The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign set the stage for this summer’s European Championship tournament in Germany. Over the course of 239 matches, a total of 690 goals were scored as 53 nations competed for a spot in the finals. 24 teams will now vie for the title at the finals in Germany.
Portugal emerged as the standout team, completing their qualification with a perfect record. They won all 10 of their matches against Slovakia, Luxembourg, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein, marking the first time in history they have gone through an entire European Championship qualification campaign undefeated.
Portugal finished as the top-scoring team with 36 goals, although France had a higher goals-per-game rate of 3.63 compared to Portugal’s 3.60. A highlight for Portugal was their 9-0 victory over Luxembourg in September 2023, which was their largest ever win.
While Portugal excelled, four teams – Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, and San Marino – failed to secure a single point in their qualifiers. Cyprus had their worst campaign since the 1992 qualifiers, losing all eight matches. Malta also failed to earn any points, a first since the Euro 2000 qualifiers.
Gibraltar continued their struggle, failing to score a single goal in their eight matches and being outscored 12-220 over their 46-match history in both World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. San Marino’s record remained dismal, with only one draw in their 86 European Championship qualification matches.
A notable achievement came from Georgia, who will make their debut at Euro 2024. Their qualification was secured through a penalty shootout victory against Greece in the play-offs, following a fourth-place finish in Group A. This historic moment followed their close miss in the last European Championship, where they lost the play-off final to North Macedonia.
Among the qualified teams, Ukraine boasted the youngest average starting XI age of 25 years and 272 days, while Slovakia had the oldest average starting XI at 29 years and 264 days among the finalists.
Individual highlights included Andorra’s Ildefons Lima, the oldest player to appear in qualifying at 43 years, and Spain’s Lamine Yamal, who became the youngest player and scorer in the Euro 2024 qualifiers at just 16 years old.
Romelu Lukaku of Belgium was the top scorer in the qualification campaign, netting 14 goals, the highest ever for a single European Championship qualifying campaign.
He scored in all but one of his eight appearances, including two hat-tricks. Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes led in assists, providing seven, and also topped the charts for expected assists and total chances created.
The 24 nations that have qualified for Euro 2024 are Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.
