A total of 929 goals have been scored in games at the men's 17 final tournaments of the UEFA European Championship, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs.[1] Since the first goal scored by Yugoslav player Milan Galić at the 1960 European Nations' Cup, exactly 536 footballers have scored goals at the Euro tournaments,[2] of whom 39 have scored four or more.
Since in the beginning tournaments were contested between four teams and only two games were played, top goalscorers of the first three editions have scored only two goals.[3] This was bettered in 1972, when West Germany's Gerd Müller scored four goals. Four years later this was matched by his compatriot Dieter Müller and finally in 1984 France's Michel Platini have scored record 9 goals in just 5 games.[4] His record stood for more than three decades unitil Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 10th goal for Portugal at the UEFA Euro 2020.[5] He has later improved his tally and as of May 2024 stands at 14 goals in 25 appearances at the European Championship tournaments — also record.[6] The top 38 goalscorers have represented 15 nations, with 6 players scoring for Germany or West Germany, 5 for France, and 4 for Netherlands. In total, only 6 of them have scored at tournaments with maximum of 8 teams (prior to UEFA Euro 1996).
| Goals | ≥10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nos. of players | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 48 | 99 | 350 | 536 |
Platini holds the record for the most goals scored in a single tournament, with 9 goals in 1984.[7] The players that came closest were Antoine Griezmannin2016 (with 6 goals) and Marco van Bastenin1988, Alan Shearer in 1996, Savo Milošević and Patrick Kluivertin2000, Milan Barošin2004, and Ronaldo and Patrik Schick in 2020 (all with 5 goals). Across the 16 tournaments of the Euro, 31 players have been credited with the most tournament goals, with Ronaldo the only one to achieve this feat twice (in2012 and 2020). Twelve of them scored at least four goals in a tournament, while Portugal's Nuno Gomes (2000), England's Wayne Rooney, Netherland's Ruud van Nistelrooy (both in 2004), Belgium's Romelu Lukaku, England's Harry Kane, France's Karim Benzema and Sweden's Emil Forsberg (all in 2020) are the only footballers to score at least 4 goals without being the top goalscorer. These 31 players represented 15 nations, the most (five) Germany or West Germany. Four played for Yugoslavia, while three represented France, Netherlands and Spain.
Of all the players who have played in the UEFA European Championship tournaments, only three have achieved an average of two goals per game played: Hungary's Dezső Novák and West Germany's: Gerd Müller and Dieter Müller — although Novák have appeared in only one Euro game.
| Player | Denotes player still active at international level |
| ‡ | Denotes national top scorer (or joint top scorer) at the Euro |
| [ ] | Denotes tournaments where the player was part of the squad, but did not play in a match |
| ( ) | Denotes tournaments where the player played in a match, but did not score a goal |
| Year | Denotes tournaments where the player's team won the title |
| T | Denotes tournaments where the player was top scorer |
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals scored |
Matches played |
Ratio | Tournaments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo‡ |  Portugal
|
14 | 30 | 0.47 | 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020T, (2024) | list |
| 2 | Michel Platini‡ |  France
|
9 | 5 | 1.80 | 1984T | list |
| 3 | Alan Shearer‡ |  England
|
7 | 9 | 0.78 | (1992), 1996T, 2000 | list |
| Álvaro Morata‡ |  Spain
|
15 | 0.47 | 2016, 2020, 2024 | list | ||
| Antoine Griezmann | France
|
16 | 0.44 | 2016T, 2020, (2024) | list | ||
| 6 | Patrik Schick‡ |  Czech Republic
|
6 | 7 | 0.86 | 2020T, 2024 | list |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy‡ |  Netherlands
|
8 | 0.75 | 2004, 2008 | list | ||
| Patrick Kluivert‡ | Netherlands
|
9 | 0.67 | 1996, 2000T, [2004] | list | ||
| Wayne Rooney | England
|
10 | 0.60 | 2004, 2012, 2016 | list | ||
| Thierry Henry | France
|
11 | 0.55 | 2000, 2004, 2008 | list | ||
| Zlatan Ibrahimović‡ |  Sweden
|
13 | 0.46 | 2004, 2008, 2012, (2016) | list | ||
| Robert Lewandowski‡ |  Poland
|
13 | 0.46 | 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 | list | ||
| Nuno Gomes | Portugal
|
14 | 0.43 | 2000, 2004, 2008 | list | ||
| Romelu Lukaku‡ |  Belgium
|
14 | 0.43 | 2016, 2020, (2024) | list | ||
| Harry Kane | England
|
15 | 0.40 | (2016), 2020, 2024 | list | ||
| 15 | Savo Milošević‡ |  Yugoslavia
|
5 | 4 | 1.25 | 2000T | list |
| Marco van Basten | Netherlands
|
9 | 0.56 | 1988T, (1992) | list | ||
