EURO 2024 was a very expected football tournament, not only on its continent, obviously Europe, but worldwide. It is true that Copa America developed in the same time, but these are two competitions which purely cannot match. Even if the latest had its first edition long before Coupe of Europe (as EURO was called when commenced in 1960). European football is purely the peak for all football lovers, it is just a fact, the way in which this sport works. What about EURO 2024, then? Its quality. Generally speaking, very poor quality. Especially when we are talking about important matches. From the third group stage onward, played football was near to 0. The only exception was, indeed, the Spanish national team, the eventual champion. A major good sign.

Williams, Olmo, Cucurella and Ruiz shone for Spain at EURO 2024

How could a team with Alvaro Morata captain can play a decent attacking football, get seven wins in a row, and eventually the trophy? Well, it happened! Many will say that this happened thanks to Yamal, but Lamine was just a small wheel of a big mechanism, driven, mostly, from my opinion by Williams, Ruiz, Cucurella, and Olmo where the key components of the success. Seeing Spain playing, even with far weaker players comparing to 12-14 years, was a huge relief. England played nothing. Netherlands nothing, France… horrible, with Mbappe totally out of his form. Those were easy opponents for Spain. Germany was tougher, the hosts, a talented team, but Spain put them out in the quarters. We would expect many more teams to perform and play well. For example Portugal. But you cannot aim any higher with Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe playing forever. So, Belgium, with tired and bored players, could beat only a vibrant, but modest Romanian team.

A lot of modest “top class” games at EURO 2024

To draw some lines, Spain overperformed the expectations, was by far the best team of the tournament, under Luis de la Fuente, a coach that worked a lot with juniors and youth, with whom he also won trophies. European Cups with U19, U21 and now… Consistency pays off! Talent has its slice, but it is not always decisive. You can see from Mbappes output how things are working. However, the result of Spain was a small drop in an ocean of fading football that disappoints me more and more. It is not possible to see games like France – Netherlands, England – Denmark, France – Belgium, France – Portugal, Portugal – Slovenia, Spain – Italy, with the latest playing as it was Lithuania, for example. Switzerland had its part of good football, but they could not put out a very modest but lucky English team. Harry Kane scored 1.000 goals, but he doesn’t know football. What happened in Germany with this tournament is a pure paradox, but which makes more understandable the situation in France, where the TV rights are not bid with few days before the championship start.

Football is hyperinflated and this could change rapidly

Money for football should become less and less. This is happening because the inflation and the money poured in was so big during the last decades, far more than the actual value of football, and now the cap is touched. Nobody will want to pay billions or hundred of millions to see modest football, players perform cautious, as if you lose a football game, you lose your life. Football should be an entertainment, not a granular result driven act. Because having this in place, I cannot see this as a source of enjoying my free time, and I won’t be ready to pay for anything related to this sport. This is why broadcasting right might become cheaper as years pass. In the end, nothing really justifies the salaries in football. There should be, for sure, no more than 100k EUR / month from salaries alone. Because the deliveries are so poor.

Poor football played by “giants”

I’ve mentioned some disappointing games, especially with the top countries in the spot light. You would expect much more from Italy, Portugal, Belgium, even France, Netherlands and England. Not to mention Croatia… But there were also teams that shone, in some regards. At least at a first glance, but I don’t necessary agree with it. For example, the main reason for which Romania looked decent was caused by the lack of football played by others, not because Romania was outstanding. Indeed, the 3-0 win against Ukraine is a generational success, meaning one in every 25-30 years. It was the perfect match, but that was about it. A decent performance against Belgium, but a 0-2 loss against a very modest national team. They scored only these two goals in four matches, even playing against Ukraine, Slovakia and the weakest France team in years.

Romania, not the huge performance many talked about…

Against Slovakia, Romania draw 1-1, a very expected result, and then Netherlands, maybe the worst team in their history, at a final tournament, trashed Romania 3-0 without any opposition. Then, I’ve made a detailed ranking, from the last 30 years, which shows Romania 20th in Europe, based on the results from the final tournaments. A modest position, considering Romania has the 10th population in Europe. Also, in the ranking, below, are countries such Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Austria or Serbia, nations that were great in the past, or were part of nations that wrote real history in football, such are Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, or even URSS – applicable to Latvia, as an example. Now, I am not trying to diminish the results of Romania, they were good, even great considering the player’s overall value. But to mark it as an outstanding performance, it is more than ridiculous.

France leads 30 years ranking

I’ve spoken a bit about Romania, because I know how rotted is the football from this country, and we can see this more often, than an inexplicable victory like that against Ukraine,  but I prefer to go now back to the protagonists. The heading of the ranking, which was molded by considering 80% by the points from reaching superior stages of the competition, and 20% from actual points gathered at final tournaments, is led by France, followed by Germany, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, England, Croatia, Belgium and Czech Republic. To name top 10. Why have I chosen the last 30 years? Mainly, to capture the most recent best results of the Romanian national team, but also to mark the era when most of the actual countries where shaped. Before 1994, there were the former countries mentioned about, Germany was still split and so on. It is the best modern bench mark you can have.

Oyarzabal, winning goal for EURO 2024, scored from a cross of Cucurella

I have included all the results from EURO, but also from each World Cup, of European countries. You cannot state there is any surprise here, because the Czechs played a final in 1996 and a semifinal in 2004, to remember that. Constant countries of football, but with lack of performance this time. Bellingham, for example, shone a bit for England, but to shine against Slovakia, even if Slovakia beat also Belgium, is not the best achievement. Not even if you score a last second goal from a bicycle kick. It is good for the moment, for the overall statistic, but this kind of “punch” would remain in history if it was scored, for example, against Spain, in the final. There, Oyarzabal was the man to score from a Cucurella pass. And how ridiculous I thought Cucurella is, at the beginning at the tournament. In the end, he proved that he can be a key component for a undisputed winning team.  I am curious, also, how Yamal will perform in the future. I have my doubts.

Nico Williams, the true MVP or EURO 2024

My favorite was Nico Williams. He, indeed, was the most consistent player from EURO 2024. Why did Rodri won the player of the tournament award, I don’t know. He was a decent team player, but Williams was far superior. I can bet this guy will be a top performer in the next decade. Much better than Yamal, for example. We will see, because, in any case, anything went back to normal. Mbappe was finally presented at Real Madrid, with 80K attendance, exactly like for Cristiano Ronaldo, then CR9, in 2009. And I am mentioning the “9”, because Mbappe took this number. God forbid he will play for Real Madrid like he played at EURO 2024. Hope not! But I hope you enjoy my ranking below.

30 years football ranking in Europe