2024-07-11 04:01:27
The 17th European Championship will feature semi-final matches for the 16th time. The semi-finalists earned this right for the 11th time by performing in the final stage.
İdman.biz looked at the history of the European Championships and identified the record holders of this stage.
In the first 5 championships, the final stage began directly with the semi-finals. In 1980, there were no semi-final games. The group winners went straight to the final.
The team that has played the most semi-finals so far is Germany. The Bundesteam has played in the final stage of continental competitions 14 times and has played in the semi-finals 8 times. The record holder, who last played in this stage in 2016, has failed to make it into the top four for three championships in a row.
France, Spain and the Netherlands are playing in the semi-finals for the sixth time. Italy and Portugal have also played at this stage five times, but were eliminated this time and saved their sixth attempt for the next tournament. The British will play their fourth semi-final in Germany.
The USSR national team, which played in the semi-finals five times, has lost the opportunity to increase this figure since the country collapsed more than 30 years ago. However, the Soviet team has a number of unique records in continental championships. The team, which did not concede even one goal in five semi-finals, kept a clean sheet in all semi-finals of the first four European Championships in a row (1960-1972).
No other team has reached the semi-finals four times in a row. Germany have twice reached the semi-finals three times in a row (1988–1996, 2008–2016).
Germany is the team that has reached the final from the semi-finals the most times – 5 times. However, the team that has done this the most in 90 minutes is the USSR. The Soviet team won 4 times in 90 minutes, and the only defeat was in 1968, when the game ended with a score of 0:0 and the winner was determined by lot.
The Germans won 3 of their 5 semi-final victories in regulation time, 1 in overtime and 1 on penalties. Spain won 1 of their 4 victories in regulation time, 1 in overtime, 2 on penalties, Italy 1 in regulation time, 2 on penalties and one by lot.
Spain have the most experience in semi-final penalty shootouts, winning two of their three. Italy have won two attempts, while the Netherlands have missed both.
Although Italy reached the final in 2 of the first 3 semi-finals, they failed to score in those matches. In those games, they were helped once by the draw and once by a penalty shootout. Mario Balotelli scored the first goal for Italy in the semi-finals at the 4th attempt (2012).
The team whose path was stopped most often one step away from the final is the Netherlands. At this stage, the “orange” stopped their path in 4 attempts out of 5. The Germans lost the most in 90 minutes – 3 times.
A total of 19 teams have played in the semi-finals so far.
At this stage, Germany leads in goals with 15. The Bundesteam has also conceded the most goals – 14. This team has conceded in all 8 semi-finals.
The only other victories by a large margin were by the USSR over Czechoslovakia (1960) and Denmark (1964). Both games ended with a score of 3:0.
The most goals were scored in the game where Yugoslavia beat France 5-4 in the first championship.
The semi-final scorers are the Soviet footballer Valentin Ivanov and the German Dieter Müller. If Ivanov did it in two championships (1960 – 2 goals, 1964 – 1 goal), then Müller managed it in one game. In the 1976 semi-final against the Yugoslavs, the German footballer, who came on in the 80th minute, scored a hat-trick, scoring one goal a minute later, and 2 goals in extra time.
Vugar Mamedov
İdman.biz