| Milan Baroš‡ | Czech Republic
|
10 | 0.50 | 2004T, (2008), (2012) | list | ||
| Xherdan Shaqiri‡ |  Switzerland
|
10 | 0.50 | 2016, 2020, 2024 | list | ||
| Mario Gómez‡ |  Germany
|
13 | 0.38 | (2008), 2012T, 2016 | list | ||
| Jürgen Klinsmann‡ | Germany[a]
|
13 | 0.38 | 1988, 1992, 1996 | list | ||
| Fernando Torres | Spain
|
13 | 0.38 | (2004), 2008, 2012T | list | ||
| Zinedine Zidane | France
|
14 | 0.36 | (1996), 2000, 2004 | list | ||
| 24 | Dieter Müller | West Germany
|
4 | 2 | 2.00 | 1976T | list |
| Gerd Müller | West Germany
|
2 | 2.00 | 1972T | list | ||
| David Villa | Spain
|
4 | 1.00 | 2008T | list | ||
| Dragan Džajić |  Yugoslavia
|
5 | 0.80 | 1968T, 1976 | list | ||
| Emil Forsberg | Sweden
|
7 | 0.57 | (2016), 2020 | list | ||
| Kai Havertz | Germany
|
8 | 0.50 | 2020, 2024 | list | ||
| Roman Pavlyuchenko‡ |  Russia
|
8 | 0.50 | 2008, 2012 | list | ||
| Rudi Völler | West Germany[b]
|
8 | 0.50 | 1984, 1988, (1992) | list | ||
| Angelos Charisteas‡ |  Greece
|
9 | 0.44 | 2004, 2008 | list | ||
| Karim Benzema | France
|
10 | 0.40 | (2008), (2012), 2020 | list | ||
| Henrik Larsson | Sweden
|
10 | 0.40 | 2000, 2004, (2008) | list | ||
| Vladimír Šmicer | Czech Republic
|
11 | 0.36 | 1996, 2000, 2004 | list | ||
| Lukas Podolski | Germany
|
12 | 0.33 | (2004), 2008, 2012, (2016) | list | ||
| Dennis Bergkamp | Netherlands
|
13 | 0.31 | 1992, 1996, (2000) | list | ||
| Ivan Perišić‡ |  Croatia
|
13 | 0.31 | (2012), 2016, 2020, (2024) | list | ||
| Luka Modrić‡ | Croatia
|
16 | 0.25 | 2008, (2012), 2016, 2020, 2024 | list |
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Goal set a new record | |
| Goal equalled the existing record | |
| Goals | Date | Player | Team | Goal | Opponent | Score | Tournament & Stage | Previous goals | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 July 1960 | Milan Galić | Yugoslavia
|
1–0 | France | 5–4 | 1960, France Semi-finals |
N/A | [9] |
| Jean Vincent | France
|
1–1 | Yugoslavia | 4–5 | |||||
| François Heutte | 2–1 | ||||||||
| Maryan Wisniewski | 3–1 | ||||||||
| Ante Žanetić | Yugoslavia
|
2–3 | France | 5–4 | |||||
| 2 | François Heutte | France
|
4–2 | Yugoslavia | 4–5 |
| |||
| Dražan Jerković | Yugoslavia
|
5–4 | France | 5–4 |
| ||||
| Valentin Ivanov |  Soviet Union
|
2–0 | Czechoslovakia | 3–0 |
|
[10] | |||
| 10 July 1960 | Milan Galić | Yugoslavia
|
1–0 | Soviet Union | 1–2 | 1960, France Final |
|
[11] | |
| Viktor Ponedelnik | Soviet Union
|
2–1 | Yugoslavia | 2–1 |
| ||||
| 3 | 17 June 1964 | 2–0 | Denmark | 3–0 | 1964, Spain Semi-finals |
|
[12] | ||
| Valentin Ivanov | 3–0 |
| |||||||
| 18 June 1972 | Gerd Müller | West Germany
|
1–0 | Soviet Union | 3–0 | 1972, Belgium Final |
[13] | ||
| 4 | 3–0 | ||||||||
| 19 June 1976 | Dragan Džajić | Yugoslavia
|
2–2 | Netherlands | 2–3 | 1976, Yugoslavia 3rd place play-off |
[14] | ||
| 20 June 1976 | Dieter Müller | West Germany
|
1–2 | Czechoslovakia | 2–2aet | 1976, Yugoslavia Final |
|
[15] | |
| 16 June 1984 | Michel Platini | France
|
5–0 | Belgium | 5–0 | 1984, France Group stage |
[16] | ||
| 5 | 19 June 1984 | 1–1 | Yugoslavia | 3–2 | [17] | ||||
| 6 | 2–1 | ||||||||
| 7 | 3–1 | ||||||||
| 8 | 23 June 1984 | 3–2 | Portugal | 3–2 | 1984, France Semi-finals |
[18] | |||
| 9 | 27 June 1984 | 1–0 | Spain | 2–0 | 1984, France Final |
[19] | |||
| 6 July 2016 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal
|
1–0 | Wales | 2–0 | 2016, France Semi-finals |
|
[20] | |
| 10 | 15 June 2021 | 2–0 | Hungary | 3–0 | 2020, Europe Group stage |
[21] | |||
| 11 | 3–0 | ||||||||
| 12 | 19 June 2021 | 1–0 | Germany | 2–4 | [22] | ||||
| 13 | 23 June 2021 | 1–0 | France | 2–2 | [23] | ||||
| 14 | 2–2 |
Since 2008, if there is more than one player with the same number of goals, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has contributed the most assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.[3] Between the years 1960 and 2008, the Golden Boot award went to each of the top goalscorers of the UEFA European Championship torunaments. At Euro 2020, there was a new physical and digital trophy presented to the tournament's top scorer. It was commissioned by Alipay, the Chinese company sponsoring the award.『Sculpted in the shape of the Chinese character '支' (pronounced zhi, and meaning 'payment' as well as 'support'), the barefooted player on the trophy reflects the egalitarian footballing ideal that success on the pitch comes regardless of background or status,』according to UEFA.[24]
|
| |
|---|---|
| Tournaments |
|
| Qualifying |
|
| Finals |
|
| Squads |
|
| Bids |
|
| Statistics |
|
| Broadcasting rights |
|
| Overall records |
|
| Miscellaneous |
|
| |
|
| |
|---|---|
| |
* – Golden Boot award winner (when goals scored are tied) |
