The Independent
·25 June 2024
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Yahoo sportsThe Independent
·25 June 2024
Euro 2024 has been a largely enjoyable tournament so far, with plenty of group stage goals having gone in - and the race for the Golden Boot very much still open, with no player currently netting more than two goals.
Plenty of sides have spread the goals around in their opening three matches, with Spain having four different scorers for example and Germany seeing six on the scoresheet already - including two players with a pair of strikes to their name.
But the more remarkable stat might be in a very different type of strike: the own goal, with Euro 2024 quickly becoming the tournament of them.
Across 16 editions of the men’s European Championship before this summer in Germany, a total of just 20 own goals had been scored ever - and a massive 11 of them came in the last version, the cross-Europe tournament held in 2021.
But that record is under threat if the group stage at Euro 2024 is anything to go by, with seven scored so far. Here’s a complete list of players to score an own goal this summer:
Improbably, there were no own goals scored for two decades between the first in 1976 and the second in 1996.
Glen Johnson is the only England player to have put through his own net at any Euros, in 2012 against Sweden, while the only own goal which has been in the Three Lions’ favour came from Simon Kjaer of Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-finals.
The tournament heads into the knockout stage from 29 June, with the final set to take place in Berlin on 14 July.