With Euro 2024 on the horizon, memories easily come to mind of the very first European Championship I watched (Euro 88) as a schoolboy.
As if it were yesterday, I can still vividly recall Ray Houghton’s header as the Republic of Ireland, Jack Charlton et al stunned England; Ronnie Whelan’s brilliant goal for the same nation against the USSR three days later, Marco van Basten’s hat-trick against England – a treble which truly announced his arrival on the international stage – and THAT goal as Rinus Michels brought Dutch delight to the nation.
There was also my hero, Bryan Robson, who tried in vain to keep England in the hunt, but whose supporting cast were under par, while I have somewhere, on a Betamax video, a recording of veteran striker Alessandro Altobelli coming off the bench to score for Italy against Denmark at a tournament that proved his swansong.
I tell you all this for no other reason that, with Euro 2024 highlights awaiting, it’s interesting to look back at some of the ‘Golden Boot’ winners at the Euros and no one comes any higher than van Basten in terms of quality.
His five goals at Euro 88 were pivotal in the Dutch success.
Interestingly, the first-ever European Championships in 1960 had as many as five joint top scorers in Milan Galić, François Heutte, Valentin Ivanov, Dražan Jerković and Viktor Ponedelnik, all of whom scored two goals each.
Indeed, two was the maximum number of goals by any player until 1972 when the late, great Gerd Muller netted four times in Germany’s crowning.
Among the other years to stand out was a four-way tie at Euro 92 as Dennis Bergkamp, Tomas Brolin, Henrik Larsen and Karl-Heinz Riedle, all players who later had spells in the English Premier League, shared the accolade with three goals each.
In 1996, Alan Shearer (five goals) led the way for hosts England; in 2000 the French were on fire but the top scorer award was tied between Savo Milosevic (Yugoslavia) and Patrick Kluivert (Holland).
Milan Baros helped Czechoslovakia reach the semi-finals in 2004 and his tally of five led the way; it was Viva Espana in 2008 and 2012 – although David Villa was the only outright winner with the 2012 award, as Spain retained the title, once more shared out – this time between six players.
It proved to be the second European Championships to have five or more different top scorers as Alan Dzagoev, Mario Mandžukić, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Gómez, Fernando Torres and Mario Balotelli scored three each.
Ronaldo inspired Portugal to a memorable victory in 2016, when Antoine Griezmann had the consolation of the top scorer award in a French side beaten in the final, while Ronaldo and Patrick Schick hit five apiece three years ago when Italy were victorious.
You won’t need me to tell you, incidentally, that Ronaldo has scored the most goals in tournament history so far, in a list that features many legends of the game who have defined an era of football.
Here is the list by the way.
Even Ronaldo, however, plays second fiddle occasionally and no one can match the nine goals scored by Michel Platini in a single Euro tournament – the inspiration behind Les Bleus’ 1984 coronation.
His achievement is even more impressive given only eight teams contested Euro 84 compared to the 24 nowadays, which means even more matches.
In looking back at the Golden Boot winners in the history of the competition, only on five times out of the 16 tournaments to date has a player won the top scorer prize outright, while also being part of a winning nation.
It will be interesting to see if that can be matched this time around.
By the way, when you consider who may be the top scorer(s) this summer don’t forget to look at the full range of SBOTOP Euro 2024 betting odds.
As for the action and leading marksmen from June 14 to July 14, my fab four are obvious and will be of no surprise.
Kylian Mbappe will be favourite for many to win the Golden Boot; then there’s England captain Harry Kane on the back of a successful season at Bayern Munich; the irrepressible Ronaldo – who can’t be ruled out even at the age of 39 – and, as an outside bet, how about Romelu Lukaku?
Belgium have been handed a favourable draw in the group stage, alongside Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia, which may just give their record scorer the opportunity to steal a march on some of his attacking rivals.
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