudiger was the first to give away an own goal in Germany’s opener against Scotland, while Mert Müldür’s own goal in Turkey’s 2-1 defeat to Ronald Koeman’s side in the quarterfinal was the last own goal recorded.
Robin Le Normand and Donyell Malen have also scored own goals at the tournament.
Which league has recorded the highest number of own goals?
Among the top five big leagues, La Liga and the Bundesliga have the highest number of own goals at Euro 2024, 2.
The Serie A has only one (Italy’s Riccardo Calafiori vs. Spain), while no Premier League or Ligue 1 player has been involved in an own goal.
Goals proper
108 goals have been scored in 48 Euro 2024 games. That is an average of 2.25 goals per match and 40 minutes per goal.
Before we take a look at the leaders, let’s look at the time periods during which these goals were scored.
Twenty of them, the highest number, were scored between the 16th and 30th minute.
The least, 3 goals, were scored in stoppage time of the first half, while 12 goals have been scored in stoppage time after regular time, one of them being Jude Bellingham’s remarkable bicycle kick, which got both Gareth Southgate and England out of jail.
No surprise! Bellingham was listed as one of the promising players to look out for at Euro 2024.
Two goals have been scored in either half of extra time, one being Mikel Merino’s fabulous header in the 119th minute for Spain, which sent host nation Germany packing.
Which player leads the charts?
Easily retrieved via our Euro 2024 API, Georges Mikautadze, Jamal Musiala, Cody Gakpo, and Slovakia’s Ivan Schranz are all tied on three goals as top scorers.
With three of them out of the race, it leaves Cody Gakpo in pole position for the European Championship Golden Boot.
Which country leads the goal-scoring charts?
So many fabulous goals have been seen, among them Arda Güler’s goal against Georgia and Memphis Depay’s goal against Austria, just to name a few, including Stanciu’s stunner against Ukraine.
Despite Kai Havertz’s poor finishing, Germany and Spain are joint-top scorers in the competition with 11 goals apiece.
Virgil van Dijk-led Netherlands are second with nine goals, while Switzerland and Turkey are joint third with eight.
Austria are in 4th place with seven goals, while in joint-fifth place is Georgia, England, and Portugal.
Which league has the most goals?
Surprisingly, players from Germany’s top-flight league scored the most goals in Euro 2024, with twenty-three goals in total.
Premier League players have scored only 15 goals, joint-second with La Liga players, while Serie A players have scored 13 goals in total, coming in third.
In fourth place are players from the Ligue 1, with only 3 goals in the tournament.
Red cards
A handful of dismissals have been seen, but who leads the stats?
Which players have received red cards?
Five players have been sent off at the ongoing tournament. Antonín Barák [Czechia], Tomáš Chorý [Czechia], and Ryan Porteous, whose foul on İlkay Gündoğan in the opener against Scotland saw him become the first player to receive a red card at Euro 2024.
Spain’s Dani Carvajal and Turkey’s Bertuğ Özgür Yıldırım also picked up red cards in quarterfinal games against Germany and the Netherlands, respectively.
Which country has the most red cards?
In total, six red cards were awarded at Euro 2024. Czechia have the highest number of red cards at the tournament, 2, with both cards coming in the 2-1 loss to Turkey in the group stage.
Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, and Scotland all have one red card each.
What leagues have the highest number of red cards?
The Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1 all have a red card each. No player from the Premier League or Bundesliga has been red-carded.
Assists
Ronaldo’s unselfish assist for Bruno Fernandes in Portugal’s 3-0 win over Turkey and Lamine’s fine assist for Dani Olmo are just a few of the many. However, the pertinent question is now: who is the King of Assist?
Which Player has the most assists?
Lamine Yamal, who has three of them, his third being for Spain’s opener in the 2-1 win against Germany in the quarterfinals, is the king of assists.
Twelve others, among them the likes of Xavi Simons and Romania’s Dennis Man, are in a neck-to-neck race to overtake the Barcelona player, who turns 17 a day before the final.
While tournament favourites Spain are looking to go all the way in the hunt for a record fourth European title, they would be hoping Lamine comes with his bag of tricks when they face Didier Deschamps’ France, with outstanding goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Which country has the highest number of assists?
Spain are leading, having recorded 10 assists.
Germany, who became the first host nation to crash out in the quarterfinals in the entire history of the tournament, and the Netherlands are joint second with eight assists each.
Meanwhile, Switzerland and Austria are joint third with six each.
Turkey comes in fourth place with five assists spread out between its players, while England and Slovakia are joint-fifth with only four assists.
Which league has produced the most assists?
Yet again, the Bundesliga comes out on top in our rankings for this category, having recorded 18 assists.
Perhaps it’s time to stop calling the Bundesliga ‘Farmers League’ indeed.
Serie A are second with 13 assists, while the Premier League is third on the list with 11 assists.
In fourth place are La Liga and Ligue 1, with 9 assists each.
Cautions
While a handful of cautions were forged into red cards, many referees have been generous enough to allow play to continue without issuing a warning. Yet, 218 yellow cards have been issued.
Which players have the most yellow cards?
Rodri, Widmer, and Carvajal are all level, with three yellow cards, and are the players with the most cautions in the tournament. Twenty others, including Le Normand and Rafael Leão, are joint-second with two yellow cards each.
Which country has the most yellow cards?
Türkiye leads the pile with 20 cautions, while Germany is second in the rankings with 14 cautions. Spain are 3rd with 13 cautions, alongside Czechia, while Austria comes in 4th place with 12 yellow cards. Slovenia is in 5th place with 11 cautions.
Which league has the most yellow cards?
The Bundesliga leads in this category with 40 cautions received! The Serie A comes in second with 39 cautions, while the Premier League is third with 28 yellow cards received.
La Liga is in 4th place with 23 yellow cards, while in fifth is Ligue 1 with only 9.
Shouldn’t we give the Bundesliga its flowers?
With the Bundesliga emerging at the top of our two best-ranking categories, goals scored and assists created, perhaps it’s time for the English fans to give the Bundesliga its flowers.
The Czech Republic has the worst disciplinary record at the tournament, while Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey, who crashed out in the quarterfinal clash against the Netherlands, has received the highest number of cautions.
Meanwhile, with three games left to play, it’s yet to be seen if Cody Gakpo will walk away with the European Championship Golden Boot.
Would Yamine Lamal remain the king of assists? Or would he be overthrown? Follow our Euro 2024 live blog for updates and eye-catching advanced stats as the tournament unfolds.
